Posted on: Friday, November 26, 2004
Hale'iwa pier to ease pinch
By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state is planning to spend $909,000 to build a floating pier at Hale'iwa Boat Harbor that would add 22 much-needed boat slips, but the expansion will cut the waiting list by only about one-third for people who have been hoping for years for a spot in the only harbor on the North Shore.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser Building of more slips is dependent on state financing, he said.
"Clearly there is demand at the Hale'iwa harbor and this will help address that," Thompson said. "It will create some additional boating opportunities for that community and is overdue. It will help fill a need out there."
Scott Wallace has been waiting for a slip to open up in Hale'iwa for more than five years. He thinks he is about No. 17 on the list, but knows he is not guaranteed one of the new slips because they are assigned not only by time on the list but also by slip size. He wants a slip for a boat up to 50 feet long and plans to buy a sailboat costing more than $1 million once his name is selected.
"I can't purchase the boat until I get close to a slip," Wallace said. "I've identified the boat, but I'm not going to complete the sale until I know I have a slip."
Wallace attended one of the public meetings on the pier project and said the state has done a good job informing the public about plans. He is hopeful that if not selected this time, he will at least be at the top of the list.
"In case something happens to my mom, I get screwed up and we'd have to move the boat somewhere," Sennett said. "They could make a whole 'nother harbor, so many people waiting."
"There is an absolute shortage of slips throughout the state," Wallace said. "I think the state is addressing solutions. It is a long process but at least it has begun. There is an industry to be had there — boat maintenance, repair — and Hawai'i is missing the boat on this issue."
To comment on the Hale'iwa Boat Harbor replacement, repairs and Improvement project, write to the Department of Land & Natural Resources, 1151 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, HI 96813, Attention: Eric Hirano.
Include copies for the consultant and the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.
The deadline for public comment is Dec. 23.
The new Hale'iwa pier will be supported by reinforced concrete piles and is a floating pier, which will make it more pliable than a fixed pier during heavy winter swells on the North Shore.
The 232-foot pier, to be alongside the existing pier, will accommodate boats from 36 to 50 feet long. It will have a central walkway and finger piers with rust-resistant aluminum frames and fiberglass-grating decks. The fiberglass grating is used to reduce uplift force on the structure caused by wave surges. Recycled plastic "lumber" will be specified for construction where wood is normally used and a rubber fender system will be installed.
Thompson said American Marine Corp. has been awarded the contract for the project. Work is expected to begin next year and take about a year to complete.
The major effect of construction is expected to be the noise generated by driving 17 concrete pilings into the harbor. The work will be done from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, according to the assessment.
Other effects include traffic, vibration and dust during construction.
The floating pier and the materials selected are designed to eliminate the problem with spalling, or crumbling, Thompson said. Spalling has rendered some piers useless at boat harbors at Wai'anae, Ala Wai, Hale'iwa and Port Allen on Kaua'i.
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources this month decided to hold public hearings on what would be the first fee increases in 10 years at the state's 21 small boat harbors and 54 boat ramps. The fee increases would generate an additional $1.5 million a year to pay for major repairs and maintenance at the harbors but not new piers.
Reach James Gonser at 535-2431 or jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com.
The work is part of the state's long-range plan to increase ocean recreation and commercial activities and reduce the waiting time for a slip, which can be a decade long or more at the more popular harbors, according to Stephen Thompson, O'ahu boating manager for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Plans call for Hale'iwa harbor's new floating pier to be built extending out from the spot where the boat in the foreground is moored.
There are 65 people on the waiting list at Hale'iwa for various sizes of slips, and hundreds waiting for openings at the most popular harbors statewide, including those at the Ala Wai, He'eia Kea and Lahaina, Maui. The state this week filed a draft environmental assessment for the new pier and is seeking public comment.
Commercial fisherman Steven Sennett has been on the waiting list for two years. He is a second-generation fisherman who put his name on the list after his father died. According to state rules, a slip cannot be passed down to a child but it can go to a spouse, and the slip is in his mother's name.
Steven Sennett
According to the draft environmental assessment, the harbor has 67 boats moored in the inner basin and 24 in slips on one existing pier. The busy harbor has boat-launching ramps and trailer parking that are used by 40 to 50 boats a day on weekends and can be triple that during tournaments.
Weigh in on harbor plan
