The Honolulu City Council is considering a resolution to urge the Department of Transportation Services to come up with a traffic mitigation plan for Lanikai.

The resolution was discussed during Tuesday’s Committee on Transportation, Sustainability and Health meeting.

“With tourism opening up again, our traffic problems are worse than ever, and the effects on health, safety and quality of life are back again,” said James Bersson, Lanikai Association president.

“We’re seeing increased confrontations and accidents, particularly on the bike lane from people circling looking for parking, as well as get people missing appointments. … The biggest concern is the risks to health and safety of residents and others.”

The resolution would have DTS create a plan to manage traffic that could include more parking restrictions, off-street and off-site parking solutions, improved transit options and public transportation services.

The resolution lists several issues for the Lanikai area such as increased traffic, lack of public bathroom facilities, obstruction of emergency vehicles and unsafe walking conditions due to the lack of sidewalks.

“This plan is going to ensure that we improve access for first responders and roadway safety for both residents and visitors, ease of access to Lanikai Beach to make sure that there is no impediment; and to my knowledge, a lot of them are privately owned and do not prohibit any visitors from going to the beach,” said Council member Esther Kia‘aina, who represents the area and introduced the measure.

Currently, parking is technically banned on both sides of Aalapapa Drive and Mokulua Street. However, the signs specify only that parking is prohibited on the side with the bike lane.

“That implies the other side, people can park there, and they have been, both residents and visitors,” said Honolulu Police Capt. Hunter Ah Loo.

“So we haven’t been enforcing the other side of the roadway opposite the bike lane.”

Kia‘aina wanted to see DTS put up signs that reflect the parking ban for both sides of the street so that HPD could better enforce the restrictions.

This would be in addition to the parking restrictions already in place during three-day weekends.

Kia‘aina added that some options that could be considered are having a shuttle or trolley take beachgoers and hikers from Kailua town or implementing the city’s bike rental system in the area to encourage people to bike instead of drive to the beach. Currently, there are only private bike rental vendors in the Kailua area, despite the amount of bike lanes.

“This is something we’ve been working on for a long time. And we just felt it needs to be crystallized in writing so that when we take action, nobody says, ‘I didn’t know about it,’” Kia‘aina said.

“We’re not making new law. We are trying to enforce current laws on the books.”

If passed, the resolution would require DTS to create a plan within 90 days. DTS Director Roger Morton wanted more time, about six months, to complete it. However, Kia‘aina wanted a shorter time frame, although she said she would be willing to work with the department if there were timing issues.

The resolution unanimously passed out of the committee. It will next go to the full Council for consideration.