HAENA — About 100 people attended a meeting Wednesday night at Camp Naue on the Haena State Park plan.
Alan Carpenter with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources outlined funding to go toward improving the park.
“We decided to dedicate funding that we had in our discretionary budget that was not intended to be used in this park, and we made a rapid decision,” he said.
“We took (funding) from other projects and we managed to encumber nearly $3 million within 10 days to set aside for this project.”
Carpenter credited the circumstances following the April floods as the main reason for the quick response for approval to make improvements to the park.
“Our vision is that we will build the improvements that are in the master plan rather than repairing things that just broke, and it doesn’t make sense to repair something that was washed away,” Carpenter said.
He said the septic system needs to be repaired and that the entire waterline, which was severely damaged during the flooding, is old and needs to be replaced.
Some expressed concern about drivers traveling too fast at the park and asked about speed limit enforcement. Some community members said signs should be posted to help reduce driving speeds.
Haena resident Elsa Flores Almaraz brought up the 100 parking stalls to be constructed.
“I want to know, are those stalls for residents in our community? Are they for all residents on island? Do permits need to be obtained to park in those stalls?” she asked.
A couple from Haena, Deborah Smith, who goes by “Lulu,” and Stanley Mahuiki, expressed the need to come up with a better way to manage the increased traffic overflow resulting from the cap in the plan which limits 900 people at the end of the road each day.
“It limits the amount of people going into the park, but it does not limit the amount of cars coming onto our roads,” Smith said.
She added that as a result, people will be parking on the road and in other places on the side of the road that will only make congestion worse.
Smith said there needs to be better communication with visitors, that they need to be better informed about the road closure and the fact that currently only residents can go to Haena and Wainiha.
She thinks this could help prevent a lot of frustration for both residents and visitors, as it causes a lot of confusion and inconvenience on the roadways.
Question for anyone who’s lived here more than 5 minutes: what’s the odds they get this right? 1 in 10? 1 in 50? Likely outcome is more regulations, less parking, costs money, needs online reservations, more traffic, more tourists, and several more well-paid bureaucrats. On Kauai we call this “progress”.
Haena resident Elsa Flores Almaraz brought up the 100 parking stalls to be constructed.
“I want to know, are those stalls for residents in our community? Are they for all residents on island? Do permits need to be obtained to park in those stalls?” she asked.
This is what I want to know too because the rest of the island residents driving up from our homes will never arrive in time to get one of these 100 spots. Unless we spend the night in Hanalei these parking spots will go to visitors staying on the north shore who are already nearby and up and out early as they are on mainland time.
Apparently Smith thinks public roads belong to her and her friends.
EVERYBODY, in EVERY neighborhood would love to limit access and traffic to only their neighbors and friends, but that’s not how PUBLIC roads work.
Those aren’t Smith’s roads. They aren’t Haena’s roads or Wainiha’s roads. They belong to everyone.
Is the North Shore now a private community for the rich, who can assume ownership of roads and limit public access to “their” shore?
Maybe Kilauea should limit trucks going through it to the North Shore. Maybe Kapa’a should only allow 2000 cars through it each day – or is it only the end of the road that gets the privilege to own public roads and limit their traffic?
Here’s a new masterplan that will solve all of the island’s traffic problems, for all residents, in all towns, villages and communities:
Beach use and parking limits for every location!
Let’s see… Ok, we give maybe 200 for Poli’s; at least 250, maybe 300, for Kekaha. Then, 500 for Shipwrecks, 750 for Brennecke’s (they’re popular). Kalapaki’s got Duke’s; they get 1500.
Eastside, we give maybe 200 for Fuji (gotta watch out for the keiki). Kealia’s kinda big, though; we’ll give them 1500.
Keep Anahola local – 50, max. We’ll let more go to Moloaa – 200, there, ‘cuz there’s no restrooms and they gotta leave quick.
The rest can go to Anini; 750 for them. Hanalei, though, they got shops, so just limit hours on the sand. 4 hrs max at Pinetrees, for the rest of the bay, can do 6hrs, 7 hrs if you got special permit for North of Lihue residents.
Gonna need lots of police, though. Maybe barbed wire, too – and checkpoints. Yeah, lotsa checkpoints.
Maybe I’ll run for Mayor.