Waikiki group wants
Ala Wai plans delayed

The residents want an impact
study done on the $2.4M project

A group of Waikiki residents plans to tell the state Environmental Council on Aug. 12 that the city should halt construction of its $2.4 million Ala Wai Boulevard project and complete an environmental assessment.

Hearing planned The state Environmental Council will hear comments about the Ala Wai project on Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. in Room 702 of the State Office Tower, 235 S. Beretania St. A subcommittee will hear the issue at 1 p.m.

But even if the council agrees, the city is not required to follow its recommendation. The city has ignored the council in the past.

The council never weighed in initially on whether an environmental assessment was needed for the Ala Wai project because the city exempted itself.

"The city might listen to the council, but they don't have to," said state Office of Environmental Quality Control Director Genevieve Salmonson. "If they have all the permits to do their project, there's nothing we can do. ... We usually do recommendations, and sometimes they hear it and sometimes they don't."

In 2000, for example, the city did not heed the council's recommendation to conduct an environmental assessment before installing the ponds that now encircle Kapiolani Park bandstand.

The Ala Wai project, extending from the Waikiki-Kapahulu Public Library to about 110 feet before the McCully Street bridge, is scheduled to begin this week. It will include installation of a bike path and concrete landscaping hubs over the boulevard's far-right parking lane.

The construction will also remove about 60 free parking spaces along the Ala Wai, which the city hopes to make up with two planned municipal lots.

The group of about 40 residents that will go before the council says the Ala Wai project will disrupt traffic and have other effects on the community.

"It's a pretty substantial project with substantial impact," said Robert Kessler, who asked the council to put the issue and the group's concerns on its agenda.

Kessler said the city's plans for Ala Wai should at least be stopped until construction on a $19 million Kuhio Avenue project is completed.

City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the Ala Wai construction was exempted from the environmental assessment process partly because it did not take away a traffic lane.

Salmonson said assessments are not required for all city projects. "All agencies exempt certain projects," she said. "We don't want them to do environmental assessments for every little project that they do."

Costa said she receives as many calls in favor of the project as she does against it.

"The voice of the people who support this project is not being heard," she said. "There are people who support this. ... The people that kick up the most steam, their point of view is being heard."