Eroding slope worries Waipi'o Acres residents
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
Tall ironwoods and large cavities of eroding soil give an ominous look to the sloping hillside at the bend of an S-shaped roadway between Kipapa Park and the Waipi'o Acres subdivision.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"It can be dangerous," 16-year-old Aileen Perez said of the hillside along Wainihi Street, which is part of the 119-unit Kalani Gardens apartment complex owned by EAH of California. "I walk there every day and I've seen rocks fall. They should fix it, because you don't know what will happen. My (9-year-old) sister goes to Kipapa Elementary, so whenever we're walking there, we cross over to the other side of the street."
Erosion is taking its toll on the hillside lining Wainihi Street in Waipi'o Acres. People who live nearby are concerned about falling rocks and about the safety of children playing on the hillside.
Nineteen-year-old Dale Gapusan, a Waipi'o Acres resident who walks Wainihi Street regularly to catch the bus, said the threat of rocks falling from the hillside is heightened when it rains.
"It's just a matter of time before something happens," Gapusan said. "It's dangerous, especially for kids walking to and from school. I've seen rocks on the road when it rains, so it's also dangerous for (motorists)."
Carleen Lindborg, who has lived at Waipi'o Acres for 10 years, is concerned that children are playing on the hillside because there's no fencing or security to keep them out.
In response to community concerns, the Mililani/ Waipi'o/ Melemanu Neighborhood Board approved a second resolution in February requesting the city "evaluate the immediate and long-term safety of the hillside and its environs and to recommend how best to correct any dangerous situation arising from such an evaluation to prevent possible loss of life and property damage."
In March 2004, the board asked the city to contact the hillside's owner to explore how to best correct the dangerous situation. Timothy Steinberger, then director of the city Department of Design and Construction, notified the board in a May 2004 letter that the city owns Wainihi Street but the slope is the responsibility of the private owner.
Dick Poirier, Neighborhood Board chairman, said that while the hillside may "look like an accident waiting to happen," the February action was taken to get expert information. "Not being soil scientists or engineers, we can't determine imminent danger, so we want an expert to look at it and let us know," Poirier said.
The hillside is owned and managed by San Rafael, Calif.-based EAH, one of the largest nonprofit housing development corporations in California. Formerly known as Ecumenical Association of Housing, EAH expanded to Hawai'i in 1996 by acquiring the 380-unit Kukui Tower, as well as Kalani Gardens, whose residents had been facing a probable 300 percent increase in rent before EAH took over.
EAH established Hui Kauhale Inc., a Hawai'i nonprofit corporation, and secured more than $60 million in financing from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to rehabilitate both properties.
The previous owners of Kalani Gardens, however, did little to prevent what is occurring today. EAH inherited a retaining rock wall that covers less than one-third of Wainihi Street but nothing else. The middle section does not have a fence.
Kevin Carney, EAH's regional manager for Hawai'i, was unavailable for comment.
According to Neighborhood Board member and Waipi'o Acres resident Barbara "Pua" Iula, Carney told her last year that he was trying to mitigate the problem but had no funds to proceed. A retaining wall and removal of the ironwoods were among the options being considered, said Iula.
Iula believes the most serious erosion on the hillside is occurring because needles from the ironwood pile up, preventing vegetation from growing.
City Councilman Nestor Garcia, who has been working to resolve the hillside problem for more than a year, said a team of experts hired by EAH did a soil study on the slope between 1998 and 2000. The slope was found to be adequately stable, he said.
"They found the factor of safety to be greater than 2.0," added Garcia, noting that a 1.5 is the danger mark.
"I'm comfortable but not complacent about it," Garcia said when asked if he felt the hillside was safe. The councilman added he is still exploring sources of funding outside the city budget to help remedy the situation.
Iula said the problem is frustrating. Claiming to have no money, she said, is not an adequate response from the party responsible for fixing it.
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
