Ala Moana canoe halau planned
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The city has released plans for a new canoe halau at Ala Moana Beach Park, one of four expected to break ground this year.
To comment on the canoe halau at Ala Moana Beach Park, write to the city Department of Design and Construction, 650 S. King St., Honolulu, HI 96813, ATTN: Dan Takamatsu. Include copies for consultant AKTA, Ltd./ Arthur Kimbal Thompson Architect, and the Office of Environmental Quality Control. The deadline for public comment is May 24.
The $810,000 structure will be similar to facilities at Kailua, Maunalua Bay Beach Park, Ke'ehi Lagoon and Ala Wai Neighborhood Park, containing racks to store canoes upside-down with the outrigger, or ama, removed.
Public input sought
The Ala Moana halau will be where canoes are now stored outside, near the mouth of the Ala Wai Canal. The project will include two 61-foot-square, 19-foot-tall buildings able to accommodate 30 six-person unrigged canoes each.
The city filed a draft environmental assessment for the project Friday with the state Office of Environmental Quality Control, and public comment is being taken.
As one of the busiest paddling centers on the island, Ala Moana needs two halau, said Ben Lee, city managing director.
Canoe halau also are expected to be built this year in Nanakuli, Poka'i Bay and Makaha, Lee said, with others planned for Waimanalo and Hale'iwa.
Lee said the buildings have made security and care of canoes easier for the clubs. "I think all the users are very happy with them," he said.
Ala Moana is one of O'ahu's primary locations for canoe clubs, given its easy access to Ala Wai Canal and the open ocean off Waikiki. The park is home to Elk Canoe Club, Koa Kai Canoe Club, and I Mua Canoe Club, and is a practice site for several high school teams.
Joe Kim, head coach of Koa Kai, said paddlers have been waiting a long time for a canoe halau, but the timing works especially well because they are expecting to take delivery of a $60,000 koa canoe soon.
"Our new boat is koa, so we have to keep it out of the elements," Kim said. "No canoe club leaves theirs out in the sun and the rain. It's an expensive investment we only use for races."
Kim said Koa Kai has about 200 members, as do the I Mua and Elks clubs. The Waikiki Yacht Club, which has a canoe club nearby, is even larger.
Ala Moana Park has become a temporary refuge to hundreds of homeless people in recent years, but that has not been a problem for the canoe clubs, Kim said.
"We know a few of them personally," he said. "When we have barbecue and pot lucks, we feed them, and in return they kind of watch our stuff. If they see people coming around at night, they chase them away. At Christmas we give them toothbrushes and toothpaste, toiletries, things like that."
No new parking is planned, and the project will be built around existing coconut, banyan, monkeypod and kamani trees.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
