Anticipated renewal of construction prompts rally in Waimanalo

Opponents of stalled plans to build new park facilities in Waimanalo rallied Monday morning at Sherwood Forest in anticipation that construction at the site soon would resume.

The fight over the proposed project has quickly grown over the course of a year, leading to petitions, protests and $250,000 in damage to heavy construction vehicles that were set on fire. The $1.43 million first phase of the project includes a multipurpose field parking lot and playground.

After a stakeholders meeting Wednesday, the city ordered contractors to resume work — which came after two construction vehicles were set ablaze in May. One of them, a bulldozer, remains on-site.

About 80 or so protesters lined Kalanianaole Highway, some arriving there as early as 5 a.m. Monday.

Present at last week’s meeting was Kuike Kamakea-Ohelo, president of Save Our Sherwoods.

“They were there to collect input from us, but in the same breath, (Mayor Kirk Caldwell) said, ‘We’re resuming construction Monday,’” Kamakea-Ohelo said. “So, they weren’t there for input, they weren’t there to listen. They were merely there to check off another box and lie.”

Although the meeting was by invitation, other opponents of the project who showed up were eventually allowed to stay.

“The mayor’s representative kept telling us we had to leave, but more and more people came and we just got chairs and sat,” said Karin O’Mahony, a Waimanalo resident who attended the meeting.

Tracy Newman, a member of Save Sherwood Forest, said Monday’s rally was about more than stopping the project, calling it a “catalyst for development in Waimanalo.”

The protesters said they were prepared to stay until night and blockade the road entering the beach park so construction vehicles could not enter. Some wore shirts supporting the efforts on Hawaii island’s Mauna Kea to stop construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.

The potential to attract more visitors to the area, and criticism that existing parks are not properly cared for were the initial reasons some oppose the project. A recent and growing argument is the claim that construction might disturb culturally significant artifacts, including 96 human remains — some as many as 1,500 years old.

Opponents say that the forest’s designation as a funerary on the National Register of Historic Places and its listing on the state Register of Historic Places mean construction should require more vetting before proceeding.

“We know for a fact that this is indeed on the National Registry of Historic Places … so all of Sherwoods and its entirety is included,” Kama­kea-Ohelo said. “Because of that, it was federal, state and county laws that protect it. (The city’s) blatant disregard to law by telling us that they’re just going to move forward is crazy.”

City officials did not respond to questions about Wednesday’s stakeholder meeting or about construction being within the bounds of the nationally registered site.

The city issued a statement in August arguing that work wasn’t being done within the site while also fighting claims regarding the number of remains protesters said were found at the site. Three burial sites, it said, would not be disturbed during construction, and 22 sets of remains were removed in 1991 and reinterred far from the project site.

Before opponents cited the park’s cultural importance, residents opposed the park for reasons including its potential to attract more tourism and disrupt the dynamic of the Waimanalo area and that nearby existing parks are not being cared for properly.