New visitor fees for spiffed-up Diamond Head
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
Despite collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars since imposing a fee of $1 per person for hikes to the summit of Diamond Head two years ago, officials say a new charge at the state monument is needed to offset the cost of running and maintaining state parks around Hawai'i.
Collection from hikers has been spotty because of a lack of facilities and staff, but the state still has received about $1 million, said Yara Lamadrid-Rose, Diamond Head State Monument park coordinator.
Come September, after work on a new roadway system, toll booth and parking lot configuration are completed, the state will begin charging a fee of $5 per car and $40 per 26-passenger bus that enters the crater and $1 for any individual who walks in.
The fees are the result of a 2000 legislative mandate requiring the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to find alternate sources of revenue to pay for park maintenance, said Dan Quinn, the DLNR's state parks administrator.
But a Hawai'i attorney says residents already pay for park access in their taxes and are essentially paying twice, with taxes and the admission fee.
"It looks to me more like a money-making operation," said Jim Bickerton. "As a matter of policy, we shouldn't be using public parks as a revenue source. The idea is we've already paid for these parks with our taxes. You don't get a park and then have to pay for it again with an entry fee."
State officials chose Diamond Head to impose a fee because it attracts about 1 million visitors a year, and about 90 percent of those visitors are from out of state.
"We needed a certain threshold of visitors to make it pay for itself," said Quinn.
The state owns 53 parks, monuments, recreation areas or wayside parks across the state, but only Diamond Head is allowed by state law to have an admission fee, Quinn said.
"We do not intend to charge fees at other parks at this time," he said. "Any money collected here at Diamond Head, campsites, cabins, concession stands or permit fees go to the state park fund."
Fees are common at state parks in other states, and in national parks. Around the nation, state park admission fees range from 50 cents to $12. At Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park or Haleakala National Park, individuals walking up to the toll booth pay $5 each and a motorist parking in the lot pays $10 per car.
But Bickerton, the attorney, felt that the Diamond Head fee could exceed the actual cost of providing access, which he said would be illegal. Bickerton, who already represents two nonresidents in a pending lawsuit against the city over entry fees at Hanauma Bay, doesn't believe that fees should be charged for public venues.
At Diamond Head, the fees average out to about $1 per person, Quinn said. The goal was to charge a nominal fee. The state also will offer discounted passes for regular visitors.
"We have annual passes for residents who come here regularly," Lamadrid-Rose said. "We want to encourage people to use the parks."
Construction crews have been at the monument making the changes since mid-March.
They plan to close the park for three days beginning April 23 to pave the parking lot and do the other roadway improvements, which is all part of a multimillion-dollar overhaul of the park.
Once construction is completed, projected by the end of May, the state will look to hire an operator for a tollbooth at the crater's entrance.
The state ultimately plans to launch a long-range master plan for Diamond Head that includes a $5 million interpretive center and a system of trails through the nearly 500 acres that make up the Diamond Head State Monument.
Diamond Head was named a monument in 1962 and a National Natural Landmark in 1968.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
