Private company plans lava viewing area in Puna

The public could soon have authorized — and unauthorized — access to see firsthand the aftermath of Kilauea Volcano’s Puna eruption.

Two things scheduled to happen Thursday would pave the way.

The county plans to break down a 24-hour checkpoint at the intersection of Highway 130 and Leilani Avenue, which leads directly to fissure 8 — a 60-foot mountain of cooling lava that’s supposed to be off-limits to everyone. Also on Thursday the county plans to reopen Isaac Kepo‘okalani Hale Beach Park — otherwise known as Pohoiki Beach Park — which also could provide access to see fissure 8 and the surrounding lava field, Mayor Harry Kim said.

At the same time, an unidentified private company wants to create a Big Island lava viewing area at the intersection of Highways 130 and 132 in Lower Puna, Kim told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser on Thursday.

The Kilauea eruption began May 3 and continued into August — opening up 24 fissures, covering more than 6,000 acres of land in Lower Puna, destroying nearly 720 homes in the Leilani Estates and Kapoho areas, and burying or isolating more than 1,600 acres of farms.

From the beginning of the Puna eruption, government and tourism officials from Gov. David Ige on down have been hoping for a viewing area that would provide a safe way to see the expansive lava field — and possibly a view of the still-cooling, massive fissure 8, which for weeks spewed out enough lava to form a fast-moving, molten stream.

Because the effort to establish public viewing is now moving into private hands, Kim declined to provide many of the key details — such as when the lava viewing area might open and who would operate it.

The parties are applying for a permit to operate “a commercial enterprise in that corner,” Kim said.

“The government viewing area is put on hold, and it may not even go forward,” Kim said. “We’ve approached the private sector for their involvement to make it permanent.”

Plans could include a commercial visitors center and a shuttle service to take people around the lava field.

But direct access to fissure 8 could be elusive.

The checkpoint at Leilani Avenue currently guards the entrance to Leilani Estates, and the Leilani Community Association is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the county from removing it.

Whatever the court decides, Kim said the entrance to Leilani Avenue likely will have new signs that say something like “Restricted area, residents only.”

Fissure 8 represents the new end of the road for Leilani Avenue, which is owned by the county.

But property on both sides of Leilani Avenue belongs to either private owners or the Leilani Community Association.

There is no public parking or public restrooms and hardly room to turn around a busload of tourists where the avenue runs into the lava field, 12 blocks from Highway 130.

But Kim hopes the reopening of Pohoiki Beach Park will offer another view of the lava field.

The park was inundated by lava that destroyed county water lines. But lava also created four “natural ocean thermal ponds” and a new black-sand beach.

People who visit the park after it opens “will be able to see fissure 8,” Kim said.

Jay Turkovsky, board president of the Leilani Community Association, questioned the practicality of a lava viewing area at Highways 130 and 132, which he said is about 1.5 miles from fissure 8.

He said he expects that Leilani Estates neighbors will be overrun if the Leilani Avenue checkpoint comes down Thursday as scheduled.

“Seeing fissure 8 from Highway 132 is kind of like looking at Mars without a telescope. It’s out there. But for public appeal, it’ll be less than a disappointment,” Turkovsky said. “And we know darn well that putting up a sign at the entrance will have minimal impact on — shall we say — the masses.”

As an example, Turkovsky said that more than 200 vehicles were lined up Sunday outside the closed entrance to Pohoiki Beach Park.

“People are willing to park and walk just to go in and see the new black-sand beach,” Turkovsky said. “Fissure 8’s a lot more attractive than Pohoiki, and they don’t have to walk as far.”

Turkovsky does not expect the creation of a lava viewing area to lessen the visitor impact on Leilani Estates from people who want to see fissure 8.

There will be “no protection for our private property and our private streets,” he said.