More hearings planned on Koke‘e plan

LIHU‘E — Members of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday procedurally approved a draft master plan for the Koke‘e and Waimea state park which proposes new uses for more than 110 recreational cabins, an entry area, an entrance fee system, and major infrastructure improvements.

Meeting at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in Lihu‘e, board members said their action is not final, though, and that it opens the way for more public input that could be inserted into a final master plan they will vote on in the future.

New recommendations could alter the shape and location of the gateway entrance, establish a two-tier fee system for tourists and residents, and determine how the cabins are to be used and how long they are to be rented or leased, state Department of Land and Natural Resources officials said at the land board meeting.

Cabin lessees breathed sighs of relief because the draft master plan doesn’t lock in any proposals.

“I think it is important that the board has heard the voices of the people of Kaua‘i,” said Frank O’ Hay, leader of the Koke‘e Leaseholders Association. “And we are confident they will make intelligent and wise decisions for the good of the community.”

Board Chairman Peter Young, Ron Agor, Kaua‘i’s representative on the land board, and board member Timothy Johns directed staffers with the DLNR Division of State Parks and a consultant to gather more comments from the public, hold at least five public hearings on Kaua‘i this year, and present a final plan to the board.

“While the process has been going for awhile, this is still very much the beginning of the process,” Young said.

Leaseholder Paul Matsunaga said he was heartened to hear that Young, Johns and Agor remained flexible in the development of the final master plan.

Agor said the draft master plan is a working document, and that board members have not decided what form the final plan will take.

“It is far from being a done deal,” Agor said. “Before us today is a draft master plan. It is just a draft.”

But Kilauea resident Claire Mortimer urged the board to reject the plan outright.

She said most of the speakers at a Thursday-night briefing on the plan at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall had opposed the plan.

Mortimer said “thousands of us have signed petitions, and I hope you are acknowledging that.”

Once approved, the master plan calls for a major redesign that will affect the look and feel of the 6,182-acre park complex, a world-renowned visitor destination that is among the busiest state parks in Hawai‘i.

During yesterday’s meeting, board members, as a way to move the process along to develop a master plan, endorsed the preparation of an environmental impact statement.

Agor said the study will provide additional information, including information on cultural resources, that will help guide board members in determining the form of the master plan.

Among four options outlined in the draft master plan, consultants and DLNR staffers voiced preference for one.

The (remedial-improvement plan) calls for the preservation of the character of the park through the upgrading of visitor amenities, infrastructure and utilities “in a manner that reinforces the park’s historic character,” according to a DLNR report.

Board members also plan to hire through the bid process a company that would manage the recreational leases.

That may not happen, though, if new data and input from residents show otherwise, Agor said. “They may say that the master lessee may not work, and then again, we may find it is good thing,” Agor said following the meeting.

Many of the cabin-lessees won their leases in an auction in 1985. The agreement stipulates all of the leases are to expire December 2006.

Many of the leaseholders have said they have been good stewards of the land for the past 20 years.

They have invested funds to improve their cabins, and have volunteered to repair park faculties and clear trails.

In the past five years, the Koke‘e Leaseholders Association members said they have put up $100,000 to that end.

The leaseholders wanted to renew their leases, but DLNR officials want to terminate the leases in accordance with the original lease agreements.

The DLNR staff also wanted to shorten the leases to allow as many Hawai‘i residents as possible to use the cabins, Daniel Quinn, administrator of the DLNR Division of State Parks, told the board.

Under the current conditions, leaseholders will most likely not be able to renegotiate their leases, although they will have the chance to bid for them through an auction, Hay said.

Hay said what bothers him is that the state leases call for the taking of the cabins without compensation to the cabin lessees.

“The cabins clearly belong to the leaseholders, and for the state to confiscate private property without a penny in compensation is not only morally and ethically wrong, but very likely unconstitutional,” Hay said in a statement he was to deliver to the board members.

Quinn said he understands the viewpoints of the leasholders, but noted the leases, by law, are to expire by December 2006.

State officials had originally set a December 2005 deadline for most of the cabin leases, and extended the deadline for a year partly to accommodate the cabin lessees, state DLNR officials have said in the past.

In his testimony, Hay also contended:

• The plan to turn the recreational cabins to vacation rentals was flawed;

• The gateway entry is not necessary. A better way to generate funds for state parks would be to impose a 50-cent increase in the rental-vehicle surcharge. Doing so would raise $5.3 million a year that could be spent on state parks throughout Hawai‘i, Hay said.

Some residents attending the meeting said the gateway entry would make it difficult for residents to get to the park complex. One local man said the proposed gateway project amounts to yet another way to keep locals from accessing resources.

West Kaua‘i resident Juan Wilson said he also doesn’t want to see a gateway put up near the 7- mile marker on the road that goes up to Koke‘e State Park.

Instead, a ranger station and emergency parking area and parking for park staffers should be established, an idea Agor liked.

“I would like the staff to consider not having a physical gate, and allow people with local driver’s licenses to be exempted from fees,” he said.

Young said the gateway entry is a touchy subject with Kaua‘i residents, and indicated building such a structure may not be such a good idea.

“I agree gates create barriers, and we are talking about places people want to go to, and we want them to go and enjoy,” Young said.

Mortimer said residents shouldn’t have to pay the fee because they already pay taxes.

Young said DLNR officials never intended to charge everyone entering the park the same fee.

Residents with Hawai‘i drivers licenses don’t pay when they enter Hanauma Bay on O‘ahu, while visitors pay, he said.

The fee structure for entering Koke‘e and Waimea state parks could be structured so “that kind of model could apply,” Young said.

Related to discussions on funds for the park complex, board member Johns cautioned that alternate funding will have to be found if such projects are eliminated from the plan.

If leaders in the state Legislature or DLNR don’t want to set aside funds for the improvements, the current conditions at the park complex and current budgeting for it is likely to remain the same, Johns said.

As the next step toward developing the master plan, DLNR staffers took key recommendations from audience members.

Leaseholder Wayne Jacintho proposed:

• Passing legislation to redirect a pro-rata share of the gas taxes from the state Department of Transportation to the DLNR Division of State Parks for equipment and staffing;

• Increasing lease rents by 50 percent;

• Requiring members of the Koke‘e Leaseholders Association to pay service fees, remove alien species and go to other properties to continue their work;

• Allowing leaseholders to keep their cabins after their leases end;

• Leaving all lessees in private hands;

• Constructing a new lodge with 20 to 30 rooms in the meadows. The new lodge would operate in conjunction with rental cabins that are currently operated near the Koke‘e Museum;

• Rejecting a proposal to have a company holding a master lease for the recreational cabins;

Pat Finberg, a leader with the Ka Imi Na‘auao O Hawai‘i Nei, a nonprofit group working on Native Hawaiian issues, said her group serves the community, and that it would want a direct lease for the cabin.

Agor said he also would like to see provisions inserted into the master plan to protect Native Hawaiian gathering and access rights in the state-park complex.

Also attending the meeting was state Rep. Ezra Kanoho, D-East Kaua‘i-South Kaua‘i, and Lynn McCrory, a former Kaua‘i representative on the land board.

Excerpts from the draft master plan can be seen at www.malamaokokee.org.

Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.