KALAHEO — It has been a decade since initial public meetings were held regarding the master plan for Kokee and Waimea Canyon state parks.
Still, a final draft has not been adopted. But an end might be in sight.
During its meeting Wednesday at National Tropical Botanical Garden headquarters in Kalaheo, the Kokee State Park Advisory Council discussed the new, state-revised version of the plan.
“Over the years, it appeared that the plan for the park was being driven almost entirely toward revenue generation and over-commercialization,” Councilman Charles Wichman Jr. said.
Today, however, he and others, including former councilwoman Nancy Budd, believe progress has been made, with a greater focus on preservation and protection of the area.
“I personally am very optimistic,” Wichman said. “I feel like we’re going in the right direction.”
The original proposal — drawn up in 2003 by officials of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and a consultant — included a 40- to 60-room hotel with restaurant, a park entry gate to collect user fees, construction of new overlooks above Waimea Valley and several expanded parking areas.
Had she and others not carefully read through the proposal back then, Budd said “we would have a master plan that includes a hotel, an entry gate that would charge everyone (both residents and non-residents) and have a souvenir store at Waimea Canyon Lookout.”
Instead, the community came out to save the mountain from large-scale development, creating Kauai Community-One Voice for Kokee (better known as Save Kokee), an organization dedicated to preserving the parks. In 2008, the legislature created the Kokee State Park Advisory Council.
“Where we started and where we are now are really dramatically different,” Budd said.
Revisions and concerns
Before diving into specifics, Wichman told about 50 community members gathered Wednesday that they would be “pleasantly surprised” by the revisions recently adopted by the state.
“With the exception of the entry booth, we’re really close,” he said.
The proposed entry station includes a 100-square-foot gated booth for collecting fees from non-residents only, as well as a 500-square-foot roadside support building. It would be at mile marker 7, just above the junction of Waimea Canyon Drive and Kokee Road.
Aside from not wanting the entry station at all, concerns voiced Wednesday included that its location would create a large amount of traffic, as well as an additional stretch of roadway the park would be responsible for maintaining, rather than the Department of Transportation.
Wichman said the master plan is simply a “concept” and wants to make sure the state is willing to work with the advisory council to find an appropriate location.
Councilman Val Tsuchiya said he is against making additional changes to a document that has already taken 10 years to create.
“I think that we have been adjusting for a very long time,” he said. “And we may have become part of the problem, because we’re not moving things along. The (Board of Land and Natural Resources) makes the decision, anyway.”
Wichman said the purpose of Wednesday’s meeting, regardless of whether anyone from the public showed up or not, was to continue to fine-tune the plan until the council is comfortable with it, before presenting it to the DLNR.
Budd said the two biggest issues the community has with the plan have remained the same since the beginning — the entry station and having a retail store at Waimea Canyon Lookout.
Although some changes have been made, both are still in the revised plan.
Several people in the audience said it seems as if the state is looking at Kokee and Waimea parks as its cash cow.
Tek Nickerson said the money generated by the entry booth, or any other improvement, should satisfy Kokee and Waimea parks first, before the state gets a penny.
Kauai County Councilman Gary Hooser, who was instrumental in establishing the Kokee Advisory Council and now serves as an ex-officio representative, said the community has whatever power it is willing to take.
“It’s my opinion that citizen advisory committees should not approve any master plan that the community doesn’t support, regardless of what the state or anybody else says,” he said.
Mary Lu Kelley said it is a “show-stopper” for many, including herself, that the entry booth will not generate funds for Kauai, but rather go into a general fund to be distributed to parks around the state.
“We need to fight for what we want,” she said. “This council is my voice. I will tell you what I think. I think other people in the room will. I want it noted. I want it represented.”
Councilman Jose Bulatao Jr. said he is not in favor of an entry gate, unless it is necessary to raise revenues to protect and preserve the area.
The state has already done away with the advisory council’s previous suggestions for alternative revenue sources, a move aimed at supplementing having an entry booth.
“Getting this kind of stuff through the Legislature is not easy,” Wichman said of alternative revenue sources, adding that entry booths are one of the few tools state parks have to increase funds.
Hooser said the path toward user fees in state parks is a long one.
“We’re talking about the privatization of parks,” he said, adding that he believes public parks should be funded by tax dollars.
Another major issue with the plan over the years has been the commercialization of the park, specifically at the lookouts.
“The state has removed all the commercial concessions from all of the lookouts, with the exception of (Waimea Canyon Lookout),” Wichman said.
To the approval of the council, the revised plan no longer calls for a souvenir shop and concession stand, but simply a “snack concession.”
Wichman said making that lookout area a nice place for visitors — most of whom never make it past that point — is a good idea, as long as it doesn’t “turn into the trinket shop that we see Spouting Horn in.”
Wichman said trust in the state is one of the most important issues as the plan moves forward.
“The question really is, ‘What is the level of trust that, in the final design of this, the state will really work with the community and advisory council?’” he said.
In the end, Wichman believes the state could move forward without the approval of the advisory committee.
Stressing his earlier point, Hooser urged the council not to support a plan just because it believes it will pass.
Wednesday’s discussion also touched on the plan’s proposed improvements at the existing lodge and museum in Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow, as well as additional parking areas.
The Kokee State Park Advisory Council will meet again at 5 p.m. July 30 at the NTBG headquarters in Kalaheo.
