Hawaii lawmaker presents his plan for state park in Hilo

JOHN BURNETT / TRIBUNE-HERALD

State Rep. Matthias Kusch addressed a public meeting Wednesday night at the Hilo High School cafeteria discussing his proposal to create a wilderness park in Kaumana.

About 100 people attended a recent Hilo community meeting to hear about a proposal by state Rep. Matthias Kusch to create a wilderness park on 283 acres on Akolea Road in Kaumana.

Kusch, a Democrat whose district runs from Kaumana to Hamakua, said the idea for the park originated from a meeting where people disagreed about whether a walking path on Ainako Avenue was necessary. The plan would require the state purchase of the land with a federal grant paying half of the $4.5 million asking price.

“Knowing the history of this parcel, and knowing that the owners were kind of struggling, that was the beginning of that process, talking with their representative and thinking about it, then talking to State Parks,” Kusch said at the Wednesday night meeting at Hilo High School.

The land owners, Bikini Atoll Morimba LLC, is a group of Bikini Islanders and their descendants, who were displaced when the U.S. government exploded an atomic bomb on their island in 1946.

“All of a sudden, (the park proposal) started coalescing, like wow, that’s a good idea,” Kusch said. “The county has their workforce housing project across the way in Kaumana. … Kaumana Springs was going to be a park at some point. I think that’s going to be a good workforce housing site. And this is like a counter to that. It’ll have this green space for perpetuity.”

One woman expressed concern about increased traffic in the area and asked if roads would be widened.

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“Let’s face it, they’re narrow, they have gulches on each side, and they’re basically used by primary residents right now. Is that part of your proposal, and how are you going to address that?” she asked.

“I think the alternative is if you had 250 (housing) lots there, then the traffic would be considerably higher,” Kusch replied. “Right now, on a Saturday, there’s 250, 300 people who go up to a place that’s called Narnia above Piihonua. That’s illegal. And I’m hoping that we’ll redirect the nonresidents to an appropriate park to pay parking and control kind of the unregulated internet fame of that area.

“I have not come up with a traffic plan or anything, and that’s something to be considered. I can talk to (the Department of Public Works) … and get you an answer to your specific concerns.”

Kusch said the park, should it come to fruition, would be a “third discontiguous portion” of Wailuku River State Park, which includes Rainbow Falls (Waianuenue) and Boiling Pots.

“To me, $2.25 million feels like a really good deal for the state,” he said. “As for management, State Parks is hugely supportive of this. … They love it for a number of reasons. They have infrastructure here in town … people who can service restrooms, mowing and policing the area.”

According to Kusch, paid parking could boost funding for maintenance, as it has at Hapuna Beach State Park.”

A woman at the meeting worried that public bathrooms and parking lots could attract “needles, drugs and homeless,” citing problems experienced at Mooheau Park in downtown Hilo.

Kusch said, “I doubt people are going to walk 600 feet up in elevation to go to the bathroom. They might. But the one thing State Parks brings is (enforcement) officers. There is an element of the unknown.”

“Does anybody see too much homeless people at Boiling Pots? I don’t,” he said.

Hawaii County Councilmember Jenn Kagiwada added, “I go there every day, and I don’t.

Kagiwada asked if leashed dogs would be allowed on the walking paths, adding that “State Parks has been very resistant about dogs on leash” at Wailoa State Recreation Area in Hilo.

Kusch, who has floated the idea of a dog park as part of the proposal, said State Parks officials have been open to the idea in preliminary discussions.

“It kind of depends on what the ultimate shape of the park is, its goal,” he said. “Like, Wailoa’s different because it’s a grassy area. It’s considered, like, a kid’s playground. If you’re ever down at Lili’uokalani or Hilo Bayfront Trails, there’s tons of people walking their dogs because there’s really no place else to do it. And they’re just courteous about it, but technically, it’s illegal.”

Bruce Larson, a retired attorney, said he likes the idea of a wilderness park but would prefer it to be on 61 acres near Hilo Benioff Medical Center earmarked by the county for the Ainako Subdivision Housing Project, an affordable workforce housing proposal. He noted that in the 1970s, a wilderness park was proposed as a joint county-state venture on the land, then called Kaumana Springs.

“That land down there is not all county land. There’s about 80 acres of state land. … And that land is presently owned, free and clear, by the county and the state,” Larson said. “The proposal that you’re doing — and I’m not saying I oppose the proposal — I think the idea and concept of a park in that area is wonderful, compared to residential housing. But you can also develop a wilderness park where it was originally planned back in the ’70s without any land (purchase) whatsoever.

“The other thing that’s concerning is that the Kaumana wilderness park area has an archaeological study done. There are 212 archaeological sites that were identified by that study — 185 of those sites would be destroyed by the affordable housing project.”

“Frankly, I’ve walked both areas, and the land around Kaumana Springs is far more interesting, and the historical significance is incredible,” Larson added. “The problem is, as I see it, that by destroying most of the archaeological sites behind the hospital and behind Hale Anuenue, we’re essentially doing away with any opportunity for our keiki and their keiki to see what’s there.”

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