Posted on: Sunday, March 16, 2003
Group sues to halt pier work on Big Island
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
KAILUA, Hawai'i — The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. is suing to block a project to refurbish the deteriorating Kailua Pier in the hub of West Hawai'i's tourist district.
The $4 million pier project on the Big Island has drawn protests from some Hawaiians and environmentalists who worry that driving piles for the project may damage the nearby Ahu'ena Heiau.
"We're not opposed to the pier, we're just opposed to the kind of pier that they want to put in," said David Kahelemauna Roy, 78, during a small protest staged at the pier last week. "The pier is only for the benefit of a very few businesses that operate from there, and I think they can do a lot better."
Roy is kahu (guardian) of the heiau and participated in its restoration in 1975. The heiau adjoined the home of King Kamehameha I, who restored and rededicated the heiau to the god Lono, and the suit filed Friday calls the site "the ancient spiritual capital of Hawai'i."
Kailua Pier was built in 1952, replacing a smaller wharf built in 1915 to load cattle from local ranches onto interisland steamships. Although no longer the base for Kona's gamefishing charters, the pier is used by snorkeling tours, canoe clubs, swimmers, and cruise-ship passengers shuttled from ship to shore in tenders.
The state closed off portions of the 520-foot-long pier in the past three years after engineers determined the structure supporting it had been undermined, and "it was a question of when it would collapse," said Hiram Young, design engineer for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
In addition to repairing the pier support structure, the project would install new water and electrical lines and lighting, and make the pier accessible to the disabled.
The pier refurbishing has the backing of a number of business leaders, including Scotty Bell, the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce president and owner of Body Glove Tours. Bell's tour boat loads and unloads passengers at the pier.
"This isn't a commercial venue," Bell said. "This is something for the community, and it encompasses swimmers, paddlers, recreational, commercial, and especially the kids."
Bell and Young said the state is sensitive to concerns about the heiau. Young said experts hired to study the issue of vibration from the pile-driving did not see a problem with the project.
Contractor Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. has set up vibration monitoring equipment, and state officials are "fairly comfortable" the project will not damage the heiau, Young said.
Mikahala Roy, daughter of David Roy and executive director of the nonprofit Hawaiian cultural organization Kulana Huli Honua, said the state should give serious consideration to removing the pier. The Roys blame the pier for extensive erosion of the white sand beach at Kailua Bay over the years.
If the pier can't be removed, the Roys contended a post-type support structure should be used to replace the walls that now support the pier, which would allow water to flow more freely under the structure. They argued that the DLNR, which is overseeing the project, hasn't considered those kinds of alternatives.
Bell said post-type construction might be desirable but would cost more than $100 million, which, he added, the state doesn't have.
The suit filed Friday on behalf of the Roys and Kulana Huli Honua asks Kona Circuit Court Judge Ronald Ibarra to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the metal sheer-pile driving scheduled to begin in about 10 days.
Alan Murakami, litigation director of Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said Hawai'i case law requires that before proceeding with such a project, the state must identify Hawaiian traditions and customs associated with the site, determine how those practices would be affected by the project and ensure those practices are protected.
