Kalihi Valley to get island’s first restricted parking zone

After a successful, monthlong pilot project in April, a Kalihi Valley neighborhood will be designated Oahu’s first residential Restricted Parking Zone effective June 1, city officials announced Friday.

The so-called RPZ pilot project proved to be so popular that the nearby Kula Kolea neighborhood across Likelike Highway is being included as part of the permanent zone. The city will also consider requests from other Oahu neighborhoods where a zone may be helpful, city Transportation Services Director Wes Frysztacki said.

Households within the Kalihi Valley Wilson Tract will be eligible for two resident and two guest permits per household. Vehicles without an RPZ permit can park in the zone no longer than an hour from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.

For the pilot, the city distributed 309 residential and 300 guest permits to 152 of the 193 households, Frysztacki said. RPZ signs were put up with enforcement from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Jennie, Wilson and Alu streets, and Wilson and Alu places.

After additional feedback from the community, effective July 1 an area loosely defined as the Kula Kolea neighborhood, specifically Kula Kolea Drive and Naai Street, is being added to the zone. There are about 100 households in that area.

The RPZ evolved from complaints by Wilson Tract residents to the Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board that street parking was being flooded by vehicles from other areas — including nearby Kalihi Valley Homes public housing, and by some who appeared to be living out of their vehicles.

“It was not just the availability of the parking, but also the fact that some of the occupants of the vehicles were littering the area, they were doing perhaps potentially criminal activities, they were sleeping in their cars,” Frysztacki said. The residents “kind of really wanted their community back,” he said.

During the pilot, parking occupancy in the area dropped to 70 percent from about 90 percent.

A web-based survey of those who signed up for the program asked whether the zone should be permanent; 169 of 171 respondents, or 98.8 percent, said yes.

Residents expressed a desire to have the program start up again soon after it ended April 30 “because they started to see a deterioration of the situation back to the way it was before the program started,” Frysztacki said.

The permits are free for now, but that could change and a nominal fee may be charged if administering the program begins to tax city resources, he said.

Residents eligible for passes can request them online at 808ne.ws/parkingPasses

Frysztacki said news of the program has led to interest from other neighborhoods across Oahu. He declined to say where.

“We will be pleased to go to any neighborhood board that wants to have a briefing on how the Kalihi Valley program worked and whether or not it might be applicable to their particular situation,’ Frysztacki said.

Criteria and rules for subsequent RPZs will vary, Frysztacki said.

RPZ Pilot Report by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd