Helen Babalis, a yoga instructor, said she was prepared to bring a group of yoga devotees to block the city from building a lifeguard substation next to the Waikiki Aquarium.
"No. They can’t touch this parkland," said Babalis, who was picnicking with friends on the site on Valentine’s Day. "It’s impossible. We’d all sit in and block the bulldozers if they tried."
That may not be necessary now that Mayor Kirk Caldwell has announced he is considering relocating the project to Kakaako.
The city presented its plans to build an 1,800-square-foot substation with an adjacent parking and maintenance lot to the Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Neighborhood Board — and a mostly hostile crowd — on Thursday.
The city says a new Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division substation is needed in case the Waikiki Natatorium, which houses administrators and lifeguards covering Oahu’s South Shore, is deemed unsafe. Officials said they will evaluate where a new building should be built and whether it should be used mostly for administrative purposes as originally presented or modified to include first responders.
"The new mayor is taking another look at this," Walea L. Constantinau, Caldwell’s representative to the Diamond Head Neighborhood Board, said at Thursday’s meeting. "Different administration. New people in place. Different considerations. There is no immediate decision and no immediate change."
Mark Rigg, director-designate of the city Department of Emergency Services, supports a proposal in the Kakaako Makai master plan to house ocean safety there, and the mayor is considering that proposal, Caldwell press secretary Jesse Broder Van Dyke said.
"There is a boat ramp at that (Kakaako) location which ocean safety could launch jet skis from," Broder Van Dyke said. "However, the city does not own that land, so some sort of agreement would need to be reached with the state and the landowner before that could go forward."
Diamond Head Neighborhood Board Chairwoman Linda Wong said she’ll believe the change when she sees it. "I’m not convinced that they are done with the Waikiki site," Wong said Friday. "We suggested the Kakaako site earlier, and they rejected it."
Wong and other members of her board have adamantly opposed the Waikiki project from the beginning, citing the value of maintaining open park space for residents and tourists.
"Natural green space and parks are very important," said Vancouver visitor Dave Sparks, who with his wife, Jean, was watching the surf Thursday from a park bench near the site of the proposed Waikiki lifeguard building.
Many residents attended the neighborhood board presentation to give the city a similar message.
"If they hadn’t presented their latest plan during Valentine’s Day, you would have had three times the people here," Wong said. "Last night (Thursday) was the first time they really backed down. But my gut is that they’ll be back. This is the second time that this particular project has been postponed indefinitely."
The city has spent more than $100,000 on its original plan to build a new substation on a 13,000-square-foot parcel Ewa of the Waikiki Aquarium. Relocating the facility would require a new design process, Terry Hildebrand, a planner for the city Department of Design and Construction, told the neighborhood board.
The Kapiolani Park Preservation Society opposes construction on the Waikiki site. Its president, Alethea Rebman, said the city should have informed the preservation society, neighborhood boards, the State Historic Preservation Division and other parties before spending money on the project. City Council members also should have asked the courts for guidance, Rebman said.
If the city sticks to the Waikiki site, Rebman said, the Kapiolani Park Preservation Society will try to block it in court. In the meantime she said she’s willing to give the city a chance.
"I’m pleased with the new administration’s willingness to look at the proper use of the parkland," she said.
