black pot beach park master plan - community meeting, november 17, 2015

Date: December 11, 2015 Project Name: Black Pot Beach Park Master Plan

Subject: Community Meeting 1 Meeting Location: Hanalei Elementary School Cafeteria

Meeting Date and Time: Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 6:00‐8:30pm

Recorded by: Corlyn Orr

Attendees: Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jay Furfaro, Office of Boards and Commissions Nancy McMahon, Dept. of Parks and Recreation Scott Ezer, Corlyn Orr, Rick Quinn, Johanna Ventura ‐ see attendance record for roster of community members

The first community meeting for the Black Pot Beach Park Master Plan Project was held at the Hanalei Elementary School Cafeteria on Tuesday, November 17, 2015. The meeting was scheduled from 6:00—8:30 PM, with an informal open house from 6:00—6:30 PM followed by a project briefing and group activity from 6:30—8:30 PM. The meeting purpose was to introduce the project scope and planning process, share information about what has been done to‐date, and gather input about the priority issues and concerns that should be addressed in the planning process.

OPEN HOUSE STATIONS

During the open house, project displays/stations were arranged around the perimeter of the cafeteria. Members of the project team, DPR’s project manager, and Mayor Carvalho met with attendees and answered questions about the project. Each station included specific questions that attendees were asked to comment on (SEE ATTACHMENT 1 for station topics and written comments).

WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS, AND PROJECT BRIEFING

Johanna Ventura, meeting facilitator, called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM and introduced Mayor Bernard Carvalho. Mayor Carvalho opened with pule and opening remarks, which included thanking everyone for their participation, and sharing his personal appreciation for Black Pot Beach Park. Following introductions of the planning team, Scott Ezer, principal with HHF Planners, acknowledged Community Advisory Committee members and focus group participants, and then presented background information about the project.

GROUP ACTIVITY

The second half of the meeting consisted of a group activity. Meeting attendees were encouraged to participate, although participation was not mandatory. Those not wanting to participate were given an option to view the open house project displays and write their comments on the displays. More than half of the attendees chose not to participate and dispersed after instructions for the group activity were given.

Meeting attendees were divided into 8 groups, with groups averaging between 6‐8 individuals per group. Each group was given an aerial map of the planning area and graphic icons of parking stalls (stalls were scaled to the dimensions of the aerial map). The groups were asked to identify their group’s ideal location for future parking, including the preferred layout and number of parking stalls. Each group was

MEETING SUMMARY

Black Pot Beach Park Master Plan COMMUNITY MEETING 1 | November 17, 2015 of 12

asked to report back to the larger group and share their findings at the end of the activity. Posters from each of the groups are attached (SEE ATTACHMENT 2).

NEXT STEPS/ADJOURNMENT

Following the group presentations, the next steps in the planning process were reviewed and email/project website contact information to submit additional comments was given. Comments from the community meeting would be compiled and analyzed for common themes, followed by preparation of planning alternatives and a meeting with the Community Advisory Committee to discuss those alternatives. The next community meeting to present the draft plan would follow (Spring 2016 target). The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

1. Adam Roversi* 2. Albert Kaui** 3. Allan Parachini 4. Amy Davis 5. Ann and John Petrovitz 6. Ann Hermosura** 7. Anne Thurston 8. Aurelius McNaughton 9. Austin Owen 10. Barbara Robeson** 11. Barbara Ross 12. Barbara Smith 13. Barry Simmons 14. Belinda Habig 15. Ben Welborn 16. Betsy Lis 17. Billy Kinney* 18. Brian Kennelly 19. Carl Imparato** 20. Carol and David Andrews 21. Carol Caspillo 22. Chauncey Pa 23. Cheryl Campanale 24. Chris Hoy 25. Dave Stewart* 26. David Helder 27. Diana Albergate 28. Diana Meyer 29. Dianne Hartley 30. Dottie and Dick Perry 31. Doug Newman

32. Drew Nakahara 33. Dustin Alfiler 34. EP Davis 35. Eric Lazar 36. Felicia Cowden 37. Frances Embick 38. Friedemann Bender 39. Gregg Winston 40. Happy Parks 41. Heidi Low 42. Hobey Beck* 43. Ian Miles 44. James and Frances Lee 45. Jerry Hayward 46. Jim Braman* 47. Jim Ingham 48. John and Irmgard Mitchell 49. Judith Gardner 50. Julie Kanealii** 51. Julie Schuller 52. Julie Wallace 53. Karen Bellavita 54. Kelii Alapai 55. Keola Sheehan* 56. Kieren Pond 57. Kimberly Estrella 58. Kimo Aluli 59. Leilani Cabais 60. Les Iczkovitz 61. Louise Barnfield 62. Mahina Ventura

63. Marjory Cameron 64. Mary Anders 65. Merri Murphy 66. Michael G. Sheehan 67. Michael Luttig 68. Mike Mitchell 69. Mike Schorr 70. Nathan Teixeira* 71. Pamela Hernandez 72. Patty Irons 73. Paul Pacilla 74. Perry and Carla Watson 75. Presley Wann* 76. R. Toshi 77. Reid Yoshida 78. Richard Sloggett 79. Rick Busch 80. Roger A. Ross 81. Romit Mehta 82. Rory Enright* 83. Ruby Pap 84. Sam Ainslie 85. Sharon Turnbull 86. Smith Hartley 87. Steve Cole 88. Steve Smart 89. Sylvia Partridge 90. Terry Lilley 91. Tom Zingale 92. Valerie Owens 93. Wesley Haraguchi**

* Community Advisory Committee member **Focus Group Participant


ATTACHMENT 1 | COMMENTS FROM THE OPEN HOUSE STATIONS

STATION 1: WHAT IS YOUR PREFERENCE FOR PARK ACTIVITIES AND FACILITIES? Station 1 presented

the planning concepts for preferred park activities and facilities as identified during the focus group

meetings. As part of this station, open house participants were asked to write responses on post‐it

notes and place their responses on the corresponding poster. Questions were:

1. What concepts do you like?

2. What would you change?

Written comments are as follows (transcribed verbatim).

WHAT CONCEPTS DO YOU LIKE?

‐ Focus Group 1, Team 2

‐ Parking needs to be as close as possible to the beach

‐ Access for boat and kayak launch

‐ Ocean safety, lifeguards?

‐ I would like to see a bike and pedestrian bridge across the river

‐ Bathrooms need to be SAFE. Not like Pavilion where druggies hang

‐ “Maintenance” as a concept. Cut trees, keep grass growing. Collect garbage often

‐ Keep it all CLEAN! Move restrooms, enlarge them/changing space, clean showers!

‐ Shared use path along river from park to town

‐ New concept: clean and maintain existing bathrooms

‐ Keep parking o beach. More social, unlike mainland

‐ Overnight regulated camping with fees

WHAT CONCEPTS WOULD YOU CHANGE?

‐ The area is being abused due to overuse

‐ I want to hear the ocean and the wind in trees. Not loud music and noisy vehicles

‐ More bathrooms and clean them!

‐ Enlarge bathrooms

STATION 2: HOW DO YOU USE AND RELATE TO BLACK POT BEACH PARK? Station 2 presented

information from the focus group meetings about where park users typically spend their time, where

they park, and what areas/facilities are most in need of improvements. As part of this station, open

house participants were asked to write responses on post‐it notes and place their responses on the

corresponding poster. Questions were:

1. AGREE, my habits and opinions are similar to these findings:

2. DISAGREE, my habits and opinions differ in the following ways:


AGREE, MY HABITS AND OPINIONS ARE SIMILAR TO THESE FINDINGS:

‐ Give the old Hanalei Canoe Club to Namolokama Canoe Club

‐ I agree

‐ Since the bay and river are critical habitat for the monk seal, are you doing a habitat

conservation plan?

‐ Spend most of my time between Black Pot and the pier, or on the pier. Typically park on the

beach area. Agree and disagree that the bathroom and boat ramp need the most improvement


‐ Unrestricted camping for residents

‐ State land: “held in trust for the people.” Our people, our land! Not for sale!

‐ Keep parking on the beach. Real people love to park and play

‐ Use beach for sitting on beach and enjoying the beauty

‐ Parking on the beach is what people from all around the world come here to do. Its what brings

people to such a special place from all over the world to do just that.

‐ Like park on beach and throw horseshoes

‐ Parking should stay as is. Local resident should not be displaced because of having more people.

If they want to go to the beach, we know the rules. We’ll go early to park and get our spot. Nice

to have a beach where we still can drive right up to the water, unload the family and play. Once

beach parking is taken away, it’ll be almost impossible to get it back. Priority now more parking

and repair restrooms.

DISAGREE, MY HABITS AND OPINIONS DIFFER IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

‐ Do not stop parking on the beach!

‐ Limit parking to residents. All others bus in

‐ I use the beach for being with nature. I like it peaceful and quiet. No loud music (boomboxes,

etc.)

‐ Move parking off beach. Devote former Hodge piece to parking and ADA‐compliant access,

overflow parking mauka

‐ YES!

‐ We don’t want this to turn into Orange County, California. This is Hawai‘i.

STATION 3: PARKING INFORMATION. Station 3 presented parking counts taken on four separate days

(August 28‐29, 2015; September 6‐7, 2015). As part of this station, open house participants were asked

to write responses on post‐it notes and place their responses on the corresponding poster. Questions

were structured to gauge feelings about the current practice of parking on the beach:

1. Parking on the beach should continue with no changes because:

2. Parking on the beach should be restricted to a designated rea or to certain user groups like

boaters and campers because:

3. Parking on the beach should be stopped because:


PARKING ON THE BEACH SHOULD CONTINUE WITH NO CHANGES BECAUSE:

‐ We definitely need extra parking but parking on beach is an important thing

‐ Leave the beach parking available. We need it to stay the same

‐ Yes, indeed!

‐ Easy close access for heavy wave ski and SUPs on beach is GREAT

‐ Love the feeling of what is!

‐ Keeps it social, nice, and unique

‐ We want to continue to have easy access to water with SUP equipment

‐ Families are able to make their day‐camp work for keiki and kupuna

‐ More beach parking!

‐ Tradition

‐ Keep it! Mahalo

‐ How many gallons of oil compare to the unlimited gallons of fertilizer from Princeville?


PARKING ON THE BEACH SHOULD BE RESTRICTED TO A DESIGNATED AREA OR TO CERTAIN USER

GROUPS LIKE BOATERS AND CAMPERS BECAUSE:

‐ The beach area could be made larger. Single line parking

‐ Residents only

‐ Cars and small trucks only. No radios, boom boxes, etc. No noise

‐ Residents only

‐ Move parking off beach. Put parking along river; remove all trees and replant better

‐ Important to allow all age surfers to have access to ocean. Move parking lot back

‐ Re‐landscape park so that parking can be along river and cars are off beach

‐ Move parking back onto parking lot. Important for views and access

‐ Parking needs to be as close as possible to the beach

‐ Engenders feelings of community and ohana

PARKING ON THE BEACH SHOULD BE STOPPED BECAUSE:

‐ No parking on beach

‐ Get rid of parking on beach. Pollutes ocean (oil, gas). Nonsense

‐ Dedicated paved parking off the beach but close is needed

‐ Flood zone. Flooding will increase with sea level rise. Unsafe. Oil/gas and tire remnants pollute

the water. It obstructs public access along the beach. Compacting sand affects wildlife habitat

‐ Access/view. Dedicated designated parking just behind sand. Plant new, better trees

‐ No parking on the beach. Beach is for recreation only not cars.

‐ The choice is always with the “first nation.” The people who were here first. Access for all

Hawaiians first!

‐ No overnight parking without special permit


ATTACHMENT 2 | GROUP ACTIVITY

Meeting attendees were assigned to 8 different groups. A total of 7 groups completed the activity (posters and speaker notes are documented as follows). The 8th group chose not to complete the assigned activity or prepare a graphic.

Events, camping

Events, camping

Canoe club

Tailgating and surf day use (1 row)

Camping

Boat + trailer+ commercial

100 parking stalls+ trailer parking

GROUP 1

Enjoy parking on the beach

Address Hanalei River water quality. Frequency of

individuals with staph infections is increasing,

raising concerns. State law makes it the county’s

responsibility to maintain the river (per handout of

Hawai‘i Revised Statutes 46‐11.5)

Want to have camping area


Beach parking (YES) Reduce camping—or none?

Boat

Bathrooms and showers CLEAN!

Roundabout

Namolokama Canoe Club

Lifeguard at pier

120 parking stalls + beach parking + trailer parking

Beach parking to remain

Keep existing parking areas

Move boat ramp mauka

How do you fix problem of too

much beach parking?

There are other spaces to go to

other than just “right there”

Lifeguard, bathroom, showers

Less camping, or move camping

area away from beach to open up

area (other group didn’t agree

with this)

Roundabout/turnaround area

GROUP 2


140 parking stalls

Group was divided on beach parking.

Not sure how to police it

Why can’t use Hodge property now?

Want to preserve the park for future

generations

GROUP 3


Handicap

Bus turnaround and handicap

Boat parking

MOVE

CANOE PARK

Beach parking (limit # of cars)

240 parking stalls + 20 handicapped stalls+ trailer parking

160 STALLS

Work together, community

Access for who? Families need to enjoy the

beach

Na Molokoma at Hanalei Canoe Club hale

Park on the beach, load and unload SUP.

Limit beach parking to parking stalls.

Residency sticker or special permit to park on

the beach

GROUP 4


Roundabout

Boat ramp


Bathroom

Boat ramp parking

Trailer parking


No decision on boat ramp, not

the focus of group discussion

Beach moves and changes

Congestion at park entrance for

parking

Keep disabled parking near the

pier

Keep green area at the park, keep

camping areas

Keep parking on the beach

Open up river—flooding

upstream is a potential hazard

GROUP 5


130 stalls+beach parking+ trailer parking

Expand existing bathroom

New comfort station

Boat ramp

Boat ramp #2


Shower

Trailer parking

20 stalls

30 stalls

GROUP 6

Fix the bathroom

Boat ramp; need to fix boat wash

70 stalls

10 stalls


One line of cars under trees

Major parking area based on closed boat ramp parking

More bicycle

Boat ramp parking

MOVE EXISTING BOAT RAMP

30 stalls

10 stalls

80 stalls


10 stalls

Good project

Can plan allow for parking on the beach with the

ordinance as written?

How do you deny parking for folks who are used to beach

parking

Wanted to plan for 175 stalls because that was maximum

# from parking count data

Beach parking is good place to eat lunch. Workers come

just for lunch, can sit in truck and eat

Beach parking has been a tradition, but climate change is

a new emerging issue

GROUP 7

GROUP 8 (NO GRAPHIC)

If you take away the lifestyle of Black Pot, you take away Hanalei’s culture

Clearing the beach of parking is a marketing tactic to build the Hanalei Ridge project.

Developer wants to clean up the view for luxury home owners; no one will buy a home

overlooking a crowded beach.

Black Pot is a meeting place, a place to take your ohana. Nice to launch your boat whenever

you want, anytime

Open up some parking in the back; can always park in the back if the beach is full

Not possible to control parking because the beach fluctuates

Controlling access takes away and changes the lifestyle we’ve grown up with

black pot beach park master plan - community meeting, november 17, 2015

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