Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on the master plan for Koke‘e and Waimea Canyon state parks. Officials with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources have unveiled four proposals to enhance over the next
Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on the master plan for Koke‘e and Waimea Canyon state parks.
Officials with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources have unveiled four proposals to enhance over the next 20 years the use of Koke‘e and Waimea Canyon state parks.
The park complex, which consists of about 6,182 acres in the northwest part of Kaua‘i, is a world-renowned visitor destination. The two parks also were the first parks established under the Hawai‘i state park system.
In a draft master plan, leaders with R.M. Towill Corporation, a consultant based in Honolulu, voiced preference for a “remedial improvement plan.”
It calls for major improvements at lookouts, the creation of a new lookout, an entry gate to the park and the charging of fees, and improvements to roads and trails and picnic areas, including those by lookouts and utilities.
The plan also calls for the renovation or reconstruction of the Koke‘e Lodge and the Koke‘e Natural History Museum, two long-standing, rustic-looking buildings that are synonymous with the backwoods feel of the park complex.
Another key part of the remedial improvement plan calls for further research into the feasibility of issuing a master lease to manage more than 100 residential cabins and either renting them out on a short-term basis or leasing them out. The plan would not apply to more than a dozen rental cabins.
Koke‘e Leaseholders Association members have contested the scheduled termination of cabin leases that were awarded in a public auction on Kaua‘i in the mid-1980s.
Saying they have been good land stewards, association members have urged the state to consider extending the leases.
Representatives for R.M. Towill are to present the draft master plan at a meeting scheduled at Eleele School at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18.
In an e-mail, Frank O. Hay, a leaseholders association leader, said it was his impression no public testimony would be allowed to be given at the meeting.
He asked that interested parties submit written testimony. State DLNR officials were not immediately available to comment on the format for the exchange of information.
The consultants said they voiced their preference for the remedial improvement plan over the other three plans based on public input, recommendations from the DLNR staff, their own recommendations, and a review by the state Board of the Land and Natural Resources.
The other three options call for no action, a “conservation plan” and a “cultural, historic and recreation resource plan,” the consultant noted in the draft master plan.
The draft master plan is only that, and requires approval by the BLNR. Public input will be considered before a decision is made.
Whichever of the four plans is adopted will determine what the Koke‘e and Waimea state park complex will look like over next 20 years.
Because funds have to be found, the work, regardless of which plan is adopted, would be done in phases.
If the remedial improvement plan is implemented, the work would be done at an estimated cost of $27.6 million, the consultant said.
