Resolution of the Haiku Stairs debate, which has simmered for years, suddenly has shifted to the front burner at Honolulu Hale. This doesn’t mean it needs to be brought to a boil immediately.
It is encouraging to see accommodations made that could resolve a longstanding controversy. It has long pitted hiking advocates against opponents, largely neighbors owning property adjacent to the site, comprising 3,922 metal steps and 200 surrounding acres.
But there are still unresolved issues, which suggests that the city should make no hasty decision, especially one for a 12-year commitment forged on the brink of a turnover in leadership.
The Honolulu City Council is set to vote today on Resolution 20-323, a measure that would enable a partnership with a vendor to take over the management of access to the popular Windward Oahu hiking attraction, shuttling hikers in a van from an offsite parking location to the stairs.
The stairway, which climbs to a Koolau summit overlooking Kaneohe, officially closed to the public in 1987. Years of contending with trespassers using the stairs led the former owner, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, to seek its removal.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell has long favored finding a compromise solution, and in July the water board finalized its legal transfer of the entire property to the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
City ordinances require Council approval for entering into a concession agreement for longer than five years. The resolution would authorize city departments to execute a 12-year pact. It should not be approved today.
Another significant distinction of this particular proposal: Among those testifying at a committee meeting on Monday was Esther Kiaaina, who was elected to the City Council on Nov. 3 and will take office in January, representing the Windward Oahu area.
In her written statement, Kiaaina said she opposed the move by the outgoing Caldwell administration to ink any deal. That’s a reasonable instinct. A majority of the Council will be new next month, as will be the chief executive, with Mayor-elect Rick Blangiardi replacing Caldwell at City Hall.
Guy Kaulukukui, who heads the city’s Enterprise Services, said the longer 12-year contract is being pursued because needed capital improvements — at an estimated cost of $950,000 — will take two years to do, along with other preparations for the reopening of the stairs.
That makes it even more distressing to see the administration so bent on pushing this through quickly now. Kaulukukui said that if the Council rejects the resolution in today’s final vote, he will recommend to Caldwell that the city proceed with a bid for a five-year contract.
The vendor to be selected would provide 24-hour security, he said, with entry restricted to between 75 and 150 visitors daily, hikers who would pay in advance and offsite. In a 10- to 15-seat van, that would mean about 10 round trips a day.
Under the plan, each hike would be accompanied by at least two guides, and would access the back of the valley through Kuneki Street, a residential street at the back of the Haiku Village subdivision. That is not a minor intrusion, and a fuller discussion of alternative routes would be prudent and show consideration due to the residents.
Further, the trail to the stairs would cut through parcels owned by Kamehameha Schools and three state agencies. Not all the agreements are in place, Kaulukukui said.
The better course would be a fuller discussion about possible alternative routes, for starters. For this to succeed requires the city to proceed with care — not rush into potential landmines ahead.
