Residents expressed relief Friday after the state decided to step in and remove several boulders threatening homes on a hillside in Kalihi Valley.
At an emergency meeting, five members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources voted unanimously to remove two boulders weighing just under 2 tons each along with several smaller boulders.
The decision was made after several boulders came crashing down the hillside, damaging three homes April 12. The boulders that the state will remove are sitting in the path of those that fell.
A contractor for the state found the remaining boulders April 13 while trying to determine who owned the land where the boulders dislodged, said spokeswoman Deborah Ward.
The state determined the land was privately owned, but stepped in after Gov. Neil Abercrombie requested the Department of Land and Natural Resources do a rockfall mitigation project in the interest of public safety. The project is expected to cost about $150,000, and state lawmakers Sen. Donna Mercado Kim and Rep. John Mizuno assured the department that the costs for the mitigation work will be restored, the department said.
Land Board Chairman William Aila Jr. said contractors will be able to start the job after the three landowners — William and Shirley Jacinto and the Church of Christ of the Redeemed of the Lord — sign an agreement allowing the state to do work on the land.
The job can be done in about one day, Aila said.
"I think early part of next week we should be able to get this job done," he said. The residents in the area will be notified in advance.
Ward said seven homes on Kula Kolea Place, where the boulders crashed into homes, may need to be evacuated while a helicopter is used to pick up the rocks and debris from the hillside. No one was injured in the April 12 rockfall, but several boulders, including two several tons in weight, crashed into homes on Kula Kolea Place and at least seven homes were evacuated.
Ward said the state didn’t check the entire hillside for dangerous boulders because it was addressing an area of a known hazard.
Before the vote, some board members expressed concern over who would be liable if further boulders came down from the hillside.
A representative for the state attorney general’s office said because the land was in its natural state, no one was liable for the boulders coming down.
Arlene Kahawai, pastor of the Church of Christ of the Redeemed of the Lord, was relieved that the state was stepping in.
"I didn’t know what to do or where to go," she said. "Even me that night, when I went to bed, I couldn’t sleep good because thinking about them.
"I’m thankful that things worked out," she said.
She said her parents bought the land 41 years ago, and she has never touched it, but has been thinking about giving the land to the state for several years, especially since it’s conservation land.
"I’m still willing to gift the land over to the state if they’re willing to have it," she said. "We don’t have any use for it. We cannot use it to improve the land."
Cathy Cachola and husband Keola, of Kula Kolea Drive, helped gather 115 signatures for a petition asking the state to do mitigation work on the remaining boulders. But the past week of waiting has been stressful.
"It’s been really scary," Cathy Cachola said. "I think it’s just knowing what the findings were after the consultation and knowing that there were boulders still there."
