In the early 1990s, the Legislature moved responsibility for the state’s boating and coastal areas program to the Department of Land and Natural Resources from the Department of Transportation. And at the time of the handoff there was a total of about $300 million in deferred maintenance in small boat harbors, launch ramps and other related facilities.

Since then, while some progress has been made, the list continues to grow as facilities age. At best, in its ongoing struggle to reduce the maintenance to-do roster, DLNR is treading water.

Situated near bustling Ala Moana Center, which sees nearly 50 million shopping visits each year, Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor should serve as an appealing site to residents and visitors alike. Instead, despite some improvements in recent decades, it languishes in disrepair. Not surprisingly, the harbor is now the focus of an effort to address growing law enforcement and safety concerns.

In November, DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement conducted a series of sweeps that found a total of 550 violations tied to problems at the Ala Wai harbor ranging from everyday bothersome, such as illegal parking, to glaring trouble spots, such as the presence of illegal homeless encampments and sinking boats.

Impressed by the cleanup effort, state Sen. Sharon Moriwaki (D, Waikiki-Ala Moana-Kakaako-McCully-Moiliili) wants to find a way, either through a bill or by adding more resources to DLNR’s budget, to establish a more permanent stepped-up security patrol.

Such a move seems warranted at this time, given the state’s responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the harbor, which has nearly 700 berths. However, security should align with DLNR’s primary responsibility of managing a site that serves as recreational go-to for sailors and boaters — not as a residential community.

While DLNR should not be tasked with providing around-the-clock security for the harbor’s 129 live-aboard tenants, the agency should work in tandem with the harbor dwellers’ neighborhood watch group to improve security-related responses and address safety matters.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to see Ala Wai harbor realize its enormous revenue-generating potential, the state is rightly continuing to move forward in its quest to secure a public-private partnership. Redevelopment is slated to encompass harbor parking, public restrooms, a former fuel dock, a former boat repair site and submerged lands.

Despite sound reasoning for a P3 venture — lease rents could create a plentiful funding stream for harbor maintenance and upgrades — the first two partnership tries have come up short. The first, launched more than a decade ago, failed amid public criticism as developer Honey Bee USA Inc. — picked to lease and improve two parcels — failed to execute even the bare bones of a makeover.

Late last year, the second try appeared far more promising, with more than two dozen interested parties offering up mixed-use ideas for residential and commercial construction. However, at deadline time, just a few proposals were submitted to a review committee, and no selection was made.

The drop in interest was due in part to requirements resulting from public input, such as one limiting construction to a two-story height. Even so, there’s good reason to oppose any addition of view-blocking high-rise condos or dense development, as well as anything that diminishes the harbor’s boating mission or interferes with public access.

With DLNR’s division of Boating and Ocean Recreation resetting for a third P3 try, the 2020 Legislature should support a tighter watch on activity and upkeep at Ala Wai harbor to prevent further declines on the 11-acre parcel of docks, slips and now-vacant land.