Bush OKs Kona park expansion
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — President Bush signed a measure Tuesday expanding the boundaries of the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, preparing the way for parks officials to buy two acres and a building for a permanent park headquarters.
The National Park Service is expected to proceed with a purchase, but must first seek money from Congress to buy the property, said Randy Obata, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ed Case.
Obata said county assessments of the two-acre parcel in North Kona put the value of the property at about $2 million.
In his speech to the U.S. House in support of the bill, Case said the park has been without a permanent headquarters since it was established in 1978. Parks staff work from a building some distance away that the park rents for $150,000 a year, said Case, D-2nd (Rural O'ahu, Neighbor Islands).
Case said the volume of visitor traffic at the park has been increasing, growing from 54,000 in 2001 to 70,000 in 2002.
The proposed purchase would provide more space for parking for visitors and park vehicles, and "more than adequate" space for the park's administrative needs and interpretive mission, Case said.
The House version of the measure was the first bill Case introduced in the House after arriving in Congress, Obata said. The version that passed was the Senate bill introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i.
The 1,160-acre Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park was created for the preservation and interpretation of native Hawaiian activities and culture.
It is on the site of an ancient Hawaiian settlement, and the grounds include fishponds, house site platforms, petroglyphs, heiau and a holua, or stone slide.
"This expansion is vital for the improved administration not only of Kaloko-Honokohau, but all of the National Park Service's cultural and historic resources along the Kona Coast, from Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site in the north to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park in the south," Case said in a statement announcing passage of the bill.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
