LIHU‘E — The county is looking to impose a $10 parking fee for visitors at certain county beach parks.
Back in July 2021, the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation embarked on a parking study funded by a portion of its American Rescue Plan Act allocation.
The study focused on parking habits at Black Pot Beach Park in Hanalei, Lydgate Park in Wailua and Po‘ipu Beach Park.
The study, conducted on three days between July 20 and 25, counted cars three times per day, at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The study found that on average, Black Pot saw about 239 cars per day, Lydgate around 247 cars per day and Po‘ipu to have 691 cars per day.
But the study may not be an accurate representation of the island’s use of beach parks.
“DOPR staff believes that a few factors may have caused the counts to be lower than normal for that time of year,” the study states, pointing to bad weather, the pandemic and the Hanalei landslide that restricted traffic in and out of the North Shore.
However, the study still found that overuse of the parks is doing damage.
“The results … indicate continuous high usage of these valuable resources, which leads to harming of the park, depletion of resources and safety concerns for the community,” the study states.
“Without an organized parking area with consistent enforcement of safety rules, the number of park users exceeds the facility capacity. If all the parking stalls are taken, users park their vehicles in the road right of way and sometimes in the park grounds.”
The study indicates that a high number of users puts a strain on bathroom and pavilion facilities, too.
“Further, the repairs of damage to the natural landscape from illegal parking depletes resources,” the study continued.
The $10 price point is in line with rates at state parks, including Ha‘ena State Park and Waimea Canyon State Park, and would not be applicable to Kaua‘i residents.
The Kaua‘i County Council, which meets Wednesday, will have both a resolution and Draft Bill No. 2943 in front of them to decide if the county will impose these fees.
This is all made possible through Ordinance 1087, formerly Bill No. 2805, which passed through the council in December 2020. The ordinance stipulates that any fees derived from parking fees would be added to the Special Trust Fund for Parks and Playgrounds and stay in the “respective district in which such fees were generated.”
Violations of any parking ordinance would come with a $100 first-offense fine. Upwards of two offenses would result in a fine of up to $500.
The council will take up the issue on Wednesday at its 8:30 a.m. meeting available to watch at kauai.gov/webcastmeetings.
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Sabrina Bodon, editor, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
Don’t visitors already pay enough taxes? Shouldn’t we get something for all of the taxes that we pay while on the island? Ok, we get roads, but they are nothing great. Paying for parking (taxes) every time we goto a beach just seems annoying. Before long Kauai will feel like a paid parking lot. Also, I’ll just goto another beach that I don’t have to pay to park at.
Do u know how much I pay to live here? Quit your whining! Maybe vacation somewhere else if u not happy what happening here or just buy the island like Ellenson did Lanai.
Do you know how much I spend while there that helps your economy?
The County of Kauai recently imposed a 3% transient accommodations tax, when added to the 10.25% existing transient accommodations tax plus the 4.7025% general excise tax totals to almost 18%. Don’t you think that visitors already pay enough? The County will probably contract with the same private company that the State of Hawaii uses in Kokee to collect the parking fees. I want to know what percentage of the fees will actually go to the County of Kauai, what percentage of the fees will go the the parking company and how much of the amount the County will receive will actually go to improve the parks. The State is collecting massive amounts of fees at Kokee, yet the condition of the roads as you approach Kalalau lookout is absolutely deplorable. Monster potholes in the main Kalalau lookout parking lot and an obstacle course to avoid a myriad of potholes between the Kokee meadow and the end of the road. Someone at the State of Hawaii is not doing their job….
How about no rental cars for those on a cruise?
Another bad idea that will force more visitors into areas with NO bathrooms, lifeguards and facilities.
It seems a much better way to achieve this, is by adding a fee to all rental cars to offset the cost, allowing the visitor more options while still collecting the added desired tax.
This would make the most sense – it would cost the county nothing to collect, unlike as others have said having to hire a private company to collect the fee (and keep a large percentage for doing so), and it would avoid more visitors going to beaches where they would cause more damage and possibly need to be rescued. Just add $5 or $10 a day to rentals to non-residents. However I think the bill as it is currently written only allows parking fees, and those fees staying in the specific district where they are collected — I’m sure that can be changed or fixed though!
If fees are imposed at popular county parks the masses of visitors will then migrate to the currently lesser used areas and pollute these areas with toxic sunscreens and big sprays and plastic garbage.
A better idea would be to impose a $50 fee country wide for all visitor parking at all beaches outside these high use zones except if they are actively traveling with a local guide. This would create economic opportunity for many young local people to create a guide business and add knowledge of local culture and history to the visitor experience while simultaneously keeping the beaches spacious and clear for people to use. Local guides would need to be licensed through the country. And online reviews would assure that only guides providing good service to the visitors would receive consistent bookings.
“country-wide” ?????? all the way to Maine? and west to Midway?
It’s about time! Visitors use these parks for free, supported by our tax dollars, there is no money from visitor use going directly to the parks as the visitor tax goes to maintain roads etc. We also need entry fees for the parks too so that they can be maintained properly against the huge number of visitors coming over here by both plane and cruise ship.
Imposing a fee like that will only make people search for out of the places where there might be no parking at all. Are these the same people who, when rebuilding black pot beach, didn’t count on the fact that people who cannot get a Kee beach permit will wind up at Hanalei. Perhaps a 10 $ parking fee can be added at car rental time? The parking in Waimea canyon is a joke as well. They charge money but the parking lots are not maintained.
“However, the study still found that overuse of the parks is doing damage.”
Overuse doing damage? That’s an actual concern?
How about the park at Vidinha? The one next to the War Memorial? It has 3 baseball fields used regularly by kids baseball and NO bathrooms. The park is lined with homeless people who use it as a bathroom. Sleeping in the dugouts. Feces by the pitcher’s cage. Garbage everywhere! Kids must use the bushes, as must parents who watch the games, if they can find one without a homeless person’s pile of trash.
Perhaps a $10 pooping fee for the homeless would offer financial incentive for our leaders to DO SOMETHING.
This Park Is A BioHazard. Any concern there?
I am a long time visitor to Kauai. I have visited every summer except for 2020 (pandemic), for 33yrs. I stay between two to three weeks. I am an active, adventurous person and spend most of my time enjoying Kauai’s beauty and Mana. I stay on the north shore and believe that charging $10 parking for visitors
Good job, FINALLY!
While your at it, how about DLNR, DOPAR or KPD cite the vehicles parked on the bike path side walk at Wailua Beach Park? Almost daily cars are parked on it on the North side of Wailua Bridge. Some even park on the sand bags that was recently placed to stop the erosion.
Ian said:
Don’t visitors already pay enough taxes? Shouldn’t we get something for all of the taxes that we pay while on the island? Ok, we get roads, but they are nothing great. Paying for parking (taxes) every time we goto a beach just seems annoying. Before long Kauai will feel like a paid parking lot. Also, I’ll just goto another beach that I don’t have to pay to park at.
THIS is the kind of entitled tourist we have been getting. Tax the heck out of them and charge them to park at every beach. Better yet, don’t let them rent a car in the first place. SMH. No wonder so many residents are anti-tourist.
Hey Robert – thanks for bringing this up. I’m the President of RSBA and the two parks you mentioned are important to us. I’m contacting Parks and Rec to see what they can do for those parks.
In the meantime, I’m going to see if I can work with the Baseball and Soccer association to try and partner with them to provide safe temporary bathrooms for the moment. If you know who to reach out to or wouldn’t mind connecting me, please reach me at kauairsba@gmail.com. Thank you again for bringing this up!
This is a hard decision.. I see the points given, but I think it’ll push people to search out other quieter beaches they can access for free and we all know how that goes.
I think, instead, they should fix up a couple more beaches that can be designated tourist beaches with enough parking and restrooms. I mean, there is so much coast on the east side barely touched. Maybe make another state park like Lydgate with swimmable ponds? Haha I know it kind of sounds impossible, but adding fees will add to more people going where we don’t want them to go.. (if you know what I mean.) It’ll get more areas of the island shut down.
It’s a hard call for sure.