Ka Iwi work awaits vote
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
The state hopes to begin construction in June on long-awaited safety improvements and underground placement of utility lines along the Ka Iwi shoreline.
There is one last hurdle in the planning process for the Department of Land and Natural Resources: the final vote before the City Council May 11 on the state's request for a shoreline management area use permit.
Yesterday, the council's zoning committee voted unanimously to pass the measure along to the full council.
The project calls for two parking lots — one near the triangle pullout of the Makapu'u lookout overlooking the Windward coastline and the other near the trailhead to the Makapu'u lighthouse — and underground placement of utility lines along the coastline.
The community has been vocal over the state's plans and has repeatedly stated its vision to keep this area — the only open space along the southeastern shoreline — as untouched as possible.
The $5 million project is being paid with federal money, said Dan Quinn, state Department of Land and Natural Resources parks administrator.
This is the second time the state has had to obtain city approval for the permit. The first approval was in 2001, but the permit expired because of bureaucratic delays over obtaining ownership agreements among state, city and Hawaiian Home Lands, Quinn said. The state has been working on the project since a master plan on the entire area was adopted in 1996.
"The lookout that looks over the Windward side now is not a real safe situation," Quinn said yesterday at the zoning committee hearing. He also said the state wanted to make the improvements "as natural as possible."
As part of the city's recommendation for permit approval, the state will be barred from allowing commercial activities in the parking lots. That includes tour buses of a certain size, Quinn said. Signs will be posted in the lookout parking lots. But school buses will be accommodated at the lighthouse lot with a turnaround area so that students can be dropped off, he said. In addition, the lot will be locked at night, he said.
City Councilman Charles Djou said he supported the project because it provides better access to the Ka Iwi area.
"It's very needed," Djou said. "The current conditions present very serious traffic safety problems. My only big complaint on this is that I wish it started yesterday."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
