[ OUR OPINION ]
Don’t let acrimony
keep Haiku Stairs closedHEAVEN remains legally inaccessible via the windward stairway that runs up the Koolaus, but Haiku Valley residents complain that the area surrounding the bottom of the ladder has turned into hell -- not exactly what the biblical patriarch Jacob envisioned in his dream. City and state officials need to end the bureaucratic gridlock and reach an agreement to reopen the spectacular "stairway to heaven" in the way that will best end the growing animosity between neighbors and stairway enthusiasts.
THE ISSUE
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands says it will take several months to decide on a land swap that would reopen the Haiku Stairs.The stairs, used during World War II to reach a mountaintop Navy radio facility, were shut down in 1987. The city spent $875,00, including 80 percent in federal funds, to repair them after acquiring them from the Coast Guard. The lack of access has kept the 3,992-step stairway closed because of a decision by the parent organization of Hope Chapel of Kaneohe Bay's to deny hikers use of its parking lot. The local church initially had approved the plan.
The city now is offering residential real estate consisting of 20 acres and 57 house lots in Ewa Villages to the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in exchange for the 147-acre former Coast Guard Omega Station in Haiku Valley. Mike McElroy, land management administrator for the state agency, says the department will need several months to decide if it wants the swap.
McElroy says the Haiku Valley land has been evaluated by the state at $4.4 million and by the city at $3.6 million. Unlike the Ewa Villages land offered by the city, the Haiku Valley acreage is not suitable for residential development, which is the state department's sole mission. However, it should not be forced into squandering its assets.
Although the stairway is closed, numerous hikers have trespassed onto the stairs. Neighbors complain that hikers have left rubbish in their yards, walked through flower beds and parked in front of driveways, trash cans or mailboxes. The city has stationed guards at the base of the stairs in recent months, reducing the number of trespassers, but the neighbors remain uneasy.
In a guest column on this page two weeks ago, Jennifer Sabas and other residents of the area wrote that city officials had yet to meet with them and "work with us to find a solution that works for residents and hikers alike." Those are words of cooperation.
However, Sabas and other signatories to the column complained that the city was going forward without preparing an environmental impact study or a study of the traffic consequences -- foreboding demands. The two sides need to work toward an amicable solution that should not require such extensive studies.
