Funding expected for Kakaako parks transfer

The Hawaii Community Development Authority today is expected to approve giving the city up to $2.25 million for the transfer and upkeep of 41 acres of lower Kakaako park lands.

But the funding would be significantly less than what either HCDA or the city have estimated it will cost to upgrade park facilities, which have fallen into disrepair. HCDA projected it would cost $44 million to implement its agency’s proposed parks plan, while city officials said they expect to spend at least $27.8 million in improvements, according to an HCDA staff report filed Tuesday.

Meanwhile, several Honolulu City Council members have complained that Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration is agreeing to a transfer that sticks the city with what is projected to be as much as $2 million annually in operational and maintenance costs.

The HCDA, tasked with overseeing growth and development of Kakaako, has been trying to transfer the properties to the city since early 2018. Kakaako Waterfront Park and Kewalo Basin Park are among four parks included in the transfer, as are the lands under the independently operated Children’s Discovery Center.

The handoff is expected to happen in the next 60 days, city Parks Director Michele Nekota told the Council Parks, Community Serv­ices and Intergovernmental Affairs at a meeting two weeks ago.

An unstated component at the heart of the transfer is the scores of homeless people who camp along the sidewalks of the area. After the Caldwell administration voiced frustration several years ago about having difficulty enforcing sidewalk clearance and park closure hours due to jurisdictional conflicts, the city offered to take over the properties and incorporate them into a “lei of parks” that stretches from Ala Moana Regional Park to the east.

Supporters of the transfer note that placing jurisdiction over the area to Honolulu is a good fit because HCDA is not set up to oversee operations and maintenance of park space.

Tuesday’s HCDA staff report said that after two inspections, city officials “noted a number of items of concern that would either prevent them from accepting all of the parks or result in the closure of significant portions of the park.” The report said Caldwell will accept conveyance of the properties if HCDA provides the $2.25 million.

The HCDA board in July had approved paying the city up to $800,000 as a condition of the transfer, but the figure was raised after a second inspection.

The report said the city intends to spend $27.8 million in long-term projects, and included an extensive list of improvements to be made, including reconstruction of comfort stations, parking lots, showers and utility lines at Kaka­ako Waterfront as well as work at the Kakaako Gateway Parks and Kewalo Basin Park.

The city is expecting to hire 19 groundskeepers, four security-minded “park rangers” and a recreation event coordinator at $1.07 million annually to service the four parks, Nekota said. Additionally, the city has budgeted about $1.1 million for operational costs including utilities, equipment and supplies, she said.

Nekota, separately, informed the Council in a memo earlier this month that her agency will need to divert about $738,397 for 19 temporary groundskeeper hires until the permanent hires are made.

“We need to get staff on board … to maintain the parks,” Nekota said.

Council Parks Chairwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi, who placed the transfer issue on her committee agenda, said it riles her that the city would accept new parkland when it has difficulty operating and maintaining the grounds it already has.

“I have serious concerns about the additional funding, positions and resources that will be needed to not only maintain, but also provide security for this expansive area, which has been and continues to be overrun by homeless encampments,” she said.

“The 19 additional positions and millions in funding could have made such a difference to so many parks and beach parks throughout our communities that are in desperate need of repair and maintenance.”

Councilwoman Kymberly Pine, who has been pressing for more park staffing across her West Oahu district, also voiced disapproval at the transfer.

“Once again the administration is doing something totally idiotic by adding more staff to a park that is not even a city park, that happens to be near a new wealthy area, when hundreds of parks across the island are being neglected because they don’t have enough staff,” she said.

Administration spokesman Andrew Pereira, however, noted that at the same meeting, Council members were discussing Resolution 19-185, which calls on the administration to come up with a priority list of available properties the city can purchase for additional park locations.

Positions are not being taken away from other parks for the Kakaako lands. “We are adding positions for this park, so it is not taking away from other locations,” he said.