State panel can't stop Ala Wai project
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The state Environmental Council yesterday voted to ask city officials to explain why an environmental assessment was not completed for the $2.4 million Ala Wai Boulevard renovation project.
A town hall meeting to discuss the Ala Wai Boulevard project will be at 4:30 p.m. today at the Waikiki Community Center, 310 Paoakalani Ave. The meeting has been organized by residents. Mayoral candidates Mufi Hannemann and Duke Bainum, along with city officials, have been invited.
Council members, however, said they did not have the authority to stop the construction, which is what many of the 30 people at yesterday's public meeting wanted.
Community meeting
Construction on the boulevard began Aug. 2 after the city gave itself an exemption from performing an assessment for the work, something that is typical for minor projects, according to the OEQC.
The city has said the project, which includes building bulb-outs with landscaping and a bicycle lane on the Ala Wai between Kapahulu Avenue and McCully Street, is simply beautification and does not need an environmental assessment. No city official attended the meeting.
Residents say there were no public hearings on the project. They want either an assessment or the work stopped on the project, which will remove dozens of parking spaces and permanently remove a lane of traffic and, residents say, raises safety concerns and is poorly timed with major road repairs ongoing along Kuhio Avenue.
Both the Kuhio and Ala Wai projects are expected to be completed in December.
By law, the Environmental Council is not allowed to make any declaratory rulings on projects that are self-exempted by a government agency from completing an assessment, said deputy attorney general Mark McConnell at the meeting. That means the council cannot compel the city to complete an assessment if it exempts itself.
Board member Robert King said it is clear there is a problem with this project and the council needs to do something.
"The public wants action, which we cannot do," King said. "We can clarify the exemption rules and the process. "
The board voted to go into executive session at next month's meeting to discuss the possibility of changing the rules for self-exemption.
Waikiki resident Robert Kessler, who has been leading the effort to stop the project, filed a lawsuit on Monday asking the court to intervene and has filed a request for a temporary restraining order that will be heard Aug. 24 before Judge Eden Hifo.
Kessler was hoping for stronger action from the council to support his court case.
"I was a little disappointed that they will carry this over to another meeting next month," Kessler said. "And with the progress the city is making on the project, the momentum issue may enter into the legal decision."
The council also voted to forward a summary of the written and submitted testimony to the city Department of Design and Construction along with a letter from Genevieve Salmonson, director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control detailing the concerns about the project.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
