At the north end of Hilo’s Bayfront, next to Singing Bridge, sits Kaipalaoa Landing — an historic and often overlooked strip of land.
At the north end of Hilo’s Bayfront, next to Singing Bridge, sits Kaipalaoa Landing — an historic and often overlooked strip of land.
By year’s end, however, the half-acre parcel — home to a small lighthouse — will undergo a $349,000 face-lift.
It’s a project Malama Kaipalaoa, a working group of surfers and community members led by Stan Lawrence, have been pushing for for several years.
“It’s been a long, all-volunteer effort,” Lawrence said Monday.
The renovation project, which Lawrence expects to begin this week, includes repairing damaged rock walls, restoring eroded areas and installing new grassing and pavers, an accessible walkway, showers and picnic tables. On Thursday, a small group gathered at the site to celebrate the upcoming project.
“It feels really great,” said Lawrence, who also owns and operates Hilo’s Orchidland Surfboards Inc. “We’ve persevered and kept at it, and it feels like something really good is going to happen here for Hilo. I think it’s going to be a little jewel in the corner of the bay.”
And with such a rich history, Kaipalaoa deserves to be a nice community park instead of the “eyesore” it used to be, Lawrence said.
In addition to currently serving as a recreation spot for surfers and fishermen, the small strip of land once served as a campground and favored surf spot for King Kamehameha I, and is purported to be the location where he proclaimed the Law of the Splintered Paddle, guaranteeing every person in Hawaii the right to camp by the roadside without fear of harm.
It was also during Kamehameha’s stay in the area, long before he managed to unite the Hawaiian Islands, that Hilo town earned its name, according to legend.
Lawrence said Malama Kaipalaoa has been caring for the area on a volunteer basis since 2009, organizing routine cleanups and landscaping the area. The park was transferred from the state to the County of Hawaii in 2013.
Once the work is complete, Lawrence said there will still be the issue of access. The state has not yet settled on a plan for its pending overhaul of the intersection at Kamehameha Avenue, Bayfront Highway and Waianuenue Avenue.
Among the ideas being considered is a roundabout, which Lawrence said he’s all for, as it and a crosswalk would allow the public to safely access to the park and water.
“That will be the next thing we have to address,” he said.
The $349,000 in improvements will be completed by contractor William Kapololu Jr. by December 2015, the county said in a news release.
Email Chris D’Angelo at cdangelo@hawaiitribune-herald.com.