The paved parking lot at Laaloa Beach Park in Kailua-Kona has been closed indefinitely.

The parking lot has been at the center of controversy since the 1990s when members of the Native Hawaiian community raised concerns because of the presence of Hawaiian religious sites and human burials. A group known as the La‘aloa Ohana had lobbied for the county to remove a portion of the lot encroaching on a registered religious temple.

The closure on May 17 was announced in a news release from the Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation asking park visitors to use alternate parking along Alii Drive or at Kipapa Park, which is directly across the street from Magic Sands Beach Park. The accessible parking stall near the restrooms at Magic Sands Beach Park will remain open for public use, the county said.

“The parking lot’s closure is necessary, to honor commitments the County agreed to with the Hawaii Island Burial Council, State Historic Preservation Division, cultural and lineal descendants, and cultural practitioners in respect of and in furtherance of the preservation of Haukalua heiau and several other culturally significant sites located on the property,” the county said in a statement.

Laaloa Beach Park is also known as Disappearing Sands, White Sands and Magic Sands Beach Park.

The county said it is developing a plan to reopen the lot in a “culturally sensitive” reconfiguration with fewer parking spaces, which should be completed in about 18 months.

For more information about the parking lot closure, please call Charmaine Kamaka at 961-8311.