Question: The Star-Advertiser had an article about Waimalu being a flood zone. The rail is being built in this area. My understanding is that you can’t build anything in a flood zone, especially the rail. Can you correct me if that’s not true?
Answer: It’s not true that you can’t build in a flood zone.
In Waimalu, the rail transit system will be built along Kamehameha Highway, essentially passing between the newly designated "high-risk" flood zones.
The article you refer to was about the Federal Emergency Management Agency reclassifying certain areas on Oahu as "high-risk" flood zones. That included properties on the west side of Waimalu Stream below Moanalua Road, although pockets were reclassified as "low to moderate risk."
Properties in high-risk zones are required by mortgage lenders to have flood insurance; those in undetermined risk areas do not.
The high-risk flood designation, which takes effect Wednesday, also will impose stricter requirements for new structures, such as requiring buildings to be built higher off the ground.
In the case of the rail system, the elevated guideway will be along Kamehameha Highway in the Waimalu area and will be 25 to 30 feet above ground, said Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit.
For the most part, Kamehameha Highway is designated a "low to moderate risk" flood zone.
"Highways are designed to be slightly elevated over the rest of the area to prevent flooding on the roads," Ishikawa explained. The rail’s support columns "will go right down the median of Kamehameha Highway."
In any case, HART is not prohibited from building in a flood hazard district.
In June 2013, HART addressed the issue of flood zones in a "Special Management Area Use Permit and Shoreline Setback Variance Application," saying it would submit documents as required to comply with Flood Hazard District Regulations.
It noted:"Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis can all affect Hawaii. The International Building Code and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials provide minimum design criteria to address the potential for damages caused by these hazards. The project will be designed to meet design standards related to natural hazards."
Question: On Oct. 25, the Star-Advertiser’s Today section had an article regarding safety for children, especially during events like Halloween. It advised looking up sex offenders’ names, available online. May I have the website?
Answer: The state Attorney General’s Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center maintains a central repository of "covered offenders" — which means sex offenders and "offenders against minors" — in the state.
Go to bit.ly/1p2HyXA. You can do a search by just typing in a ZIP code.
Although information is updated regularly, you are cautioned that the information posted may not reflect the current residence or other information of any individual.
Also, while Chapter 846E of the Hawaii Revised Statutes allows the public to have access to information on these convicted offenders, you are advised that "public access to this information is based solely on the fact of each offender’s criminal conviction and is not based on an estimate of the offender’s level of dangerousness. By allowing the public access to this information, the state makes no representation as to whether the covered offenders listed are dangerous. Any person who uses the information in this registry to injure, harass, or commit a criminal act against any person included in the registry may be subject to criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both."
Mahalo
To the young couple who called 911 and the husband and wife who helped my husband when he tripped and fell on the sidewalk near the Verizon Wireless Store on Keeaumoku Street and Kapiolani Boulevard in September. — R. Kida
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Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
