Bill Text: HI SCR197 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Supporting Any Public Project, Permit, Or Approval That Improves Pedestrian And Traffic Safety While Retaining Public Parking At Laniakea Beach.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-16 - Referred to TRS. [SCR197 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2021-SCR197-Introduced.html

---

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	197
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

supporting any public project, permit, or approval that improves pedestrian and traffic safety while retaining public parking at Laniakea Beach.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Kamehameha Highway at Laniakea Beach has been, and continues to be, a traffic choke point with pedestrians crossing from the parking area to the beach that causes traffic to regularly back up as much as two miles in both directions; and

 

     WHEREAS, community members have actively advocated for relief from the traffic congestion and disorganized beach access since at least 2005 and there have been several opportunities for the State and City and County of Honolulu to work together with stakeholders to resolve the parking and safety concerns; and

 

     WHEREAS, to ensure that the public would continue to park mauka of the highway at Laniakea Beach, the City and County of Honolulu used eminent domain and obtained possession of the site of Laniakea Beach Support Park by a court order on August 2, 1999; and

 

     WHEREAS, on December 23, 2013, the Department of Transportation placed concrete jersey barriers on the mauka shoulder of the highway to block the public from parking on city property mauka of Laniakea Beach; and

 

     WHEREAS, a lawsuit was filed to restore parking for beach access and on July 8, 2015, the First Circuit Court ruled that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail upon the merits of the dispute regarding whether the Department of Transportation can maintain the traffic barriers on the park area without the necessary permits and issued a preliminary injunction which required the Department of Transportation to remove all jersey barriers from the park area; and

 

     WHEREAS, on August 15, 2015, the Department of Transportation removed the jersey barriers from the highway and placed them at the back of the parking area, and then removed them entirely from city property by September 27, 2019; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation is presently considering four alternatives: No Build Alternative, No Build Settlement Alternative, Transportation System Management Alternative, and Pedestrian Shift Alternative; and

 

     WHEREAS, the No Build Alternative leaves the project area as is; and

 

     WHEREAS, the No Build Settlement Alternative would implement the project stipulated in the settlement reached between the City and County of Honolulu, Department of Transportation, and the litigants; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Transportation System Management Alternative would block parking on the mauka side of Kamehameha Highway with a permanent guardrail, similar to what was done with jersey barriers; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Pedestrian Shift Alternative would realign Kamehameha Highway and allow parking between the highway and the shoreline, but proposes to prohibit parking for an undetermined time, possibly years, during construction; and

 

     WHEREAS, any agency permit or approval which allows closing most or all public parking at Laniakea Beach for a multi-year period would not comply with state coastal zone management policies and would unreasonably restrict beneficial use of the environment and public resources and other community cultural practices; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the House of Representatives concurring, that this body supports any public project, permit, or approval that improves pedestrian and traffic safety while retaining public parking at Laniakea Beach; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body opposes any public project, permit, or approval which would close most or all public parking at Laniakea Beach for a multi-year period; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Transportation, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Chairperson of the Honolulu City Council, Director of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu, Director of Design and Construction of the City and County of Honolulu, and Director of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Traffic; Highway Safety; Public Parking Laniakea Beach