WAIMEA — The county wrapped cleanup of Lucy Wright Park last week, removing rotten planks on the baseball backstop, replacing fencing and removing and trimming trees.
County Director of Parks and Recreation Director Patrick Porter said the estimated cost of the cleaning was about $25,000 after 13 months of continuous use.
This is substantially less than the cost to rehab ‘Anini and Anahola beach parks, which came in around $90,000.
All three parks were used for the county’s Shelter-in-Place program instituted during the coronavirus pandemic to give the houseless community places to live with running water and access to bathrooms and social services.
The county is still in the process of transitioning out of the program, and the final two beach parks, Lydgate and Salt Pond, will close in the coming months. Over 200 individual permits were issued free of charge across five county beach parks monthly for the program which began March 2020.
In addition to taking out an unstable coconut tree on the property, trash, soot and feces found in a concrete drain between Kaumuali‘i Highway and the park were removed, Porter said. The clean-up began May 3 and went to May 14.
“A network of hand-dug trenches was filled up,” Porter said. “Trenches were found that redirected rainwater from entering structures.”
But the work isn’t finished. Porter said toilets and sinks still need to be replaced. A leaky outdoor shower still remains on the property.
The park will not reopen for recreational camping. In 2019, the county issued 377 permits to over 1,026 campers. Campground permits typically run $3 per person per night, with exemptions for Hawai‘i residents and children under 18. When the campgrounds were operating, the department would shut them down for about two hours one day a week for cleaning and other maintenance.
During its last month of service in April 2021 to the houseless community, the county had issued 30 permits.
Upgrades to the park include leveling, dressing and lining the baseball field for youth sports, Porter said.
Wow. You guys did a good job. Of all the places and parks I have seen on Kaua’i, what is the most requested hang out for families or tourist in Waimea? And they said let’s go to Lucy Wright park to have our lunch. And I see families there every time. Cleaning things up. That is a good thing. Remember who brings in the income. Then you’ll see why they chose to clean this park up. Go gettem….
If you actually read the sign it says nothing about “overnight campers”. It just states “persons in campground during closure are in violation”. So, the people sitting having lunch are in violation? I’m think the wording on the sign must be misstated?
Compared to the cost of providing rental housing for all those people for all that time this was extremely cheap! It was not a bad idea for a way to handle homelessness.
Is there some other bit of land that could be set aside for homeless camping, so they don’t have to camp illegally elsewhere?
Close those parks for a few months to give it a rest for a while after all of the abuse it has received over the months
That rest stop rest room was the most disgusting place on Kaua’i. It was an embarrassment to stop there with visitors before heading up the canyon. Short of bulldozing it down I don’t think there is enough bleach on the island to make that bathroom any better.