Community wants alternatives for Ala Wai project

Oceanit, an engineering consultant, has come up with more alternatives to a controversial Ala Wai Canal flood management plan to protect Waikiki and several other Oahu neighborhoods from flooding.

The federal government has offered to pay $220 million of a $345 million Army Corps of Engineers’ project that would build walls and berms around the canal and put huge flood-control structures in the upper reaches of the watershed.

Instead of that, Oceanit said, the community prefers flood gates and pumps and retractable walls to control flooding at the Ala Wai Canal. They also support underground detention basins in the upper reaches of the watershed and dryland and wetland plots to dissipate energy and hold flood waters. They also urge dredging and cleanup of the canal.

Other suggestions include: ecosystem restoration such as green infrastructure, water quality improvement, stream maintenance, repurposed storm water and creating an Ahupua’a of Waikiki recovery to control flooding in surrounding neighborhoods that wasn’t addressed in the corps’ plan.

Oceanit provided the update Tuesday during an evening meeting at Ala Wai Elementary School that drew some 150 people. Oceanit representatives told the crowd that their recommendations were based on meetings with 100 interested parties that took place over a two-week period.

A “permitted interaction group,” sanctioned under city statute, of City Council members Carol Fukunaga, Ann Kobayashi and Tommy Waters paid Oceanit $100,000 to conduct community outreach and solicit alternatives to the corps’ original plan, which has met with formidable community resistance.

“We are at the first step,” Sterling Yee, Oceanit’s director of strategic consulting, said at the Tuesday meeting. “We’ve got a lot of things to do. In the end what we really want to do is find the common ground. At every point of the way, we expect to have continuous community outreach.”

Fukunaga said the community would have a chance to vet Oceanit’s suggestions before Oceanit finalizes its report. Patrick Sullivan, Oceanit founder, said the company will tweak community recommendations into solutions to discuss with the city and once resolution is reached would transmit them to the corps.

Oceanit’s report comes after a corps’ announcement last week proposing its own revisions. Sullivan said the corps’ announcement “should let you know that the corps is taking a stance, that they are going to be a lot more open-minded and flexible.”

However, his remark elicited skepticism from some community members at the Oceanit meeting.

Just in the last year, pushback against the project has resulted in the formation of a Honolulu City Council permitted interaction group, protests and even a lawsuit filed by the group Protect Our Ala Wai Watersheds. The group’s motion for a preliminary injunction is slated to be heard at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 21 before state District Judge Jeffrey Crabtree.

The city and state signed a memorandum of agreement effective Sept. 19 committing the state to pay the project’s entire $220 million cost share by Nov. 30 and the city to maintain the project. Mayor Kirk Caldwell has told the corps that he plans to sign a project participation agreement once state funds become available; however, the timeline could be altered by the lawsuit or permitting requirements.

It’s unclear if changes could be made to the project once a project participation agreement is signed. However, Kobayashi attempted to reassure the crowd by saying, “Well, you know we’ve been through this many times and we’re gonna fight back and we’re going to say, ‘Listen to us.’”

Jeff Herzog, the corps’ Ala Wai flood project manager, attended Oceanit’s meeting, but didn’t speak. After the meeting, Herzog said Oceanit wasn’t part of the project team and viable alternatives must not cost more than the federal appropriation.

Herzog said the corps already is considering altering features in the upper Manoa Valley and removing two earthen dry dams that were proposed for Palolo Valley and one proposed for Makiki.

“The amount of water and impacts from those streams are minimal compared to the amount of water coming from Manoa above Manoa Marketplace and impacting all the way down through Honolulu to the canal,” Herzog said.

The corps also has proposed replacing some of the walls planned for Ala Wai Canal with earthen berms, he said. Other modifications would extend the Ala Wai Canal barrier along the Manoa-Palolo Canal up to the bridge and approximately 1,100 feet into Date Street, Herzog said.

The corps also is recommending adjusting the system in Manoa to protect the downstream areas, from the University of Hawaii to McCully and Moiliili, but Herzog said it doesn’t yet know what the final Manoa system will look like.

“We are not looking to add any additional large earthen dams in Manoa just because we are eliminating them in the other two valleys. We are looking to develop a system that, during a large storm, protects the community, but has less impact on the ecosystem and community on a daily basis,” Herzog said in a letter to Manoa stakeholders.

The corps plans to provide updates during the Nov. 6 Manoa Neighborhood Board and during the Nov. 7 McCully Moiliili Neighborhood Board, he said.