Manoa stream project resumes
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The second phase of the Manoa stream-bank restoration project began last week with crews starting to remove more than a dozen trees and tons of soil to provide flood protection and create a pathway down to the stream from Manoa Valley District Park.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The $344,000 project is along the edge of the park and is a city vision-team effort that residents have been working at for about five years, according to project champion Tom Heinrich.
Phase 1 upgrades are at right; in Phase 2, trees at left will be removed and the stream bank tapered.
"The biggest single factor is going to be a significant tapering back of the stream bank so it is much more sloped," said Heinrich, who is also chairman of the Manoa Neighborhood Board.
When completed, the project will give park users a new picnic area overlooking the stream, a disability-accessible path along the water, an amphitheater for outdoor classes and the first section of a planned concrete path that will create a "lei" around the entire park.
Construction on Phase 1, which includes the amphitheater, pads for picnic benches and landscaping, is completed but remains fenced off to allow the plants time to grow in, Heinrich said. The picnic tables will be put in place just before opening so park users are not tempted to enter the area before it's completed.
Heinrich said the amphitheater was planned to be large enough to accommodate students or small groups.
"We wanted it open, a gathering place," Heinrich said. "And large enough, with three or four rises, to accommodate an entire grade level of about 120 to 135 students."
Tim Steinberger, director of the city Department of Design and Construction, said Phase 2 work will also stabilize the stream bank, which is eroding.
"There are some trees that are severely eroded that will be taken out because they will probably not survive the winter," Steinberger said. "They would probably wash out and go down the stream and create havoc somewhere else."
Steinberger said 16 trees will be removed during the project and will be replaced with 19 new trees.
"People will be concerned when they hear chainsaws down there," he said.
One person did call the Outdoor Circle to report trees being cut, and Kimberly Hillebrand, landscape and planting project manager, went to the scene last week to investigate. However, she arrived after most the trees had already been cut.
Mary Steiner, chief executive officer for the Outdoor Circle, said the group is satisfied that the trees will be replaced.
"The net result is going to be far better than what the status quo is," Heinrich said. "I don't like to lose trees myself."
Landscape architect Irvin Higashi, with Walters Kimura Motoda, said the stream bank will be altered so that it is a more gentle slope, which also provides a wider area for the stream to flow in case of heavy rains.
"We are increasing the flood capacity of the stream bank by lessening the slope," Higashi said. "We are also preventing erosion by placing a woven mat on the ground between the new plants to limit the runoff."
In all, about 600 feet of walkway is being created and thousands of new plants will cover the stream bank when work is completed in February.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
