Hillside stabilization
project begins at Lalea

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

Construction was scheduled to begin today on a catch basin to protect residents of a Hawaii Kai Drive townhouse complex from rockslides.

On Thanksgiving evening, huge boulders crashed onto two vehicles parked at one of the townhouses at Lalea at Hawaii Kai. A rock smashed into the second-story window of one unit while the family inside was having Thanksgiving dinner.

Residents of 26 units of buildings 7130 and 7168, which are close to the hillside, were advised to evacuate their homes on Dec. 6. By Jan. 6, residents had been relocated to long-term housing, said Kekoa Paulsen, spokesman for landowner Kamehameha Schools.

Kamehameha Schools and developer Castle and Cooke Hawaii have agreed to split the project cost in half.

Total cost estimates for the entire rockfall mitigation project are between $3 million and $5 million, Paulsen said.

Groundbreaking was held yesterday for the project's first phase, consisting of widening and deepening an existing drainage ditch that runs between the Kaluanui mountainside and the Lalea buildings.

Additionally, a berm will be built on the building side of the ditch, offering further protection, Paulsen said.

Construction firm Goodfellow Bros. Inc. is expected to complete the first phase in three months at a cost of between $400,000 and $500,000.

A second phase scheduled to begin the end of April involves three layers of cable netting. The first layer of cable netting will cover rock outcroppings that pose potential hazards.

A second layer, five acres of 4-inch mesh heavy-gauge steel netting, will be draped over the entire hillside, Paulsen said.

A final layer of quarter-inch steel cable netting will be overlaid on top of everything, he added.

Aesthetics was a consideration, Paulsen said. The epoxy coating can be color-matched to the hillside, and the netting will be wide enough to allow vegetation to grow through the mesh.

"It won't be a solid mass of cable," he said.

Attorney Phil Nierney, who represents the Lalea condominium owners, said, "The association is pleased with the progress that has been made thus far."