JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM No-entry signs were seen Wednesday at the entrance to the Haiku Stairs trailhead in the Kamananui Valley in the Moanalua Valley Neighborhood Park.
1 /2 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM No-entry signs were seen Wednesday at the entrance to the Haiku Stairs trailhead in the Kamananui Valley at Moanalua Valley Neighborhood Park.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Continued trespassing on the Haiku Steps during demolition work will result in the closure of the entire Moanalua portion of the Honolulu Watershed State Forest Reserve and the Moanalua Valley Neighborhood Park of the City and County of Honolulu. There will be a higher level of law enforcement to ensure public safety and protect construction and helicopter crews.
2 /2 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Continued trespassing on the Haiku Steps during demolition work will result in the closure of the entire Moanalua portion of the Honolulu Watershed State Forest Reserve and the city-county Moanalua Valley Neighborhood Park Honolulu. There will be a higher level of law enforcement to ensure public safety and protect construction and helicopter crews.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM No-entry signs were seen Wednesday at the entrance to the Haiku Stairs trailhead in the Kamananui Valley in the Moanalua Valley Neighborhood Park.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Continued trespassing on the Haiku Steps during demolition work will result in the closure of the entire Moanalua portion of the Honolulu Watershed State Forest Reserve and the Moanalua Valley Neighborhood Park of the City and County of Honolulu. There will be a higher level of law enforcement to ensure public safety and protect construction and helicopter crews.
The Friends of Haiku Stairs’ recent legal order to stop the city’s demolition of the World War II-era staircase above Haiku Valley and the H-3 Freeway in Kaneohe will be decided by another state-level court.
During a June 7 status conference in their case, 1st Circuit Senior Environmental Judge Lisa W. Ca Taldo ruled that the Friends’ May 31 “request for injunctive relief pending appeal” was related to the dismissed 2023 lawsuit, the first of two, which Later was appealed — which must now be filed in the state’s Intermediate Court of Appeals, said Justin Scorza, the Friends’ vice president.
“(Cataldo) said she did not believe she had jurisdiction because there was an appeal, and thought the appellate court would be the appropriate court to hear the case,” Scorza told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser by phone.
He added that the group filed its case with the appeals court on Monday.
The Friends’ postponed trial follows a suspended state hearing held in May on a related appeal involving the “Stairway to Heaven.”
The group’s call to the state Historic Places Review Board first involved a closed-door hearing to respond to the state Historic Preservation Department’s (SHPD) call to approve April 9 the planned demolition of what the Friends consider protected. historical monument.
A subsequent hearing should include the board’s final ruling in the case by May 31.
But Scorza said the Friends’ attorney, Tim Vandeveer, and the group’s chairman, Sean Pager, were later informed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources that the council hearing would not take place due to the refusal of a member of the procedure.
DLNR’s unsigned one-page letter, written May 23, states that “this leaves the board without the minimum number of remaining members necessary to make a decision on this matter.”
“The board cannot take any further action in this extrajudicial appeal until one or more additional board members have been appointed,” states the letter from DLNR.
According to Scorza, the state Historical Review Board — which is authorized for seven members — has only four sitting members on the board, as three vacancies remain unfilled by the governor.
“The review board is powerless until the governor appoints replacement board members,” he previously told the Star-Advertiser.
This week, the Friends’ efforts to save the Trap also focused on the state’s top elected official.
On Thursday, the group sent an email to its volunteer supporters, asking them to urge Gov. Josh Green to intervene and stop the city’s demolition of the steps and to fill vacancies on the historic review board to fill.
The Friends also sent Green a formal letter, saying “there will be a miscarriage of justice unless you intervene.”
“At this time, the city is on the verge of demolishing the Haiku Steps, even though the full historic review process required by state law has not yet been completed,” the letter reads. “State law gives you the power to fix this failure of due process and ensure the city’s plans undergo the appropriate and necessary review.”
The group’s letter also urged the governor to take one of two actions on the matter: either overrule the city’s demolition permit or suspend the demolition until the state Historic Review Board reaches a quorum.
“As a candidate, you have taken a bold stand in support of saving the Haiku Stairs. All we ask now is to ensure that the carefully constructed historic preservation laws are followed as intended,” the letter said. “The Stairs is one of the most important historic sites of the Second World War and could be a world-class recreational resource.”
“Saving the stairs could be one of the defining legacies of your governorship. Will you help us?”
But on Friday, the governor’s office told the Star-Advertiser it will adhere to the authority given to local government by law.
“The City and County of Honolulu and the state courts have made their decisions regarding the Haiku Stairs. Governor Green has served a rural island county in Hawaii as a legislator and fully understands, appreciates and supports the counties’ self-government policy,” the governor’s office said via email. “Since court- and city-approved removal of the stairs is underway, appointments to the Hawaii Historic Review Board would not have timely effect.”
The administration of Mayor Rick Blangiardi – which called for the removal of the Haiku Stairs due to concerns about public safety, city liability costs, trespassing and disturbances to local residents – has stated that ongoing legal challenges will halt the nearly $2.6 million demolition project of the city will not stop.
The work to remove the stairs – to be carried out by contractor The Nakoa Cos. via a Hughes 500D helicopter and about half a dozen ground workers lifting 664 steel stair modules – is expected to take six months. allow.
“The official start date would have been April, with an indication that the project would be completed around the end of October,” Ian Scheuring, the mayor’s deputy director of communications, previously told the Star-Advertiser. “Many things could impact that, including severe weather events, but so far the timeline has not changed.”
