State willing to rethink Ka Iwi plan

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

MAKAPU'U — Following an outcry from a preservation group, the state says it would consider revamping its plans for this remote stretch of coastline that residents have fought for years to keep in open space.

•	Have your say on Ka Iwi The state will make a presentation on its Ka Iwi plan to the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Haha'ione Elementary School cafeteria.

But after that process has been completed, the state might consider scaling back the parking lots and roadways that it planned for safety, said Clyde Hosokawa, state Department of Land and Natural Resources park program manager, while walking around the area last week.

"If there were elements of the plan that the county or the community, through the permit process, had concerns about, I believe there would be conditions made on the project," said Dan Quinn, state Department of Land and Natural Resources acting state parks administrator. "The state wants to come up with a plan that's acceptable to the community."

The state presented the plan last weekend to a group of Ka Iwi supporters, who objected to the ambitious proposal. The meeting came on the heels of the state's permit application filed May 18. The city has 60 days to process the permit and hold a public hearing.

The state will kick off a string of public presentations Tuesday night before the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board. Upon the completion of the process, the public's comments will be taken back to the state, which will weigh the need for safety with the public's views.

"It's too late to make changes mid-stream through the shoreline management area permit application," Hosokawa said. "After we get all the public comments, we'll talk about revisions."

The state plans $4 million worth of improvements that ultimately will be paid by federal dollars. The plan calls for building two parking lots to hold 40 cars each, one with five additional stalls for buses, with an entrance off Kalaniana'ole Highway between the lookout point and the trail head.

It's the two large parking lots in the middle of the vista that has David Matthews upset. Matthews and others launched a fight in the late 1980s to persuade the state to purchase the land from Kamehameha Schools, formerly Bishop Estate.

The state says it needs to build parking lots and safe lookouts because it's hazardous to visitors at the Makapu'u lookout and those hiking to the lighthouse.

"We're concerned that people understand that we need to make this safer," said Deborah Ward, state Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman. "We understand their desire to keep this in open space, but it needs a balance and we have to compromise."

The Ka Iwi Action Coalition that Matthews belongs to has fought various plans for development from hotels and golf courses to houses on the land with views of the Ka Iwi channel to Rabbit Island on the windward side.

"If you put 40 cars down here, what are you going to see?" said Matthews, standing among the rocky outcropping where the state wants to build a lookout and parking lot. "It breaks my heart. The parking lot will destroy the best view. Why not one parking lot instead of two?"

The land, while it looks like wind-swept scrub brush, is home to native plants like naupaka, tidal pools, birds and the endangered Marsilea villosa, a plant shaped like a clover.