Kokee cabin lessees
can stay beyond 2006
One hundred privately built cabins in Kokee State Park can continue to be used as recreational residences when 20-year leases run out in 2006, the state Board of Land & Natural Resources decided yesterday.
But whether current leaseholders will get to negotiate or bid on new long-term leases for the state land under the cabins will not be decided until a Kokee and Waimea Canyon State Parks Master Plan and environmental impact statement are completed.
The master plan is to provide for improvements to trails, roads, picnic areas, bathrooms and the main lodge and restaurant, to be funded by an unspecified entry fee. Only one state park, Diamond Head, has an entry fee.
Meanwhile, the state Parks Division will study the concept of one "master" lease manager, which would manage the restaurant and lodge and could lease cabins for short or long periods.
The uncertainty bothered a number of leaseholders at yesterday's meeting, who predicted that current leaseholders might disassemble and move their cabins rather than see them become state property.
In 1985, when the state auctioned leases to the highest bidders, some longtime kamaaina cabin owners took down cabins that had been in their families for decades, reducing the number of historic structures in the park, said David Scott, executive director of the Historic Hawaii Foundation.
The volunteer spirit and rural community culture among Kokee cabin owners would not exist among tourists renting for a week at a time, people said.
"Our concern is that the kind of parties able to take a master lease would be a major developer, certainly not from Kauai and possibly not from Hawaii," said Marsha Erickson, executive director of Hui O Laka, the nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that operates the Kokee Natural History Museum.
A dozen mailed and e-mailed testimonies from Kauai residents emphasized the history of Kokee as a mountain vacation spot for local residents -- and that they believe the state's apparent direction will price those people out of the park. They said they do not think Kauai residents can afford an entry fee. And they complained that the meeting to vote on the matter should have been held on their island.
"It's our contention that the state has no business managing private property," said Paul Matsunaga, vice president of the Kokee Leaseholders Association. "If they're really interested in protecting the historic properties at Kokee, this is not the body to do it."
Land Board Chairman Peter Young said the master plan and environmental impact statement will arm the board with information that will help it decide how to proceed.
