The state’s latest vision for redevelopment of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor calls for a partner willing to participate on an upgrade, estimated to cost $251 million to $356 million, that focuses on delivering essential harbor functions, improving community amenities and preparing for climate change.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation hired the University of Hawaii Community Design Center and UH’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning in November 2020 to provide conceptual planning and design services to shape the state’s next attempt to procure a partner to redevelop the aging facility.

The $66,000 vision report sets out a construction timeline that could start June 1, 2024, and end by June 1, 2028.

DLNR spokesperson Dan Dennison said the state’s goal is to issue another request for proposals to redevelop the Ala Wai harbor by the end of the year.

“The vision plan will be used as a guideline for potential developers to design their proposals,” Dennison said.

Some stakeholders say they are impressed with the latest vision for the Ala Wai harbor, but others say they still have a general distrust of the project and DOBOR’s process. Anxiety about the future of the public recreational area has been heightened since the state, years ago, broadened the harbor’s redevelopment options through Act 197 and HRS 171-6(19), paving the way for a public-private partnership.

It didn’t help that DOBOR’s first attempt at a partnership failed after Honey Bee USA — a company that planned to add a wedding chapel and entertainment complex to the harbor — went bankrupt in 2016, leaving a wake of creditors, including the state, which is still owed $500,000.

Ala Wai harbor users lost their fuel dock and boat repair yard when Honey Bee demolished them to make way for plans that never materialized.

Following the Honey Bee exit, DOBOR paid consultant firm DTL Hawaii about $100,000 to conduct public outreach to help determine the future of the harbor redevelopment sites.

Boaters pushed back in 2018 when a developer floated building a giant Ferris wheel and movie theater ride at the old boatyard facility. Then in 2019, a committee reviewed development proposals submitted as part of the state’s second attempt at moving forward on a public-private partnership for the harbor, but that, too, went nowhere.

THE UH team developed the latest vision report using information from public and stakeholder engagement meetings and focus groups between 2017 and 2021.

The team identified two preferred redevelopment options, which call for a maritime welcome center, market plaza, education and community center, watercraft park and surf community center. The pricier option, which costs over $100 million more, adds a parking garage to the watercraft park and a canoe storage and landing area to the surf community center, as well as greater boardwalk improvements, among other amenities.

The vision report’s recommendations for the harbor also include: green spaces, lawns and gardens for social gatherings and community events; conference space and outdoor classrooms for local community/school groups; a flexible mixed-use plaza space for cafes, event kiosks and retail offerings; commercial and public boat and watercraft access; parking and storage facilities; a living shoreline marsh to provide native habitat for shore birds, fish and crustaceans; and a multimodal promenade and elevated boardwalk to serve as a primary connector to the harbor for pedestrians and bicyclists.

“These enhancements would add exciting elements that would benefit all harbor users,” said DOBOR Administrator Ed Underwood in a statement.

Some Waikiki stakeholders like the latest vision or are at least open-minded about the process. Others are skeptical.

“This plan appears to be a plan put together by the University of Hawaii students. It is a commendable effort. Now let’s get real,” said Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Kathryn Henski, a longtime boater.

“If the harbor is currently in such a state of disrepair, how do they think they will be able to maintain the new condition of this expensive and beautiful plan?”

Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egged said that while the vision report “creates a desirable goal,” the question remains “what kind of partner can the state secure that would be able to finance the improvements and have an adequate revenue stream to maintain the improvements once they are in place.”

Rob Johnson, general manager of The Ilikai, a condominium building that overlooks the redevelopment sites, said the DTL effort fell short, and the latest one also raises trust issues.

Johnson said a version of the latest report calls for a four-story parking garage, which cannot be built under the city’s Waikiki Special District design controls, which note a height limit of 25 feet.

“This is why we don’t trust this process, as we were not asked or invited for input, and they minimize/hide the fact that a four-story parking garage is proposed behind the trees,” he said. “We will fight deviation to this height recommendation.”

Johnson added that “the rest should have been implemented years ago as they have many master plans that have the same ideas on the shelf. They keep spending $99,000 to be told the same thing every few years.”

He said DOBOR should instead spend the money, which comes out of the boating special fund, on actual harbor improvements.

“DOBOR acts like a slumlord,” Johnson said.

He said the harbor’s condition “is sad” given that public records show the Ala Wai harbor has raised $28 million in profits over the last 11 years.

Janet Mandrell, public liaison for the Makai Society, which is made up of recreational boaters, said if the state has money to spend, she would rather it pay for security, maintaining the bathrooms or fixing broken boat slips, which, given the wait-list, could bring an immediate return.

“If they had done as the boaters had begged for years to use the money from the harbor lands toward a scheduled proper maintenance, then the leftover money could go elsewhere and you wouldn’t need any vision plan,” Mandrell said. “It would already be beautiful.”

DENNISON SAID there are approximately 769 Ala Wai harbor slips, of which an estimated 492 are filled, not including temporary permits. He said 12 harbor slips are being repaired, with another 24 needing repair due to downed docks. Another 37 slips have been offered and are pending acceptance.

DOBOR has not issued new live-aboard permits to anyone at the harbor for at least three years. Dennison said 129 live-aboard permits are allowed at the harbor and 44 are currently filled.

With so few current live-aboards, Mandrell said the state is “walking away from all of this money” while claiming that harbor user rates should be raised to generate more revenue.

Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Jeff Merz saw most of the vision report’s proposed improvements as positive, but said DOBOR must ensure increases are used only for the Ala Wai harbor.

“We cannot have these funds go into the general fund and dispersed to other harbors in the state. The public has to see the direct nexus to increased fees and tangible improvements at our harbor specifically,” Merz said.

Merz, who is an urban planner, said Ala Wai harbor redevelopment must prioritize harbor-related facilities and support for harbor users and functions, and plan for sea-level rise. He likes the plan’s connectivity and wants to see ample green space and vegetation.

“The harbor is currently an asphalt disaster, inviting to no one,” he said. “As our beaches continue to disappear in Waikiki, shoreline harbor activities may be a good replacement for activity in Waikiki.”

Waikiki Neighborhood Board chair Bob Finely said he would have liked to see a boat repair facility, which was a requirement when Honey Bee bid on the project.

“If you want a world-class marina, and they state that is the mission, the first group that you need to cater to are your marina slip holders,” Mandrell said. “Every other service is ancillary.”

Currently, boaters on Oahu have to travel to Sand Island or Ko Olina for boat repairs, she said.

“That can be fatal,” Mandrell said. “ If you are sinking, you aren’t going to make it.”

IN GENERAL, Finley said he likes “the variety of buildings and the things like a fuel dock, boat support buildings and the other things that will keep business open at night and help increase security for the area.”

However, he is concerned the planning does not include a “mention of the annual cost from the state to provide cleaning, maintenance and security for the area.”

He also questioned the rationale for having an education center, as well as a maritime welcome center and a surf center, which take up parking that is currently used by lagoon users and surfers.

“If the lagoon users and surfers can’t park, how can they unload/load their water stuff and surfboards?” Finley said. “The whole education area is very expensive and replaces parking to use the area. While this satisfies the obligatory green area, I can’t help to wonder what they will teach beyond the history of the Good Ship Minnow,” a reference to the ill-fated boat in the popular “Gilligan’s Island” television show.

Alberto Oyamot Jr., a surfer who visits the break at Kaiser Bowls most days, said redevelopment could negatively impact the space he has frequented since the 1980s.

“It’s perfect here. It’s my church,” Oyamot said. “A surfing community center and other stuff here could ruin the coastline. Too much redevelopment might make it hard for surfers to park and surf.”

Oyamot said he is weary of the state’s redevelopment effort, but not terribly concerned given that none of the state’s past harbor plans have come to fruition.

“I’m not holding my breath about this one,” he said. “I might die before they get to it. It’s like the rail.”