Burial site will limit parking expansion
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
'AINA HAINA — Two historical sites containing ancestral bones on the 'ewa side of Kawaiku'i Beach Park near Hawai'i Loa Ridge will limit the expansion of parking, a project financed by the community vision team.
Last year, the community waded through a sea of ideas and chose the parking expansion as among the priorities to be financed with city vision money. The idea is to add 18 more parking spaces to the busy Kawaiku'i Beach Park. The city allocated $200,000.
But when the city's consultant surveyed the area, the historical sites, which do not appear in city records, were uncovered. The consultant, Austin, Tsutsumi and Associates, believes the bones were reinterred when Kalaniana-'ole Highway was widened in the mid-1990s.
Both sites are marked by boulders, according to a report by the consultant, which spoke to the vision team in July. Because of the need to be sensitive to the archeological sites and the requirement by the State Historic Preservation Office to have a 25-foot buffer around the sites, only 12 stalls will be added to the beach park.
"We weren't aware of the sites," said Toni Robinson, city Department of Parks and Recreation East Honolulu manager. "So we've changed the parking lot orientation, since this was a high priority for the vision team."
The area, which is heavily used by windsurfers, surfers and picnickers, is on the makai side of the highway next to the entrance to Hawai'i Loa Ridge. It will require a shoreline management area use permit from the city, but not an environmental study because the improvements are expected to cost $113,000, according to the consultant's report.
Residents had hoped that the city also could add lights and a handicapped accessible walkway around the park, but not enough money was given for the entire project, the consultant said in the report.
The project must go out for bid by the end of the year to keep the money available, the consultant said.
