HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1003
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The Sand Island state recreation area is located makai of Honolulu's harbor and dense urban core and represents one of the last remaining public recreational venues in an otherwise hardened and inaccessible shoreline.  This one hundred forty-acre park has a 2.75 mile shoreline with access to safe ocean water and channels, comfort stations, picnic shelters, and boat-launching features.  While approximately one hundred acres of the park are developed and managed for day use and camping, approximately forty acres are open land with trails and tracks created for authorized and temporary off-highway vehicle use.  This area is adjacent to a shoreline that is well-suited for canoe paddling and a variety of other passive ocean uses.

     The department of land and natural resources, through the divisions of state parks and boating and ocean recreation, manages this land area and adjacent water for a variety of passive land and ocean recreational activities including picnicking, camping, running, fishing, swimming, surfing, baseball, off-highway vehicle use, canoe paddling, and boating.  Since 1973, when a plan was first adopted for the area, there have been a variety of alternative and competing proposals for this largely-undeveloped parcel.  However, inadequate operational funds, a harsh physical climate, and an oftentimes damaging social environment have contributed to decay of the area and have caused the need for frequent repairs to its infrastructure.

     The legislature finds that it is imperative to preserve the rare pockets of urban recreational spaces, including the Sand Island state recreation area, that serve Oahu's growing population and to enhance those areas with fundamentally safe and managed access and infrastructure.  Growing awareness of the imminent, obvious impact that climate change will have on Hawaii as an ocean state also makes it imperative that plans for public shoreline use incorporate plans for future adaption to rising sea levels.

     Therefore, the legislature finds that an investment is warranted in sustainable and fundamental infrastructure such as roadway access, parking facilities, utilities, showers, and comfort stations to establish the basic requirements for ensuring that passive ocean recreation in the remaining undeveloped portion of the Sand Island state recreation area remains available.

     SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2015-2016 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2016-2017 for infrastructure planning for the passive recreation area of the Sand Island state recreation area.

     The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of land and natural resources for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2015.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Sand Island State Recreation Area; Appropriation

 

Description:

Appropriates funds to the DLNR for infrastructure at the Sand Island State Recreation Area.

 

 

 

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