Ala Wai project back on the table to develop a new flood risk management plan

A new plan for the controversial Ala Wai Flood Risk Management project won’t emerge until at least 2023.

However, on Wednesday, the first of a series of virtual public meetings will restart the clock on the two-decades-old project.

The project, a partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the City and County of Honolulu, hit a roadblock last year when costs nearly doubled to $651 million in the wake of prolonged community dissension.

The project, which required a local match of about $121 million, then lost roughly $345 million in construction funding that had been set aside in the federal Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 under the Long-term Disaster Recovery Investment Program.

While the federal government has withdrawn its original funding offer for the project, it did agree to pay $3 million for a general evaluation study to identify a new plan. USACE previously estimated that a major flood in the watershed could damage 3,000 structures and cost more than $1.14 billion.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Monday that Wednesday’s virtual meeting will start the general evaluation study, which offers participants a chance to identify a plan that will minimize potential flooding to communities within the Ala Wai watershed, including Waikiki.

“I’ve said all along that this project has to happen for the future of Oahu and the protection of our Ala Wai watershed,” Blangiardi said. “I think it’s very important for the community to be involved in this and that’s our hope, our expectation.”

Virtual meetings will be held on Wednesday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 1 to 3:30 p.m. To access the meeting, go to bit.ly/ 3oafd2G. A brief orientation to the Webex meeting platform will be offered 15 minutes prior to the start of each session.

For audio only access, call 1-844-800-2712. Use access code 1992 62 9020.

Blangiardi said the meetings will emphasize transparency, and that the city also has set aside $250,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds that could be used for public outreach if warranted.

Blangiardi said he and Alex Kozlov, director of the city Department of Design and Construction, will be on both calls for this week’s meetings, which provide the first two of four opportunities for the public to participate in formulating a new plan.

“The goals will be more fine-tuned as (the meetings) go on. This first set is a very wide aperture. We want as many ideas as possible,” Kozlov told the Star-Advertiser. “In the previous study, we were locked into a 100-year storm and the solution was based on that occurrence. That’s no longer the case … so it really opens up all sorts of possibilities.”

Kozlov said this week’s meetings will use a technological tool called Crowdsource Reporter that functions like a “big, technical online board where people can post notes.”

Kozlov said the notes will stay online and people will have 30 days to update existing comments or make new ones.

He said after this week’s sessions that there won’t be another session until the spring.

“We will take all the ideas that we get in the next 40 days and hone those down into something more technical,” he said.

At the end of 2022, Kozlov said there will be another “finer-tuned session,” and in the spring of 2023 or so, there will be a final presentation of the recommended plan.

If the city accepts that plan, it would get forwarded to the federal government. While funding isn’t assured, Kozlov said “given what’s at stake, I think if we have a really solid plan, the likelihood is really high.”