The Friends of Haiku Stairs, a 36-year-old nonprofit dedicated to preserving the once-legally accessible steel steps built along a sheer ridgeline above Kaneohe, is suing the city to prevent removal of the stairs via helicopters by a newly contracted demolition company.

The nonprofit contends the city has not updated or completed the necessary environmental impact studies required to legally demolish the World War II-era stairs, and has therefore violated basic Hawaii Environmental Protection Act, or HEPA, rules in its attempts to advance the “Haiku Valley Nature Preserve Removal of Haiku and Moanalua Saddle Stairs” project. The lawsuit is expected to be filed in 1st Circuit Court today.

The city began planning for removal of the stairs in 2021, citing safety concerns, liability costs to the city, trespassing/neighborhood disturbances and invasive species.

On Monday, the city administration said it had no knowledge of the lawsuit. “I’m not aware of the lawsuit and haven’t seen the lawsuit to this point,” Scott Humber, the mayor’s director of communications, told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser.

The 50-page lawsuit argues that the court should halt the city’s mountainside demolition project due to what it calls the city’s lack of environmental documents and related factors.

“The stated purpose of the proposed action is the destruction of the Haiku Stairs, an iconic and historic monument consisting of a steel hiking trail structure of over 3,000 steps along Oahu’s Koolau mountain range,” the lawsuit reads. “The action would involve the demolition and removal of the Stairs which are situated on land classified as conservation district and designated as federally protected critical habitat for multiple endangered species.”

The lawsuit claims the city “admits that the proposed action would have significant environmental impacts. As such, HEPA mandates that an environmental impact statement shall be required.”

“However, rather than follow the prescribed process and faithfully comply with HEPA’s mandate that an EIS must be prepared for any proposed action that ‘may’ have a significant impact on the environment,” the lawsuit claims the city “instead chose to cite an outdated and inadequate Final Environmental Impact Statement that was prepared for a separate and distinct action completed in 2019 by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply in conjunction with the city.”

And the lawsuit asserts “to the extent there is an overlap of the prior 2019 action and the current Proposed Action, defendant city ignores HEPA rules mandating that a supplemental EIS be prepared when an essentially different action is under consideration due to a substantive change in the size, scope, intensity, use, location, timing, and/or other characteristics that may have a significant effect on the environment.”

In recent years, calls from some in the community say the Haiku Stairs should be removed as its presence to a nearby residential neighborhood has promoted trespassing, noise, traffic and related public safety issues.

Since 2021, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and the City Council have favored a plan to permanently remove the structure that over the years has switched ownership between the Coast Guard, the Board of Water Supply and ultimately to the city itself.

Last year the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation became the new steward of what for years was a legally accessible staircase — known by visitors and locals alike as the Stairway to Heaven, with its spectacular views and unique mountain hiking experience — but which has, of late, become restricted property.

Demolition of the metal staircase — first built by the Navy as a wooden ladder system for communications equipment access in the 1940s and later replaced by metal stairs with railings that steeply work their way to the top of Haiku Valley and the Koolau mountain range — was to begin at the end of 2022.

Conversely, Friends of Haiku Stairs has promoted saving the Windward Oahu landmark via managed access of the site.

Sean Pager, the group’s president, previously told the Star-Advertiser that the Haiku Stairs could be a “guided, managed, curated experience” similar to the city’s Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve that might involve online reservations, fees and even video safety briefings required for viewing before hikers venture up the stairs.

The lawsuit follows the city’s selection of a demolition company to dismantle the stairs.

On June 1, after a nearly monthlong request for bidders, the city opened just one bid for the demolition project — to be overseen by the city’s Department of Design and Construction — initially estimated at $1 million. The Nakoa Cos. Inc. offered to do the work for $2.26 million.

But in a June 29 letter, the city awarded the Nakoa Cos. a more than $2.34 million contract — roughly $800,000 above the Kapolei company’s initial bid submission. Although the contract was awarded, the Mayor’s Office confirmed last month that the bid was going through a “procurement process and still being evaluated,” though no estimated time of approval was given.

As far as the bidder’s proposed $2.26 million for this work, Humber previously told the Star-Advertiser that the Design and Construction Department requested $1.5 million in Honolulu’s 2024 fiscal year budget, which was approved June 7.

Humber noted there was an additional $1.1 million remaining — for a total of $2.6 million — in the city’s prior 2023 fiscal year budget dedicated toward removing the stairs.

“Mayor has continued to say the removal of the stairs is due to ongoing issues with trespassing and property damage in the surrounding community, personal injuries, invasive species and overall public safety,” he added.

Tim Vandeveer, an environmental lawyer representing the Friends of Haiku Stairs in its lawsuit, said Honolulu has violated environmental laws in its stated desire to remove the stairs.

“Because there’s no environmental impact statement that applies to what they’re proposing right now,” he said. “And when they take action, it’s incumbent upon us to be ready and file suit because HEPA is clear — before you take action, you have to study it.”

Vandeveer added that his clients are asking the court to rule that new environmental studies be conducted, noting the impacts to remove the steel sections of stairs — including the use of helicopters which have strong downwashes from spinning rotor blades.

“Through this lawsuit, plaintiffs seek to ensure that environmental impacts are carefully studied, decision makers are properly informed and the public has an opportunity to participate,” Vandeveer said.

The lawsuit’s five additional plaintiffs include a Friends board member, longtime hikers, environmental activists and Kaneohe area residents who support the presence of the Haiku Stairs.

One of the supporters in particular is Hawaii island resident Donald Kamalani “Kama” Pua.

In 2015, Pua’s younger brother, Jaylenn “Moke” Pua, presumably died while hiking the Moanalua Saddle Stairs on the leeward side of the Koolau range. According to the lawsuit, “Moke” Pua — whose body was never recovered — was widely reported to have “climbed the Haiku Stairs,” contributing to what the suit claims was a false public perception that the stairs are dangerous.

“In fact, a subsequent investigation established that ‘Moke’ Pua had embarked on the ‘back side route’ up from Moanalua Valley. He got lost along the way and most likely fell to his death near the summit,” the lawsuit reads. “‘Kama’ Pua wants to prevent future hikers from encountering the same tragic fate as his brother. He believes that reopening the Haiku Stairs would provide a far safer means for hikers to access the summit.”