Converting curbside parking stalls into small islands of urban respite and tranquility will be easier under a bill approved unanimously by the Honolulu City Council last week.
Bill 59 (2015) allows the city to set up rules for property owners, proprietors and community groups to set up public “parklets” in parking stalls in Oahu’s bustling business neighborhoods.
Urban planners hail parklets, which have proved successful in San Francisco and elsewhere, because they are geared to creating more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly public spaces smack in the middle of high-density neighborhoods such as Kakaako, Kaimuki and Kailua.
A parklet can take the form of a simple expansion of sidewalk, tables and chairs, or much more.
Kamehameha Schools was given the OK to put up a demonstration parklet about a year ago on two stalls along Coral Street fronting Hank’s Haute Dogs in Kakaako. The parklet proved popular enough that when Hank’s moved into a new building next door to its old location, the parklet moved along with it.
The Coral Street “island” as it stands today consists of a picnic bench, a planter box, two tables where people can stand around and a shady overhang.
“For us at Hank’s, the parklets were a creative way to offer a dining area to replace lost seating during construction,” said Henry “Hank” Adaniya, the restaurant’s principal.
“Besides being functional, however, it also became a novel design attraction,” Adaniya said. “People came to see the parklets.” Not only do people eat lunch there, “it has also been used to hold meetings, plug in online or commiserate over cups of coffee. It’s worked well for us.”
Annie Koh, a University of Hawaii urban and regional planning doctoral candidate, told Council members at Wednesday’s meeting that the parklet concept offers the means for a community to collectively shape segments of their neighborhoods according to their unique needs.
“We often feel paralyzed, as residents, when we see big cranes,” Koh said. “Imagine if a community center put up a minipark, or some shade for seniors to sit on, or a church installed a picnic bench for everyone in the neighborhood to enjoy. Neighborhoods like Kalihi or Moiliili that have a lot of pedestrians … could experiment with ways to make our streetscape safer and more inviting.”
City Transportation Services Director Mike Formby said the flexibility of parklets is one thing that makes them an appealing planning tool.
“If it works you can leave it in; if not, you can take it out,” he said.
Parklets, in fact, are not supposed to be permanent. The bill calls for them to be up for as long as 180 days.
The key component of a parklet is that it must be completely free and accessible to the public, including the use of its tables, chairs and other amenities. As such, a platform must be built to ensure the parklet is the same height as the sidewalk it abuts to meet accessibility requirements. No advertising, table service or other commercial activity would be permitted.
Justine Espiritu, who leads the Greener Reader book club, said her group of about 15 active members likes to hold its monthly gatherings in parks and other open spaces. Parklets, she said, would offer another option for her club, which emphasizes sustainability-themed literature.
Espiritu is so sold on the concept that she’s set up one-day demonstration parklets in Kakaako and UH with a “pop-up library/living room” theme that featured a few comfortable chairs, a coffee table, book shelves, “my entire library of books” and a houseplant.
The idea was to draw people to “sit down, relax, pick up a book and start conversation,” she said. “I think that (parklets) set up an environment that is more prone to interactions out of the norm,” she said.
Espiritu said a friend who owns a small Kailua shopping center is considering establishing a parklet in front of his property.
The city will take the next six months to a year to set up rules for people to apply for parklets, Deputy Transportation Services Director Mark Garrity said. Those rules would include allowing neighbors to weigh in before the parklets are approved, likely through their local neighborhood boards.
Each neighborhood and parklet proposal is different, and “there needs to be a public discussion” before each is approved, Formby said.
The only fees a parklet applicant would need to pay are $12 a day per stall and a one-time $5 administrative fee, the same fees now paid when businesses or other groups ask to reserve street stalls due to construction parking or other purposes.
Bill 58 (2015) also allows the public to petition for stalls to be converted into bicycle corrals by essentially using the parklet concept to set up a series of bike racks.
Members of the Hawaii Bicycling League and Bikeshare Hawaii submitted testimony in support of the bill.
Honolulu neighborhoods such as Waikiki, downtown, Chinatown, Ala Moana and Kakaako are severely short of bike stalls and could benefit immensely from bike corrals, league officials said.
Creating parklets and bike corrals on Oahu was initially proposed by former Council member Breene Harimoto, now a state senator. It is also part of the city’s Complete Streets policy aimed at making the island more pedestrian- and bike-friendly.
CORRECTION: Bill 58 (2015) allows the public to petition for stalls to be converted into bicycle corrals by essentially using the parklet concept to set up a series of bike racks. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that it was bill 23.
