New neighbors in Hawai'i Kai off to bad start
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
HAWAI'I KAI — Construction equipment from a new housing project has damaged the sprinkler system of an adjacent development, causing friction between the two communities and reviving calls to make the winding road up to the ridge communities safer.
Tree-lined Kaluanui Road leading up Mariner's Ridge is maintained by the 450 homeowners who pay a $5 monthly fee for landscaping of common areas around the neighborhood.
About a month ago, homeowners noticed the grass was turning brown, despite an irrigation system. Upon further inspection they saw that a bulldozer working on a Schuler Homes townhome project near the post office at the base of the hill had leveled the vegetation right up to the retaining wall that divides the two properties and knocked out the sprinkler system, said Morton Cotlar, president of the Mariner's Ridge Maintenance Association.
"Schuler Homes is not being very neighborly," Cotlar said. "The road was intended to be an attractive approach to the ridge. The trees, even though they keep getting knocked down by car accidents, are always replaced. That's why you see some young saplings along the way."
Schuler Homes Hawaii president Mike Jones said the company will work out a solution with the Mariner's Ridge association. The wall and the sprinkler system are clearly on Schuler's property, Jones said.
"It's our intention that we'll hook it up," Jones said of the sprinkler system. "It's all on our land and it's been there for a long time. I'm sure we can work out some easement situation with them. It's not like we're going to rip down the wall."
The rock wall and irrigation system had not been an issue until recently, when Schuler began construction on its townhomes on the property that had been vacant for more than 30 years. Schuler is building 87 townhomes on four acres.
Another issue on Kaluanui Road is traffic safety. Two years ago Mariner's Ridge tried to get the city to increase safety along the steep, winding drive, site of nearly a dozen accidents since 1999. Then-City Councilman John Henry Felix included $50,000 in the budget to study alternatives. Most of the accidents involve cars smashing into the retaining wall.
Last October, the city presented its alternatives at a community meeting, said Cheryl Soon, city director of transporting services. The city, Soon said, proposed adding signs, banking two curves along the road and adding traffic calming devices such as a median and a "bulb-out" that forces drivers to make wider, slower turns.
"After listening to the presentation, the community association asked us not to do anything," Soon said. "So we ceased any further work."
Cotlar said the city appears to have misunderstood the association's position and that it is still eager to solve the roadway problem. "Their proposal would solve a lot of the problems along the road," he said.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
