HA‘ENA — The Kaua‘i Police Department is moving to address chronic illegal parking on Kuhio Highway near Ha‘ena State Park under a new law.
House Bill 601 (now Act 128) was signed into law by Gov. David Ige in late June. County police chiefs may now designate county employees who are not police officers to issue citations for certain traffic violations.
This allows over-extended police departments to maintain traffic enforcement in remote areas, according to bill author and staet House Rep. Nadine Nakamura, who represents the North Shore and portions of the Eastside.
“It does not just affect Ha‘ena, but many other communities impacted by just too many visitors,” Nakamura said.
Community organization The Hanalei Initiative began operating the North Shore Shuttle from the Waipa park-and-ride lot to Ha‘ena State Park in mid-July. Organizers say the shuttle is successfully driving down illegal parking on Kuhio Highway, but enforcement is still needed.
“The minute we leave, it ramps up,” said Joel Guy, the initiative’s executive director.
Mark Begley, assistant chief of the KPD Patrol Services Bureau, told The Garden Island the department is developing a new county position.
“This is a lengthy process which will require approval from county human resources, County Council and the Mayor’s Office, followed by recruitment, screening, hiring and training,” he said in an email.
In the meantime, KPD is increasing police enforcement activity on the North Shore. KPD is also partnering with the county’s Department of Parks &Recreation to train park rangers to issue parking citations in county parks, and determining the feasibility of reestablishing a limited, reserve police officer program dedicated to parking violations, according to Begley.
The Hanalei Initiative is very excited by the promise of police involvement, claimed Guy, who believes it marks the end of Ha‘ena’s parking woes.
“It’s a chronic issue, but once again, I think it won’t be,” Guy explained. “Because the county is stepping up their enforcement, it’ll get solved real quickly.”
The executive director said his prognostication is based on the outcome of a June 2019 enforcement campaign, when the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority put up $140,000 to pay off-duty cops to issue tickets.
“It took a little bit, but we saw that the behaviors were corrected pretty quickly with that kind of fine,” Guy said. “So we’re optimistic.”
Parking violators on state highways are subject to a $235 ticket as of 2019, up from $35. But now Nakamura, who introduced the $200 surcharge, wonders if the fine is high enough to carry weight, regardless of enforcement rates.
“When we went from $35 to $235, some people were saying, ‘Are you crazy? That’s so much,” Nakamura said. “Now people are saying, ‘Wait a minute, that’s too low. It’s cheaper for people to just park illegally.’”
Guy acknowledged Nakamura’s point, noting shuttle rides cost $35 per passenger. A visiting family of five may conceivably decide to pay the $235 fine to access Ha‘ena State Park, rather than spend $175 on shuttle tickets.
Nakamura will consider moving to increase the fine if her constituents can reach a consensus, noting the current fine followed years of community discussion.
“I always go back to the group because it was really a community-based decision to do that,” she said. “We would want to follow a similar process.”
Local parking at
Ha‘ena State Park
Kaua‘i residents should have no problem finding parking at Ha‘ena State Park, which limits public access to 900 individuals per day.
Guy said daily ticket sales, which visitors require, are based on locals’ attendance numbers.
“If 900 a day is the cap, and if we’re seeing 100 residents a day in there, then we don’t want to sell more than 800 tickets,” he explained.
The goal is a system that never calls on locals to wait for access.
“It’s like night and day. If you go to Ha‘ena Beach Park, it’s absolute chaos. If you go down to Ha‘ena State Park, it’s completely welcoming,” Guy said. “There’s almost never a time that you can’t just pull in and park.”
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Scott Yunker, general assignment reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or syunker@thegardenisland.com.
Why doesn’t the County invest in reasonable facilities for its most important industry – tourism – instead of penalizing people and spoiling what is for many, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Take the long term view and not a painful short term band-aid.
What 800 isn’t enough? Then how many should our taxpayers fund for -3000, 5000? Let’s turn Haena into SoCal!
The amount of cars is secondary to our island’s and locals ability to absorb.
I ah, take it, you don’t hit Haena that much?
Right now, it is like a funeral home. The “900” are spread out through the day. Most are hard scheduled via online reservations for half in the morning and half in the afternoon. Visitors are having a tough time with the online reservations. Kauai is not this otherworldly island that has been blessed by the Gods. It is a state park that has been strangled by the local mafia.
I get it…it is all about you. You are here, the visitors and tourists are the bad people, and you want them to go away. You are part of the 70K on this island that complain endlessly about our ONLY industry.
Shuttles are the only answer for Haena, maybe Hanalei too. I’d rather have my street resurfaced than spend more on added parking infrastructure so more tourists can clog our streets, harass our seals and turtles.
A $235 ticket for knowingly parking illegally is a slap on the wrist to the blatant, entitled, disrespectful visitor. A boot or tow away would be a firmer deterrent with a $1,000 fee would change most arrogant tourists into believers of respect.
A reserve officer program is an excellent idea, however employing “Uncle” that lives down the street to write $750 tickets (For the first 2 hours of violation), coupled with a $1,000 tow or boot after that would be create many believers. Harsh? No. This is the new normal to deter violent local reaction. Disrespect should NOT be tolerated in anyone’s home. Let’s not forget, tourists are visiting our home, most are respectful. The violators weren’t taught well by their parents, we can kindly educate them.
The north shore near Haena is rapidly turning into a total vigilante zone. The locals control the parking and now the ticketing as well. The shuttle — which is basically a short minibus ride — costs an unreal $35/person. There is almost no overnight parking for backpackers on the trail. If the north shore is allowed to chase everyone out, why can’t those of us on the south shore do the same?
Totally agree, I have lived here my entire life and now have to avoid North and South Shores due to the over population of tourists.
It is also starting to happen unfortunately on the West.
We need to limit the amount of tourist to the islands. We have limited resources and infrastructure yet we keep ‘taxing” the island, soon it will all be gone.
Joe you may want to re-read my note. I am not talking about tourists but instead the Haena locals. They have managed to make the north shore nearly inaccessible for visitors. OK, that’s fine, but if they can do that, why can’t the rest of the island? It makes zero sense to me that the locals control the access. They have no interest in having visitors there and will continue to make it as expensive / painful as they can. I want the same rules applied to the north that apply everywhere else.
i agree but must be careful in talking