'Stairway to Heaven' still closed as city ponders signs
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — Seven months after the city delayed the reopening of Ha'iku Stairs to install appropriate safety warnings along the popular hiking trail, lingering liability concerns have prompted officials to bring in an international expert to help with the wording of the signs.
Advertiser library photo • June 29, 2001
That is expected to add at least eight weeks to a process that Kane'ohe residents, hikers and others say has taken too long.
Although the Ha'iku Stairs remain closed, hikers can be seen climbing the "Stairway to Heaven."
The city is "paralyzed with fear over the issue," attorney Arthur Park said. Many standards exist that would work and the signs could have been done a long time ago, he said. "It's not rocket science."
Others point out that even with the so-called "Stairway to Heaven" closed, liability could still be an issue.
"I would hope the city would recognize that they are at greater risk of liability problems the way it is now than it would be if they got it open," said John Flanigan, a member of the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs, a group that does maintenance on the stairs and provides educational information on its Web site.
Even though the route to the top of Pu'u Keahiakahoe is closed, people can be seen climbing the 3,922-step stairway almost daily.
On a Saturday workday in April, Flanigan said he turned away 101 hikers from the stairs, explaining that the group was spraying herbicide, trimming plants and cleaning the trail.
The scenic stairway had fallen into disrepair and was closed in 1987. For more than two years the city has been working to get the trail reopened.
After spending $875,000 to renovate the stairs, city officials last year backed away from a scheduled October opening of the trail after a Circuit Court decision said the state was negligent, partly because of poor signage, in the 1999 Mother's Day rockslide at Sacred Falls that killed eight people.
Legislation establishes a process for installing and maintaining warning signs. • Creates a risk assessment working group in the state Department of Land and Natural Resources that provides consultation on the design and placement of warning signs. The Board of Land and Natural Resources must adopt rules on sign design and placement. • Stipulates that a warning sign will be considered legally adequate warning of dangerous natural conditions. The signs must be inspected and maintained. • Requires that an accident report record must be created and used by the working group to make decisions about signs. • The law is to take effect July 1 and be repealed June 30, 2008.
Park represented families of victims in the Sacred Falls case.
House bill addresses liability
He said the city probably delayed the reopening of Ha'iku Stairs pending the outcome of House Bill 1214. The legislation, which was approved and sent to Gov. Linda Lingle, establishes a process for installing and maintaining warning signs that, if followed, protects the state and counties from liability caused by the dangerous natural conditions warned of. It also provides that the state or county does not have a duty to warn of dangerous natural conditions on unimproved public lands.
The city doesn't need an expert on signs, nor did it need a new law, Park said.
Meanwhile, the city has installed "No Trespassing" signs at Ha'iku Stairs, and the Friends installed a warning sign about proceeding "at your own risk."
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said she couldn't identify the international sign expert, didn't know how much the services would cost and couldn't explain why the city decided to call upon the outside expert.
She said the city did attempt to create signs but decided that outside help was needed.
"You'd be surprised; this is a fine art," Costa said. "We had to get some advice, some good advice."
John Goody, president of the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs, said the delay in reopening the stairs also delays any educational process that could help preserve the plants and trail. Illegal hikers are damaging native plants and spreading alien species through carelessness, Goody said.
He also said plants are being trampled and erosion encouraged by people stepping off the stairs to let others pass.
City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said the community is eager to have the stairs open and she has been pushing to move things along since January when she took office.
The expert should be able to address liability issues, which the city is concerned about, especially since the Sacred Falls decision, Marshall said.
"With the budget problems we have now the last thing anyone wants to do is incur more liability," she said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
