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Hope a bill becomes a law

After watching legislature after legislature and administration after administration appear oblivious to recreational boating's huge potential in Hawaii, I'm currently watching this year's legislature with a bit of cautious optimism.

That's because it appears that House Concurrent Resolution 130 may actually pass into law and prod our government into alternative ways of creating more and better facilities.

HCR 130 requests the Board of Land and Natural Resources to review and update the Keehi Lagoon Recreation Plan of 1990 and to explore the leasing of its unutilized fast and submerged lands for development of boating and ocean recreational facilities by the private sector.

It then further requests the BLNR to meet with all of the stakeholders and registered users in the lagoon -- including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and canoe-paddling clubs -- to discuss the feasibility and means by which unutilized and underutilized areas of the lagoon might be used more productively.

In recognizing the increased demand for quality berthing and moorage space in the state, the resolution's preamble highlights how the 1990 plan for the lagoon never came to fruition.

It had been proposed, but never carried out, to implement the plan's recommendations by leasing unimproved and unused areas to a private developer and thereby generating lease rent revenues as well as creating new moorings.

"In the absence of state resources, private funding is the only means for Keehi Lagoon to achieve its potential," HCR 130 points out.

There's an article in the March issue of Marina Dock Age magazine titled "Great Lakes marinas billion-dollar impact on the region" that supports that answer.

Its first two paragraphs give some very interesting statistics. In 2003 there were 1,192 marinas on the U.S. side of the lakes, they contained more than 110,000 slips and the boat owners there spent about $1.3 billion per year.

These statistics came out of a Michigan State University study meant to identify the total impact generated by Great Lakes boaters and the industry that supports them.

And it should be remembered the boating season in the Great Lakes, unlike Hawaii, runs only from May through September.

In one marina provided as a case study, 395 boaters spent $2.85 million on slips, insurance, repairs, equipment, taxes and haul-outs in 2003.

Then, in that same year, they spent an additional $2.85 million in boating trip expenses that included lodging, restaurants, groceries, boat and auto fuel, marine supplies and entertainment.

Imagine a new, 400-slip, state-of-the-art marina in Keehi Lagoon. As the MSU study shows, it could produce an annual $5.7 million spike to Hawaii's economy, not to mention create new jobs and services.

Considering the years-long waiting list for boat slips in our state, I'd say such a marina is long overdue.