LIHU‘E — Locals and visitors alike will soon have a chance to get up close and personal with one of the island’s premiere sights as the county Planning Commission on Tuesday approved long-debated permits allowing Island Helicopters Kaua‘i Inc. to
LIHU‘E — Locals and visitors alike will soon have a chance to get up close and personal with one of the island’s premiere sights as the county Planning Commission on Tuesday approved long-debated permits allowing Island Helicopters Kaua‘i Inc. to land at the remote Manawaiopuna Falls on the Westside.
After an hours-long debate that adjusted the language on a handful of conditions attached to the permits, the commission unanimously approved a use permit, a special permit and a Class IV zoning permit that will restrict the aerial tour company to 10 daily stops of 25 minutes apiece five days a week.
Technically, the permits were requested to clear a landing area of roughly 2,000 square feet — no construction or grading is planned — a few hundred yards from the falls, on private property in a Hanapepe valley. From the landing site, Island Helicopters owner Curt Lofstedt said, the pilot will lead visitors along an already established short, flat path to the base of the 350-foot falls that were featured in the blockbuster “Jurassic Park.”
“It’s like Niagara Falls. Until you get right up next to it, you can’t fully appreciate its beauty,” said Lofstedt, who added after the approval that he was happy that the five-year fight for the right to use the land there was finally complete.
Lofstedt, who said the 25-minute stop at the falls would limit him to five tours for each of his two helicopters per day rather than the eight he can do now, said members of the public will be unable to tell if a helicopter passing overhead between Lihu‘e Airport and Waimea Canyon is heading to the falls or over them, as has been done for years, because both trips will travel along the same corridor.
He said the helicopters will fly at their previously arranged heights while over all public areas and simply wind their way down to the ground — and then back up to normal height — once inside the private property. The property, owned by the Robinson family, is miles across and no people are likely to be impacted by the landings, he said.
In January 2008, the Planning Commission told Island Helicopters to conduct an Environmental Assessment. The county Planning Department recently issued a Finding of No Significant Impact for the completed study.
One issue specifically addressed in permit conditions was impact on area plants and animals. The helicopters will be barred from landing at the site two days of each week — one of which will be every Sunday — to allow area birds and other animals to “reconstitute” and enjoy the quiet, commissioners said.
Furthermore, the applicant will need to come up with a plan to limit the promotion of invasive or alien plant species in the remote valley. Lofstedt said two proposals involved using compressed air to blast spores or other materials off of patrons before they board the helicopter, or providing the visitors “disposable booties” to wear over their shoes for the duration of the trip.
Those issues may be addressed again in the future. In two years, when the permits come up for renewal, Island Helicopters attorney Walton Hong said the company would be willing to conduct another study on flora and fauna, but not an entirely new EA.
Discussing a proposed condition proposing the Robinson family make the landing site available to other helicopter companies, which was later removed from the final permits, Commissioner Hartwell Blake said, “I don’t think, at this time, we should encourage the landowner to open up the place until the two years has passed and we know it’s not going to have an adverse impact on the environment.”
Another concern mentioned by commissioners as well as opponents of the permits was the possibility that the case could end up being “precedent-setting” in that others who apply for similar permits to land at secluded waterfalls statewide will point to Manawaiopuna Falls as proof that the air tourism industry should not be restricted in where it can go.
Hong said many of the state’s waterfalls are on public land or in conservation districts and fall under different rules. He also argued that each individual application should be judged on a case-by-case basis.
Carl Imparato, testifying on behalf of Barbara Robeson and the Coalition to Stop Disrespectful Air Tourism (Stop DAT!), asked the permits be denied on the grounds that allowing helicopters to fly into the valley, and therefore allowing the air tourism industry to grow larger, would be detrimental or injurious to the community’s general welfare.
In an interview after the permits’ approval, Imparato said he was disappointed because he hoped the commission would at least impose restrictions forcing air tour operators to communicate more openly with concerned citizens and to negotiate an amicable settlement to disputes about air traffic.
“It is unfortunate that the Planning Commission … granted these permits to a company that has refused to meet with the community to discuss effective ways to solve the problem of noisy helicopter flights over neighborhoods,” he said in an e-mail Tuesday evening.
Various members of the air tourism industry have organized a “hot line” for concerned citizens to call when they hear or see a helicopter flying over a residential neighborhood at a low height or making disturbing noise, an effort that members of Stop DAT! have described as a “sham.”
Hong and Lofstedt said it will be weeks or months until the operator is offering the new tour.
• Michael Levine, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com