Please consider this purchase along with a complete analysis of the traffic and road signs in this neighborhood including the Wawau Point. As a resident, I am writing to the committee to get a few matters on record relating to the history of development here.
The parking area at Wawau Point was impacted by illegally setting of boulders directed by residents rather than AB Properties. The work, which was reported on in the news also resulted in a widening of the road in the first 40 feet past the end of the county road and the laying down of select borrow gravel. This has disturbed the dune and led to debris and red sand piling up, ponding occurs and rain water cannot drain properly. The road is also very hard to pass with carts or wheelchairs because it is so uneven. The County required the boulders to be removed, yet the select borrow gravel was not and the damage was done. Next, some of the neighbors on Kealakai Roadi advocated for the placement of no parking signs explaining that congestion had made it impossible for emergency vehicular access. Currently, the Kahului side of the street allows for day parking, the hana side of the street does not, but the street is more congested than ever. Visitors and locals are getting parking tickets and are angered by the current situation.
These signs were placed very close to the roadway and not in the shoulder making it hard to park because the signs themselves are too close to the road. Next, residents set up rocks and landscaping to prevent people from parking and forcing them to park on the roadway itself because the shoulder size has been decreased using rocks, landscaping and the fact that the no-parking signs were placed so close to the road itself.
Now, due to the way parking occurs, there is a major bottleneck which prevented the fire department from accessing the beach during an emergency this September. Access was possible only through the county club.
Next, the blocking of the parking lot has caused there to be no effective turn around. Mailboxes are being rammed into, and even the county garbage truck has to back all the way down when it collects trash.
The Covid beach shutdowns from almost 2 years ago, allowed those homeowners who wish to restrict parking on Wawau Point to block the road indefinitely while they applied for a permit (for which an SMA should not have been granted), to put in a gate. This gate is still blocked by the plastic barriers making access difficult even for pedestrians and those in wheelchairs or hauling fishing gear.
The SMA exemptions for this permit should not be granted.
The GREAT committee which now wishes to consider purchasing this land for the county to provide proper access and protect the interests of all residents, to have jurisdiction and prevent illegal overnight activity faces a rapidly changing situation. The planning department should never have allowed an SMA exemption according to HRS 205A and the Special Management Area Rules.
1) The development significantly curtails the range of beneficial uses of the environment
2) Substantially interferes with the economic or social welfare and activities of the community, county and state
3) Involves the substantial secondary impacts such as population changes and increased effects on public facilities, streets, drainage, sewage and water systems and pedestrian walkways
With the exemption, there simply was no way to voice the community's concerns in a public forum and the impacts on Native Gathering rights and other matters expressed in this letter. There was no Environmental Assessment or any other review.
The result is that the rule breakers who were involved in the illegal work, became the ones directing the new work (which is substantially the same as their prior illegal work) that is to be done to limit parking and create a semi private domain. There have been no environmental studies undertaken and the work is not to the point where a permanent gate has been set up. Indeed, this work DOES impact the following
The GREAT committee needs to understand that its efforts now need to contemplate the new reality of a gate that has already been installed. It also needs to understand that the permit requires the gate to be open during the day (which it is not) unless there is some vague illegal activity which will allow the owner of the gate to close it permanently. Indeed, I encourage the members to read the permit that was granted and the explanation for why it was possible to obtain an exemption. I am sure most community members would object to this exemption!
I direct the members of the commission to permit number SM2 2020/0060, SSSA 2020/0017, EAE 2020/0039. Indeed, work that is contemplated in the permit is extensive, and it does not even mention a clean up of the gravel that was dumped to widen the road which was part of the initial sanctions that the county leveraged against those now benefitting from the issued permit.
The county needs to ensure beach access for the disabled, fishermen and those children who have been burdened with carrying their supplies to the beach.
The neighborhood is inundated with traffic and there are no turn-arounds at the club which recently installed a permanently closed gate, and the gate at Wawau Point. Homeless are parking on Nonohe and sleeping there overnight. Neighbors on Kealakai are blocking parking.
The county should strongly consider how to develop the parking lot with an understanding of the erosion patterns, managing garbage and refuse and patrolling the park at night time as it does so well in other county parks like Hookipa, Tavares Bay and Baldwin Beach.
This neighborhood is a resource for the entire community which needs proper vehicular access to Wawau Point parking lot, and this neighborhood needs to be restored through effective parking, speed limits, and no turn - around signs to make it safe and welcoming to all users. Neighbors should maintain parking for beach goers when the parking lot overflows while being able to protect their water meters and driveway access.
It is all about respectful balance proper planning and study and allowing access in a transparent and planned manner. We need to reduce driving speed in the area, indicate the lack of turn-arounds, regulate parking properly, police our area and MOST importantly, restore parking and vehicular access at Wawau point for all users.
Illegal activity, drugs and dumping should be regulated by police and parks department and the county within what should rightly be county property, but overnight fishing and day-time in and out vehicular access needs to be restored.
What we are seeing here is just another example of shoreline claw backs by homeowners using pretext and loopholes to get things done and hoping that the community will just get used to it. Community members are angry and I am here to share that I have provided parking access and am advocating for a re-opening of Wawau point under county jurisdiction which will bring the proper environmental assessment and community stakeholder input which has been improperly circumvented.
Please consider this purchase. However, the parking needs to be addressed otherwise it will be a private beach for wealthy property owners in the area. Owners in the area have taken over the street parking by landscaping and placing boulders on county land in front of their homes. Where will the parking be? There can be a new parking lot using the Baldwin Beach entrance. However, there needs to be some parking on the baby beach side. Thank you
Please consider this purchase along with a complete analysis of the traffic and road signs in this neighborhood including the Wawau Point. As a resident, I am writing to the committee to get a few matters on record relating to the history of development here.
The parking area at Wawau Point was impacted by illegally setting of boulders directed by residents rather than AB Properties. The work, which was reported on in the news also resulted in a widening of the road in the first 40 feet past the end of the county road and the laying down of select borrow gravel. This has disturbed the dune and led to debris and red sand piling up, ponding occurs and rain water cannot drain properly. The road is also very hard to pass with carts or wheelchairs because it is so uneven. The County required the boulders to be removed, yet the select borrow gravel was not and the damage was done. Next, some of the neighbors on Kealakai Roadi advocated for the placement of no parking signs explaining that congestion had made it impossible for emergency vehicular access. Currently, the Kahului side of the street allows for day parking, the hana side of the street does not, but the street is more congested than ever. Visitors and locals are getting parking tickets and are angered by the current situation.
These signs were placed very close to the roadway and not in the shoulder making it hard to park because the signs themselves are too close to the road. Next, residents set up rocks and landscaping to prevent people from parking and forcing them to park on the roadway itself because the shoulder size has been decreased using rocks, landscaping and the fact that the no-parking signs were placed so close to the road itself.
Now, due to the way parking occurs, there is a major bottleneck which prevented the fire department from accessing the beach during an emergency this September. Access was possible only through the county club.
Next, the blocking of the parking lot has caused there to be no effective turn around. Mailboxes are being rammed into, and even the county garbage truck has to back all the way down when it collects trash.
The Covid beach shutdowns from almost 2 years ago, allowed those homeowners who wish to restrict parking on Wawau Point to block the road indefinitely while they applied for a permit (for which an SMA should not have been granted), to put in a gate. This gate is still blocked by the plastic barriers making access difficult even for pedestrians and those in wheelchairs or hauling fishing gear.
The SMA exemptions for this permit should not be granted.
The GREAT committee which now wishes to consider purchasing this land for the county to provide proper access and protect the interests of all residents, to have jurisdiction and prevent illegal overnight activity faces a rapidly changing situation. The planning department should never have allowed an SMA exemption according to HRS 205A and the Special Management Area Rules.
1) The development significantly curtails the range of beneficial uses of the environment
2) Substantially interferes with the economic or social welfare and activities of the community, county and state
3) Involves the substantial secondary impacts such as population changes and increased effects on public facilities, streets, drainage, sewage and water systems and pedestrian walkways
With the exemption, there simply was no way to voice the community's concerns in a public forum and the impacts on Native Gathering rights and other matters expressed in this letter. There was no Environmental Assessment or any other review.
The result is that the rule breakers who were involved in the illegal work, became the ones directing the new work (which is substantially the same as their prior illegal work) that is to be done to limit parking and create a semi private domain. There have been no environmental studies undertaken and the work is not to the point where a permanent gate has been set up. Indeed, this work DOES impact the following
The GREAT committee needs to understand that its efforts now need to contemplate the new reality of a gate that has already been installed. It also needs to understand that the permit requires the gate to be open during the day (which it is not) unless there is some vague illegal activity which will allow the owner of the gate to close it permanently. Indeed, I encourage the members to read the permit that was granted and the explanation for why it was possible to obtain an exemption. I am sure most community members would object to this exemption!
I direct the members of the commission to permit number SM2 2020/0060, SSSA 2020/0017, EAE 2020/0039. Indeed, work that is contemplated in the permit is extensive, and it does not even mention a clean up of the gravel that was dumped to widen the road which was part of the initial sanctions that the county leveraged against those now benefitting from the issued permit.
The county needs to ensure beach access for the disabled, fishermen and those children who have been burdened with carrying their supplies to the beach.
The neighborhood is inundated with traffic and there are no turn-arounds at the club which recently installed a permanently closed gate, and the gate at Wawau Point. Homeless are parking on Nonohe and sleeping there overnight. Neighbors on Kealakai are blocking parking.
The county should strongly consider how to develop the parking lot with an understanding of the erosion patterns, managing garbage and refuse and patrolling the park at night time as it does so well in other county parks like Hookipa, Tavares Bay and Baldwin Beach.
This neighborhood is a resource for the entire community which needs proper vehicular access to Wawau Point parking lot, and this neighborhood needs to be restored through effective parking, speed limits, and no turn - around signs to make it safe and welcoming to all users. Neighbors should maintain parking for beach goers when the parking lot overflows while being able to protect their water meters and driveway access.
It is all about respectful balance proper planning and study and allowing access in a transparent and planned manner. We need to reduce driving speed in the area, indicate the lack of turn-arounds, regulate parking properly, police our area and MOST importantly, restore parking and vehicular access at Wawau point for all users.
Illegal activity, drugs and dumping should be regulated by police and parks department and the county within what should rightly be county property, but overnight fishing and day-time in and out vehicular access needs to be restored.
What we are seeing here is just another example of shoreline claw backs by homeowners using pretext and loopholes to get things done and hoping that the community will just get used to it. Community members are angry and I am here to share that I have provided parking access and am advocating for a re-opening of Wawau point under county jurisdiction which will bring the proper environmental assessment and community stakeholder input which has been improperly circumvented.
Please consider this purchase. However, the parking needs to be addressed otherwise it will be a private beach for wealthy property owners in the area. Owners in the area have taken over the street parking by landscaping and placing boulders on county land in front of their homes. Where will the parking be? There can be a new parking lot using the Baldwin Beach entrance. However, there needs to be some parking on the baby beach side. Thank you