Using a wheelchair or walker to reach the best areas of Hawaii County parks will get easier.
But it won’t happen overnight.
“We are trying to come into compliance with all our parks being accessible,” said Parks and Recreation Director Charmaine Kamaka.
Accessibility is easy for most people to ignore — until it’s needed.
As recently as the late 1970s, wheelchair users typically had to navigate the street, skip going outdoors, build arm strength for wheelies with self-propelled chairs or get a loved one to boost them on and off sidewalks at each block.
Since then, laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act have triggered widespread improvements.
“Curb cuts” have been installed at most street corners. The ramp-like gradual inclines make it possible for people in wheelchairs to more easily travel, shop, eat out for lunch or just enjoy the natural environment.
Advocates would like a similar revolution to happen at federal, state, county and private parks and recreational destinations on the Big Island.
The idea is that “people with disabilities should have the same opportunities to visit places, partake of activities, as people who don’t have disabilities,” said Teri Spinola-Campbell, ADA coordinator for Hawaii County.
A consent decree from Russell vs. County of Hawaii, a U.S. District Court case, led to progress in that direction. Street curb cuts also were part of the 1997 court filing.
And now, in many locations, ramps have been installed in parks to get from a parking spot to shelters and restrooms.
Although many such park improvements have occurred, there’s hope for more. At many parks throughout Hawaii County, some of the most thrilling spots are still inaccessible, especially beachfronts.
“Consumers with disabilities, they do talk about the beach and ask about what we’re doing,” Spinola-Campbell said.
For example, Honolii Beach Park, one of the most popular surfing spots near Hilo town, cannot be reached unassisted by wheelchair.
If you use a wheelchair, you can sit near the roadway railing and watch surfers from afar. But you can’t get up close and personal.
Honolii is on the county’s to-do list.
But because it’s at a location where “challenging site issues limit options,” other parks will get upgrades before Honolii, which has a severe incline that makes it difficult to install a safe ramp. An elevator, though costly, might work. But Kamaka said Parks and Recreation will focus, first, on higher priority parks that can more-readily be made accessible.
Laws that govern accessibility seek to equalize access so a person in a wheelchair gets to touch the same colorful sands, glimpse the same multitiered waterfalls, feel the same ocean spray and sniff the scent of the same flowers as people who are able to walk without assistance.
Hawaii County has heard that message.
“It is very important to us because we want to service everybody,” Kamaka said.
For state parks, the Department of Land and Natural Resources identified Hapuna Beach as the only state park in Hawaii County malleable enough to make the actual beach itself wheelchair accessible.
The quickest, easiest method would be beach wheelchairs, said Dean Aoki, DLNR’s ADA coordinator. But those require the user to be able to transfer from their own chair to a beach chair, which has tires that won’t sink in the sand. And it requires a friend or family caregiver to push.
“Although not the easiest, the best method to provide beach access, that is cost-effective in the long term, is a constructed pedestrian walkway boardwalk,” Aoki said.
The DLNR has assessed state parks throughout the islands.
“The department is evaluating and will implement strategies for providing safe and sustainable beach access for everyone,” says a DLNR report requested by last year’s Legislature.
The agency looked only at state-managed parks, not at county parks, private land or companies. However, advocates for people who face mobility challenges have pushed for more to be done.
“The planning pieces, design pieces and the construction pieces are on the table,” Aoki said. “What is stopping it from actually happening is funding to procure consultants and contractors to assemble the pieces together.”
The DLNR says installation of wheelchair beach access should be designed to avoid environmental impact, should not affect natural conditions and should consider the cultural and historical attributes of the site.
“Beach access routes should avoid affecting any of these elements,” the agency’s report to the Legislature says.
Such access, it emphasizes, should be “feasible, safe and sustainable for everyone.” It defines a beach access route as a “continuous, unobstructed path that crosses the surface of the beach that allows pedestrians to participate in beach-related activities.”
“An important consideration,” Aoki said, “is providing beachgoers safety from the adjacent ocean conditions that are unpredictable and dangerous.” Another consideration is the dynamic boundary between the ocean and the beach. During high surf, beach access can mean a much different spot than on a wind-free morning when ocean water can be several feet farther out.
“Unlike landward static property line, the certified shoreline and high-water mark is a dynamic boundary,” Aoki said. “For the long term, this is a concern linked to climate change impacting the rate of sea-level rise, which changes the seaward boundary.” That also impacts the location of county, state and federal jurisdictions.
Advocates want access to increase and to do so faster.
“I think that we should be trying to make all of these beaches as accessible as it possibly can be,” said Louis Ertschik, an attorney who is the executive director of the Hawaii Disability Rights Center. He worries that the process of making parks more accessible is too slow.
“It’s taking a long time,” he said. “And one of my concerns about the (DLNR) report was that we were going to spend a year or two doing this inventory without actually doing anything.”
Potential accessibility options listed by the DLNR include retractable beach mats, which can be labor intensive; boardwalks; all-terrain beach wheelchairs; and powered beach wheelchairs that, again, require the ability to move from a user’s own chair to the beach wheelchair.
The next steps, the DNLR’s report says, require funding for “shoreline certification, design and construction of beach-access routes.”
At the county level, Kamaka said renovations to improve accessibility is an ongoing part of park operations, with funding for upgrades included as part of the annual budget.
“We want to make every facility we have Americans with Disabilities Act accessible,” she said. “But we’re (working on) the court-ordered ones first. My dream would be to have every park totally accessible.”
According to Aoki, property managers at private attractions can use the DLNR report’s framework to assess how accessible their location is.
“The first hurdle for managers is to embrace the idea of providing beach access for all, and not limit it to wheelchair users,” he said. “People that use canes, crutches, etc., would also benefit from an accessible beach access.”
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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The DLNR advises communities, businesses and private landowners who want to improve accessibility at their attractions to contact the Disability and Communication Access Board’s Facility-Access Unit at 586-8121 for technical assistance.
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Some of the parks and venues Hawaii County plans to eventually make accessible under a district court consent decree
• Ahalanui Beach Park (volcanically heated brackish water pool connected to the ocean near Pahoa)
• A.J. Watt Gymnasium, Mountain View
• The Cooper Center, Volcano (beloved community center)
• Panaewa Zoo, Hilo (free county zoo)
• Panaewa Equestrian Center, Hilo (horse shows, rodeo events)
• Pahala Park Swimming Pool
• Kamehameha Park, Kapaau
• Spencer Beach Park, Waimea (sandy beach with smaller crowds than some others)
• Hawaiian Beaches Subdivision Park
• Panaewa Drag Strip, Hilo (car racing)
• Hilo Bayfront Canoe Area (popular area for canoeing, photography, strolls)
• Honolii Beach Park, Hilo (popular surfing area)
• Reeds Bay Park, Hilo
• Honaunau Rodeo Arena
• Disappearing Sands Beach, Kona
• Honomu Park Ballfield
• Laupahoehoe Point Monument
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Wheelchair-accessible Hawaii County Parks:
South Hilo
• Coconut Island (Moku Ola)
• Kuhio Kalaniana‘ole Park
• Onekahakaha (lifeguard staffed)
• Reeds Bay Beach Park
North Kona
• Kahalu‘u Beach Park (lifeguard staffed)
North Kahala
• Keokea Beach Park
Wheelchair-accessible private attractions:
• Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, Onomea Waterfalls and ocean views within the park.
(If your wheelchair-accessible park or attraction is not listed, please email jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com and we’ll add it to our online list.)
Wheelchair-accessible locations at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
• Waldron Ledge Earthquake Trail
• Devastation Trail
• Pauahi Crater
• Muliwai a Pele
• Kealakomo Overlook
