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Camping fee cuts PAPALAUA, Maui >> Overnight campers Aaron Gardner and Jason Welk said they liked the way the county has cleaned the campgrounds at Papalaua Wayside Park in West Maui and forced most of the homeless to find other places.
number of homeless
at Maui park
County officials and many campers
praise the new system at
a popular beach spotBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com"You see people doing drugs, it kind of ruins it, especially for kids and stuff," said Gardner, a Kihei resident. "I feel people should be able to stay here, but periodically."
Residents appear to like the recent establishment of a county permit system at Papalaua that charges $3 a night for an adult and 50 cents for a person under 18.
About a month after imposing new rules, the line of tents of homeless people that once stretched for a mile and a half along the coastline is gone.
Of the 120 homeless people once camping at this popular recreational area just north of the Lahaina pali, no more than nine remain, said Michael Davis, a services coordinator for Ka Hale Aka Ole Homeless Resource Center.
"Some of them went back to wherever they came from. Some have found their own housing and apartments," he said.
Others, like a young woman who calls herself "Camping Girl," say the homeless are finding places further north toward Lahaina, south toward Makena, or along the northern coastline from Spreckelsville to Hookipa.
"That was inevitable," she said. "They're going to move to another camping area close to the beach."
County Parks Director Floyd Miyazono called the fee system a success and said most of the remaining homeless people are buying permits.
The county is allowing campfires on the beach until it installs barbecue pits, he said.
A park official will keep checking on campers at night to make sure they have permits and to sell on-the-spot permits to them, he said.
Under the current system, a camper may renew a three-day permit indefinitely as long as he or she pays the fee of $3 a day. But Miyazono said county officials are considering limiting long-term renewals.
According to a study done in 1999, there are more than 1,200 homeless people living on Maui.
Many have lived for years on the beaches for free, with little opposition.
But in the last 10 years, the Maui coastline has changed rapidly, with resorts and large estates beginning to replace wilderness areas.
Maui police increased efforts last year to remove the homeless at night from the beaches at Kanaha near the Kahului Airport and at a place called "White Rock" in South Maui.
Boulders were placed on private roads used by the homeless to camp along the coastline at Spreckelsville.
When the county temporarily closed its campground at Kanaha Beach Park, many of the homeless moved to Papalaua, a popular overnight camping area for fishermen, surfers and their families.
Maui Mayor James Apana initially proposed banning camping at Papalaua but changed his mind after protesting residents gathered more than 1,100 signatures supporting camping at Papalaua.
"I'm extremely happy it's still open for camping," said David Garner, Kula resident and surfer who helped to organize the protest. "I love the beach in the summertime, especially when there's waves."
Clifford Nickens said the county has maintained the beach well since beginning the permit system, but he did not like that many trees were cut.
Nickens said he had memorable moments in his youth fishing and camping in the Sierras and wanted to give his four children and three grandchildren similar outdoor experiences at Papalaua.
He hopes the county will expand the number of shoreline camping sites on Maui before the coastline becomes a row of hotels and houses.
"We need that for our kids," he said. "I hope they do something."