PUHI, Kaua'i — The state's "recreational renaissance" isn't a scheme to commercialize Hawai'i's wild and natural places, an advocate said at the first in a series of public meetings about the $240 million proposal.

The program is an attempt to finance long-needed fixes for Department of Land and Natural Resources recreational facilities, said Curt Cottrell, manager of the DLNR's Na Ala Hele trails program.

"We essentially have balloon payments on our infrastructure," Cottrell told about 100 people at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Friday night.

Cottrell said he was originally skeptical about the plan himself, but is now so convinced it's right that he's on the DLNR team that's promoting it at a series of meetings on each major island.

The next community meeting on the plan is 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at Maui Waena Intermediate School in Kahului. Meetings on other islands have yet to be scheduled.

The plan would create a state special fund that could be used only for capital improvement projects to recreational facilities.

The state parks budget has declined every year for 22 years, said Marsha Erickson, executive director of Hui O Laka, a non-profit group that runs the Koke'e museum and bookstore and organizes extensive volunteer work in Koke'e State Park.

Erickson likened the disrepair of state recreational facilities to "a beautiful woman who forgot to take care of herself after she turned 40."

"I love the list. It's great," Kalaheo resident Jim Thompson, said of proposed capital improvement projects statewide, including $63.3 million for parks and related facilities on Kaua'i, $40.9 million for Maui County, $58.3 million for the Big Island and $72.6 million for O'ahu.

But Thompson urged the state to make the list flexible to allow for urgent needs such as reopening Kaua'i's Polihale State Park, closed since December because of flood damage. State officials have estimated repairs for the park at $4 million.

Another concern voiced at the meeting was proposed collection and use of park entry fees.

The plan calls for out-of-state visitors to pay entry fees at high-traffic state parks, at nominal rates such as $5 per car or $1 per walk-in visitor, Cottrell said. Hawai'i residents would not be charged, he said.

Kilauea resident Maka'ala Ka'aumoana said she wasn't happy about Ha'ena State Park on Kaua'i's north shore being listed as one of the parks where tourists will be charged an entry fee.

The community has been working for 20 years to improve the care of the park, and residents believe any money collected from visitor fees should stay at that park, Ka'aumoana said.

The financial foundation of the recreational renaissance is using lease-rent income from currently leased state lands to pay off the first $40 million of bonds, said Morris Atta, DLNR Land Division administrator.

New sources of income will have to be tapped to successfully pay off the additional $200 million in bonds proposed, Atta said.

None of the state-owned land envisioned for development is in natural areas, Atta told the Advertiser after the public meeting.

High-priority land that has strong development potential includes acreage near the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus and the proposed light rail line, Atta said.

Others include a former quarry in Hilo suitable for an industrial park; West Hawai'i land slated for a co-operative commercial and industrial project with the Department of Hawaiian Homelands; and the old Campbell feed lot on O'ahu.