Board finds room
for boaters

A group that says it was wrongfully
evicted gets its way but will still
pursue a lawsuit

A group of boaters who alleged they had been unjustly ordered to leave the Ala Wai Harbor will get to stay there after all, a state board decided yesterday.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources instructed the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation to renew short-term boat slip permits for seven boaters whose current permits expire Tuesday.

Those boaters were among more than a dozen that the division had asked to leave the harbor during a dock installation project. The others have taken their boats to other harbors.

The boaters, who call themselves the Displaced Boaters of Ala Wai Harbor, had sued the Boating Division, alleging it should not have evicted them to make room for members of the Waikiki Yacht Club.

Up to 15 yacht club members need temporary berths at the Ala Wai Harbor while the Waikiki Yacht Club is building a new D Dock. But the Boating Division said it has found an additional five slips that should take care of the displaced boaters because of turnover.

The suing Ala Wai boaters said yesterday they were pleased with the board's action.

However, spokesman Jud Lohmeyer said he wants to pursue the lawsuit because the state inconvenienced the boaters by telling them they would have to leave even though there was space for them after all.

Boating Division Administrator Richard Rice said that when the eviction notices were given last month, there did not appear to be any available spaces for the displaced boaters.

Yesterday the Land Board accepted the club's donation of its used floating dock and granted the club use of up to 15 boat slips in Ala Wai Harbor while the club's new dock is being built.

Boating Division workers will install the hand-me-down floating dock where the state's former F Dock was until it was condemned and removed last year. Both projects are expected to take two months, Rice said.

Installing the used dock will cost the state $20,000 to $40,000 in materials and staff labor, Rice said.

The Ala Wai boaters told the Land Board that there are enough vacant, temporary boat slips at the Ala Wai to accommodate both their boats and the yacht club boaters.

Though there is a waiting list of 680 boaters seeking annual slip rental at the Ala Wai, temporary mooring is granted on a first-come, first-served basis, Rice said.