Geologists suggest using mesh to secure Lalea rocks
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
Geologists hired by landowner Kamehameha Schools propose to use a double layer of wire mesh to secure a slide-prone area of the ridge behind the Lalea development in Hawai'i Kai, where a heightened risk of falling rocks prompted the evacuation of 26 families last month.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 16, 2002
Significant protruding boulders — Earth Tech Inc. geologists have identified 17 of them — would be broken up or anchored in place with steel cable, then covered with the same mesh.
Work to lessen the rockfall risk behind the Lalea condominium development is expected to begin next month.
Work is estimated to cost about $3 million and is tentatively scheduled to begin in February and be completed in August, nine months after Kamehameha Schools and developer Castle & Cooke Hawai'i advised all tenants of two buildings at Lalea to move immediately.
The state has a similar project using wire mesh under way on the steep cliffs above Makapu'u Beach to prevent rocks from falling onto Kalaniana'ole Highway, but Kamehameha Schools' proposal is seen as a new kind of safety solution in a residential area. Amid heightened concern on O'ahu after several rockfall incidents in the past six months, one of which killed a Nu'uanu woman in her bed, developers say such activity is a sign of things to come.
A developer's reputation is on the line when it comes to safety, said Stanford Carr, president of SCD International LLC.
"Everyone is being conscientious," said Carr, whose development The Peninsula at Hawaii Kai is under construction on Lunalilo Home Road. "What Kamehameha Schools and Castle & Cooke are doing is commendable."
Kamehameha Schools' geologists want to install netting with four-inch squares over the cliffs behind the two buildings at 7130 and 7168 Hawai'i Kai Drive. A second layer of netting with 12-inch squares would be placed over it.
"They're proposing to lay about five acres' worth of netting above the two buildings," said Doug Carlson, Castle & Cooke spokesman. The design "is such that vegetation can grow through the netting, which is anchored by bolts into the ground. It's a common system that is used in California ... and other areas where there are steep vertical cliffs."
The netting would be made of a material that wouldn't rust and would be coated to blend into the landscape, Carlson said. In addition, the geologists want to widen the drainage canal that runs along the base of the ridge.
Castle & Cooke has yet to hear from its own geologists. And the residents' association has hired a geologist to verify the findings of those retained by Kamehameha Schools and Castle & Cooke.
The residents' geologist will arrive next week to do his own evaluation, said Philip Nerney, the attorney representing the Association of Apartment Owners of Lalea at Hawai'i Kai.
"The three assessments will be used as another set of eyes," Nerney said. "Ultimately, the responsibility is on Kamehameha Schools and Castle & Cooke."
Kamehameha School's geology report will be shared with the residents' association, Castle & Cooke and the city, which must approve construction permits.
No meetings have been scheduled yet, Carlson said.
On Thanksgiving Day, two boulders crashed down the ridge, smashing into two cars and hitting the window of one condominium. A week later, on Dec. 6, after geologists' assessment of further slide risk in the area, residents in the two buildings nearest the hillside were told to leave their homes and to anticipate not being able to return for a year.
After moving to hotels or other temporary housing, most have managed to move back to Hawai'i Kai, said Carlson.
Three families remain at Hilton Hawaiian Village and will move into temporary housing by February, Carlson said. Nine families are living with relatives, and 14 have found housing, he said.
Castle & Cooke and Kamehameha Schools are paying the temporary housing costs.
Residents in other buildings at Lalea are not being asked to leave because geologists have said the structures are not at risk.
The displaced Lalea residents are pleased that things are moving forward, said Nerney.
"The residents are anxious and concerned," he said. "We want to solve the problem."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
Correction: This story may have left the impression that an assessment of the risk to other buildings in the area was made by Earth Tech Inc. geologists. Earth Tech was not interviewed for the story. The statement on risk was taken from a comment made earlier by an official of another company.
