honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, January 10, 2005

Ha'iku Stairs before council again

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

KANE'OHE — More than two years have passed since the city spent $875,000 to repair the Ha'iku Stairs, but the public still has no legal access to the hike, and its fate now rests with the administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the City Council.

Hikers climb the 3,922-foot Ha'iku Stairs. The stairs' fate rests with Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the City Council.

Advertiser library photo • 2001

A land swap resolution that would have given the city access to the valley and enabled hundreds of homes to be built for Hawaiians was deferred last month by a City Council committee. The committee is sorting out new provisions in a deal that would give the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands about 52.7 acres in 'Ewa in exchange for about 65.6 acres in Ha'iku Valley.

The Friends of Haiku Stairs would like the stairs managed and hikers controlled through a permitting process.

If the stairway is opened again, residents in the community say they want the management plan to protect the community from hundreds of people trespassing through yards on weekends, littering roads, taking up all the street parking and using residents' water without permission from before dawn until after sunset.

"All we're asking for is for the safety of ourselves and our kids," said Rae Leong, who lives near the stairs. "So we're asking the city to consider the impact to us before they make any decision."

The Council's Budget Committee will consider the land-swap resolution again at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Committee Meeting Room at Honolulu Hale.

Leong said she would like the mayor to answer three questions before a project is considered: Do we need it? Can we afford it? And can we maintain it?

"If he can answer those question as it relates to Ha'iku Stairs, then he should do the right thing," she said.

Ha'iku Stairs, also known as the Stairway to Heaven, is a 3,922-foot metal stepladder to the top of the Ko'olau Range, which has been closed to the public since 1987, when it fell into disrepair.

Since its repair was completed in 2002, hikers have illegally trespassed through neighboring property, causing considerable disruption to the neighborhoods, to climb the structure.

In 2003, at the peak of the dispute between hikers and the neighboring community, the city hired police and security guards, spending $1,500 a week to stop people from climbing the stairway.

Leong says too many issues surrounding the opening of the stairs remain unresolved, including access, liability and restrooms. Even with the land exchange, the road near the entry gate encroaches on a neighbor's property by five feet, she said, adding that the city would incur further cost because parking and restrooms would have to be built.

If the management is made up of volunteers, then what's to ensure the community that they would be committed to the job, asked Jade Freitas, a stairway neighbor.

"Even if they go with the permits, I think it will affect our neighborhood because those that don't have permits will come here again," Freitas said. "We're going to start having problems again. That's our concern."

Hannemann said the three questions will play a role in the decision process but he also will consider the desires of the hikers, the fact that money has been spent on the repairs and continues to be spent for security, and that there are concerns about the swap.

"I'm keeping a very open mind," Hannemann said. "But there's still a concern that I have that will probably affect my decision, and that is, we need to know the ongoing maintenance cost and we need to be clear what the liability is going to be."

The Friends of Haiku Stairs say opening the stairs would end the trespassing and related problems. And if the city turns over the management of the stairs to a private or nonprofit organi-

zation, issues such as maintenance and liability could also be addressed, said John Goody, president of the group.

The Friends are interested in operating the area, and other Hawaiian groups have expressed interest in preserving any historic sites there. Goody said making the area into a nature preserve would eclipse any potential development in the valley.

In the past some have called for dismantling the stairs, but Goody said since the stairs are a historic property, a costly environmental assessment would have to be done.

"It would cost more to tear them out than it would be to manage the property," he said. "And if you leave them unmanaged it's a continuation of what we have now."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.