A raceway park is one of those attractions that has an energetic fan base, but is difficult to locate. There can be crowds and noise and considerable wear and tear on the environment. Oahu once had one. And as enthusiasts point out, many other communities have settled in with their own raceway, placed on an appropriate site.
However, it seems doubtful that advocates have found such a suitable place on Oahu, near historic Ewa Field.
The site is part of the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station, which federal authorities decommissioned 20 years ago. The Navy has been in the process of turning over a portion of the old base property to local government. In this instance, the city in 1999 submitted its federal-surplus-land application for 220 acres to be used for park or recreational purposes.
Backers of the raceway proposal, meanwhile, have sought state support to bolster the case they will make to the city for a “right-of-entry” permit as soon as possible.
The immediate plan is to conduct dirt racing on a portion of an old runway built after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that propelled the U.S. into World War II. Organizers have said that in a year or two, the plans could expand to enable quarter-mile, oval and dirt-bike racing.
This will take some persuasion, which they hope can come from passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution 108, a measure to express support for a motor vehicle racetrack and to ask state and city agencies to “facilitate and approve its development.” The resolution was heard Friday in the Senate; a House hearing is set to follow this week.
The problem? Once this ball starts rolling and some form of raceway activity is underway on the property, its impact on the neighboring National Park Service-protected site will be all but impossible to reverse.
That is the concern of those who favor one of various plans for restoring and preserving the larger area as a historic park. The battle between these two camps peaked last week when a competing, pro-historic-park measure, House Concurrent Resolution 182, was heard by the House Committee on Public Safety, Veterans and Military Affairs but then was deferred.
The preamble to that measure lays out the timeline:
What was then called Ewa Mooring Mast Field was one of the first targets in the Dec. 7 attack.
Later redesignated Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, the portion hit in the attack was part of the area nominated to the Hawaii State Historic Register and the National Register of Historic Places as the “Ewa Plain Battlefield.”
According to the resolution, aircraft in the adjacent airstrip area, built during the war, played a key role in preparation for the Battle of Midway. The protective revetments for the aircraft are part of the remaining infrastructure.
This is roughly where the raceway would be located. At the very least, there would seem to be other potential uses for the area that would be more compatible, with hopes that a historic zone would be properly preserved.
Since Barbers Point was decommissioned, repurposing the area now known as Kalaeloa has been delayed by the complicated legal unwinding of much of the military presence there.
City officials have identified the need for more ballfields and park space. They should pursue fulfilling that goal at Ewa Field before any permits are issued for the more intensively disruptive activity of a racetrack. An alternative site on the far southwestern side has been suggested as an alternative track site.
The city should take time to explore the area’s future, rather than racing to undercut a plan that would honor Oahu’s past.
