Some city officials want to flip the "pave paradise, put up a parking lot" notion on its head by transforming on-street stalls into parks and plazas.
Resolution 13-290, asking the Caldwell administration to establish a demonstration project for "parklets" around Oahu, was approved by the City Council’s Transportation Committee on Thursday. The full Council will vote on it Jan. 29.
Parklets are defined in the resolution as "mini-parks created by converting on-street parking spaces into plazas and public gathering places."
Council Transportation Chairman Breene Harimoto, who introduced the resolution, said after the meeting that the proposal was inspired by the experiences of planners in mainland towns that have embraced parklets as a means to improve urban streetscapes and make them more people-friendly.
In San Francisco surrounding businesses or nonprofits pay to create and maintain a parklet, easing the burden on financially strapped parks departments already struggling to meet the upkeep of their existing facilities, Harimoto said.
From the time San Francisco began allowing parklets in 2010 through February 2013, 38 had been installed in through its Pavements to Parks Program, according to an online parklet manual put out by the municipality.
Photos in the manual show park benches, cafe tables, bike racks and planter boxes placed in what were once parking stalls. One requirement of the San Francisco program is that parklets must be available for use by everyone, not just patrons of a sponsor.
Harimoto’s resolution asks the Caldwell administration to set up three yearlong parklet demonstration projects in mixed-use neighborhoods such as Kaimuki, Kapahulu, Kakaako, Moiliili, Kailua and Kalihi. Permitting fees or liability insurance may be waived during the pilot period.
Harimoto said he expects resistance from some in the community worried about the loss of street stalls.
"Businesses have found that having parklets actually brings more business to their shops, especially if you have the right kind of design," Harimoto said.
City Transportation Services Director Michael Formby said the Caldwell administration supports the idea of a demonstration project, saying that a number of concerns should be worked out, such as permit fees or a possible waiver of them, the impact of the loss of parking stalls and parking, maintenance and liability insurance, and design requirements to address safety. Formby said one San Francisco requirement he wants here is that parklets are allowed only in areas with speed limits of 25 mph or less.
Formby said he likes the idea of having businesses or nonprofits becoming sponsors for parklets.
"We have to find a sponsor and come to some middle ground as to what they are willing to do," he said.
Kamehameha Schools official Robert Oda said the landowner is already eyeing three areas in Kakaako where parklets can be integrated.
While Kamehameha is planning a number of high-rises, the landowner also wants to include features "to get people out of the tower and out onto the streets," Oda said. "If you look through Kakaako now, there’s very little activity on the street after hours because there’s nothing to do at the street."
Oda said that, independent of Harimoto’s resolution, Kamehameha is already holding a competition among University of Hawaii architecture students asking for parklet designs that would be used to create three temporary demonstration projects on its property in Kakaako.
"We’ll bring the cash, we’ll provide the wherewithal to get them put into place — if the city can waive the red tape," Oda said, noting that the landowner’s intent is to have them in place by April. The landowner is not seeking any waiver from building or land use requirements and is willing to provide insurance, but would like its requests expedited.
Parklets are part of a "complete streets" philosophy designed to energize Kakaako’s streets and make them more pedestrian-friendly, Oda said.
Barbra Armentrout, a member of the Diamond Head-Kapahulu-St. Louis Heights Neighborhood Board, said she supports the concept of parklets, but urged city officials to use care in determining where they should go. Portions of Kapahulu and Kaimuki are already congested and dangerous, she said.
