Major changes at Old Kona Airport Park are unlikely to happen until the state transfers the 117-acre recreation and beach area to the county. The ownership of the park and an executive order are still hanging in legal limbo with
Major changes at Old Kona Airport Park are unlikely to happen until the state transfers the 117-acre recreation and beach area to the county. The ownership of the park and an executive order are still hanging in legal limbo with the state, said Bob Fitzgerald, Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation director.
However with the help of community partnerships, the county has made some progress toward the vision outlined in the 2009 master plan, he said.
The plan looks at a number of improvements for the area, including more restrooms and lockers, concessions, canoe halau, youth and senior centers, a 25-yard swimming pool, skate park, shared-use pedestrian and bicycle path, and additional lawn and landscaped areas. A major proposal calls for removal of the old runway and creation of a new beach access road with parking. The land to the north of the site, which houses a number of cultural resources, will remain undeveloped.
Funding for the proposed project, estimated to cost $42 million, hasn’t been secured. The project will be constructed in phases, as funding becomes available, over the course of 20 years. Construction and major development can’t begin without Special Management Area permits, issued by the Leeward Planning Commission and approval from appropriate agencies, Fitzgerald said.
The idea for the park came about following the opening of Kona International Airport in 1970. Since then, the county has repeatedly proposed the state transfer the park to the county with no avail and most of the development plans drawn haven’t been implemented.
The current transfer, with talks going back to 2005, of the state park to the county remains in the works. Over the past year and a half, Fitzgerald said the county has sent at least five correspondences to state Department of Land and Natural Resources officials, inquiring about the transfer’s progress.
Messages seeking comment from DLNR Chairman William Aila and State Parks Director Dan Quinn were not returned as of press time.
The state owns the park. However, the Board of Land and Natural Resources, with the concurrence of DLNR, has approved the set-aside, or assigned the management jurisdiction, of the park to Hawaii County for recreational purposes.
“The Board also approved the issuance of a Construction and Management Right-of-Entry onto the subject lands pending the completion of the executive order effecting the set-aside,” stated a Sept. 30 letter to Fitzgerald from Dean Takebayashi, State Parks Hawaii Island District superintendent. “The purpose of the CMROE is to allow the county and its contractors to operate the park on the lands and to proceed with planning and development efforts for park improvements.”
The county assumed management responsibilities over the entire park effective Jan. 1, 2008. However, Fitzgerald said the county has not received a copy of the finalized executive order or granted the CMROE.
“Improvement efforts cannot proceed until either the CMROE or executive order are fully executed,” he added.
One issue DLNR had was State Parks wanting to keep an area, up to 5 acres, for its Kona sub-unit baseyard. Fitzgerald said he has proposed negotiating either a lease or Memorandum of Agreement from the county to the state for the baseyard or relocating the baseyard to a different site in the Old Kona Industrial Area.
Rep. Denny Coffman, D-Kailua-Kona, Keauhou, Honokohau, said he thought park ownership was transferred to the county years ago. He promised Tuesday afternoon to inquire about the status of the transfer and executive order with the governor’s office. He didn’t provided an update as of press time.
The most recent master plan was developed with community participation and input over a six-month period. Its final environmental assessment was released last year, and the county issued a finding of no significant impact for the master plan after determining the proposed project was not expected to result in significant environmental impacts.
Improvements Fitzgerald touted since the plan’s completion included the resurfacing of tennis courts last July by the Kailua-Kona Tennis Club and volunteers; Kona Skatepark Association completing the first phase of the skatepark in December; and regular restoration efforts of grave sites and anchialine ponds, as well as the installation of interpretive signage, led by the Lui ohana.
People’s Advocacy for Trails Hawaii has been working since January on a preliminary conceptual plan for the shared multiuse bike and pedestrian path, proposed in the master plan to create a circuit around the entire park. Pro bono, the Kailua-Kona-based nonprofit has conducted field visits, documenting the area and coming up with possible alignments that connect to major activity zones within the park. It hopes to have the draft plan of the roughly two-mile path completed in two weeks. Public input throughout the entire process is welcomed, said PATH Executive Director Laura Dierenfield.
Dierenfield was unsure how much the path would cost — something she will have a better idea once the design is completed and the project is put out to bid. She said construction will not happen until funding is secured and an SMA permit issued.
The first of four long-planned canoe halau was completed last year. Kai Opua Canoe Club raised $353,000 for the construction of its halau, which took roughly nine months to build on the mauka side of the old runway and north of the Makaeo Events Pavilion, said Jerry Halverson, the club’s vice president.
Kai Opua received a $300,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs roughly three years ago to build the halau, but had to seek at least two extensions before it could actually spend the money. The project goes back to 1993, when club members sought fire insurance for the storage building in poor condition at the park. The Legislature eventually appropriated about $500,000 to the club for a new storage facility, but then Gov. Benjamin Cayetano withdrew about half of those funds after half was spent on planning and building the concrete slabs, which then sat unused for years.
Halverson will meet with the county Office of Housing and Community Development this week or next to discuss how to lower the construction costs and possibly finance the building of the second canoe halau with fair-share money. About $220,000 has been raised for the remaining three halau, which will serve Kona Athletic, Tui Tonga and Kai Ehitu canoe clubs, Halverson said. He couldn’t provide a specific timeframe as to when the remaining halau will be built.
