How a proposed storm drainage channel would impact the native limu of 'Ewa Beach is at the center of a challenge now before the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.

A study funded by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which is representing a lifelong limu gatherer in the contested case hearing, contends that Haseko's $2 million Kaloi Gulch drainage way project at the eastern end of One'ula Beach Park could have serious adverse impacts on the native limu beds at the park, also known as Hau Bush, as well as oceanfront along the rest of the 'Ewa Beach coastline.

But a separate study from an expert contracted by Haseko, the developer constructing the 500-foot wide channel, said his analysis shows there would be no impacts on the limu.

Haseko is seeking a conservation district use permit for the drainage way, which the developer says is critical for the continued development of the Kapolei area, including construction of the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' East Kapolei housing development.

'Ewa Beach resident Michael Kumukauoha Lee, through the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., is challenging Haseko's application, contending that the widened channel would destroy native limu that he learned to gather and use as a medicinal remedy from descendants through the generations.

A study done by Brian Lapointe, a research professor at the Florida-based Center for Coastal Research at Harbor Ranch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlanta University, said that testing of existing storm-water discharges showed "significant effects on both the taxonomic and chemical composition of limu communities."

LaPointe concluded that increasing the amount of storm water into the area will add to the growth of invasive, non-native species and degrade native limu communities not only at the Kaloi Gulch, "but also at Oneula Beach Park and other locations to the east and west."

Haseko's consultant, marine science professor Michael S. Foster of the California-based Moss Land Marine Laboratories, testified that his own report shows no adverse impacts based on "the absence of any significant differences in the abundance of particular types of limu or the ... seaweed assemblage between sites with existing drains and those without along the 'Ewa shoreline."

The two sides disagree on the methodology of the other's studies.

PARTIES MEET TODAY

David Frankel, the attorney with Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. handling the case for Lee, said Foster's study is flawed because non-drain sites he tested were too near drain sites. Foster, however, said the LaPointe's conclusions are invalid for the opposite reason — that he compared sites that were vastly different for reasons other than nutrients.

The contested case hearing began Thursday and the parties are scheduled to meet again today and Friday. The presiding officer in the proceedings is former state Health Director Larry Miike.

Frankel said there is no need for the improvements. "There is a berm at Kaloi Gulch that retains all the storm water that could flow down the gulch," he said. "So if you just left that berm in place, storm water would be detained and filtered, and evaporate, and would not directly reach the ocean."

He added that a previous plan called for the drainage way to be diverted into Haseko's upcoming marina, which is adjacent to the park. Frankel said that plan would have been preferable because the marina could act as a sediment basin, trapping harmful sediments from flowing into the ocean.

Haseko assistant vice president Sharene Saito Tam said the Haseko project is actually at the bottom of the gulch which actually begin 10 miles mauka above Makakilo. The city determined that the existing gulch is not enough to handle overflow in the event of a major storm and requires the company to work with other developers in the area to come up with a drainage plan for the entire 'Ewa Plains region.

Tam said it was the city's decision to disallow using the marina as the main drainage basin for Kaloi "due to concerns about the Honouliuli Sewage Treatment Plant's outfall pipe" into the ocean. That required Haseko to alter its land plans, she said.

CITY APPROVED A PERMIT

Besides not being a danger to limu, Tam said, the channel has long been viewed as a critical component to the development of the booming Kapolei-'Ewa region. Long-awaited projects such as the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus, the Salvation Army's Kroc Center and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' housing projects for homesteaders all are relying on the drainage way, she said.

Development of the channel-widening project is in addition to the money Haseko is spending to create retention and detention basins on its own property to deal with storm waters, she said.

The city has already approved a special management area use permit for the project.