Protect the view from the road

"Lucky we live Hawaii" is the phrase that comes to mind whenever residents take a moment to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings. On Oahu, those occasions come along too infrequently. Vistas of land, sea and sky are obscured because heads get buried in daily activities and worries, and because the vistas themselves become obscured by urban development.

The importance of that respite to the visiting tourists and local residents alike makes the state’s decisions to add four new "scenic byways" to the existing list of four all the more welcome. On this island, there are great long expanses of highway where it’s easy to forget that the Pacific Ocean is a rock’s throw away. That concern underlies many land-use debates, over developments from Turtle Bay to Kakaako.

Each of the areas, designated under the state’s Hawaii Scenic Byways program, is supported by one or more sponsor organizations. They are:

» Diamond Head Scenic Byway, encircling what has been a national landmark for 25 years. Sponsors of the byway (dubbed "The Lei around Leahi") are the Diamond Head State Monument Foundation, Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, Scenic Hawaii, the Oahu Island Parks Conservancy and The Outdoor Circle.

» The Maunalua-Makapu‘u Scenic Byway, a 6.8-mile length of Kalanianaole Highway along much of the Ka Iwi Coast, from Hawaii Kai Drive to the Makai Research Pier. The application was initiated by the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board, but the official sponsor is the Ka Iwi Coalition.

» The Kauhale o Ho‘okipa Scenic Byway in Waikiki is distinctly more urban in character. The sponsor is the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, which already has 23 points of historic interest noted with surfboard markers in Waikiki; its members hope the designation can gain funds for further enhancements.

» On Hawaii island, the Red Road Scenic Byway, about 15 miles of Highway 137 in Puna that passes historic lava fields, state parks, a forest preserve and a marine sanctuary. This nomination is sponsored by the organization Kalani Honua.

The question is: What happens now?

The state patterned its scenic byways selection process after the federal program, so what happens next is that the sponsors, through their own byways committee, draws up a "corridor management plan" outlining projects that could enhance the scenic area.

How these things get accomplished isn’t clear. The federal highways agencies discontinued its grants program that could have benefited the byways. Now the sponsors are encouraged to apply for other government and private grants to underwrite their projects.

And this comes after a lengthy applications process, also modeled after the federal program. With all these hoops to jump through, it’s no wonder Hawaii has only a short list so far of designated byways.

But even if the designation changes no zoning codes and officially does not stop development, it has value by getting community groups organized behind the protection of priority areas. Greg Knudsen, who has been part of the campaign to save the Ka Iwi Coast for years, said he and other advocates plan to use the designation as an "arguing point" whenever incompatible projects are proposed.

Clearly, defense of Hawaii’s scenic treasures will take all the ammunition we can muster.