Bill would establish state park along Kaiwi Coast

A bill to create a state park along East Oahu’s Kaiwi Coast is among a range of measures involving the state Department of Land and Natural Resources under consideration at the state Legislature.

Other proposals would facilitate the transfer of nonagricultural park lands to the state Department of Agriculture, increase staffing for the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, and create rules for surfing and commercial activities in Kaneohe Bay and other areas.

Senate Bill 2799 would establish a Kaiwi Coast State Park, comprising about 360 acres of state land that make up the Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline, which includes the popular Makapuu Point Lighthouse Trail, along with about 10 to 15 acres at Wawamalu Beach near Sandy Beach Park that are managed by the City and County of Honolulu. The bill would transfer the city land to DLNR.

Sen. Chris Lee (D, Hawaii Kai- Waimanalo- Kailua), who introduced the measure, said that without proper management, the area will “inevitably become overrun by invasive species and commercial interests or become subject to future development.”

Lee said residents and visitors increasingly are crowding the coastline, making the bill and conservation efforts more urgent.

“It’s been pretty difficult because during the last couple years … there’s been a lot more people out there,” Lee said. “(Kalanianaole Highway) itself has basically become a parking lot. If you drive through on a nice day, there’s cars parked lining the road for a long, long stretch.”

Consolidating management of the land in the shoreline area would help provide funding and staffing, Lee said. The bill itself would add three DLNR positions for park support and automatically designate all land added to the park as conservation land.

Lee and Honolulu City Councilman Tommy Waters recently joined community organizations such as the Hawaii Sierra Club and Livable Hawaii Kai Hui to celebrate an effort to preserve the coastline at Wawamalu Beach. The Jan. 25 event included a blessing for the placement of boulders meant to keep all-terrain vehicles from degrading the beach and killing vegetation.

It was the latest in an ongoing and decades-long effort by the community and local government to preserve the coastline’s natural state. To that end, in 2017, about 180 acres on the mauka side of Kalanianaole Highway were transferred to the nonprofit Livable Hawaii Kai Hui.

Discussions about putting up guard rails along the highway to keep vehicles on the road are taking place.

SB 2799 is similar to a 2020 legislative proposal that was well-received but sidelined when COVID-19 hit the state.

Waters, whose district includes Hawaii Kai, said he wasn’t familiar with the new bill but is generally supportive of letting the state manage the land so long as efforts to preserve the coastline continue and beach and ocean access isn’t restricted.

“If they want to take over the park, fine. So long as the surfers can go surf and the fishermen can go fish and the sunbathers can go sunbathe, that’s all good,” Waters said.

Ann Marie Kirk, a member of the Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, said she’s awaiting more discussion on SB 2799 before reaching an opinion on it but indicated there is good balance in having the coastline managed by multiple entities.

“I actually like the check and balance between the state, the city and the community … ,” she said. “It is not under one entity. You have more eyes looking at it.”

SB 2799 is scheduled for a hearing at 1 p.m. Monday before the Senate Committee on Water and Land.

Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, the Ka Iwi Coalition and Friends of Hanauma Bay supported the 2020 bill and the creation of a state park at the coastline. DLNR also supported the measure. A spokesman for the department declined to comment on SB 2799.

Park management is one of DLNR’s priorities during the current legislative session. The agency is focusing on boosting its budget to support park operations, bolster staffing in various divisions and for projects around the state.

Coming into the 2022 legislative session, DLNR said its goal was to add $31.7 million to its $161.7 million budget for fiscal year 2023 to help oversee 1.3 million acres of state forests and parks, 3 million acres of state waters and nearly 380 streams, as well as beaches, endangered and invasive species, and historical and cultural sites.

Roughly one-third of the department’s proposed supplemental budget, about $11.9 million, would go toward raising the spending ceiling of the Division of State Parks as tourism in Hawaii rebounds from COVID-19 closures and is expected to bring a $12 million increase in state park revenue by the end of the current fiscal year.

DLNR Chairwoman Suzanne Case, during a Jan. 11 informational briefing with lawmakers, noted the limited support for Hawaii’s state parks compared to other states. While visitation at Hawaii parks compares favorably to other sites around the country, the state is last in staffing, with only 128 positions to manage 52 parks.

The department also wants to increase the spending ceiling for its Land Division Fund by $3 million because “inflationary pressures have resulted in increased operating costs.” Case also said safety and health issues including dam safety, rockfall hazards and homeless encampments on public lands need to be addressed.

A $1.1 million request would go toward overtime costs and equipment for the Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s fire and emergency response program, a necessity as climate change is “making fires larger and more frequent,” according to DLNR.

In all, the supplemental budget would be used to add or restore 59 jobs at the department.

DLNR is also asking for $619,000 to fund existing positions in the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation that are without funding.

The department didn’t make requests for its understaffed law enforcement arm, the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, although it has been working to shore up staffing. Senate Bill 2659 was introduced this year to establish 20 new full-time enforcement officer positions.