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Hawaii Fishing & Boating Association
is a grass roots organization formed since April, 2010 to ensure fair and effective
management of the harbor, our boating facilities, and all ocean activities.

All Honokohau Harbor users, community members, and other interested parties are invited to participate,
and membership at this time is free. Click Here to go to the HF&BA website for more information.




HARBOR ISSUES

 

Honokohau Harbor and Marina is owned and operated by the State of Hawaii, Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and under the direct management of the Department of Boating and Ocean Resources (DBOR). It is a monopoly as there are no private marinas on the Big Island.

Recently (2010), DBOR advanced a "plan" to control and charge for parking at the harbor, in the same manner as Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor in Honolulu. However, unlike Ala Wai, parking is abundant. There is no shortage of parking in Honokohau, and there is no competition for our parking facilities from hotel guests, shoppers, and restaurant patrons. Controlled parking serves no useful function, and will anger harbor users and patrons of this rural facility that is at the end of a dead end road.

Honokohau Harbor and Marina has become a hub of community activity. Groups such as Youth at Risk, Kona Sailing Club, canoe, surfer and kayak groups meet here and enjoy access to the beach and ocean. Weddings, memorial services, and many other activities take place in the harbor. Every user of the harbor will be required to endure the inconvenience and cost of controlled parking. The concept of aloha will end at the entrance to the harbor.

Members of Hawaii Fishing and Boating Association are unified in their opposition to controlled parking at Honokohau Harbor. Please add your voice by becoming a member.

CLICK HERE to visit the HF&BA website and add your voice in favor of equitable management of Hawaii's small boat harbors.

West Hawaii Today | Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Letters | Your Voice                          OPINION
HONOKOHAU HARBOR FEES
More to the Story
 
   Mahalo to the many opposed to the Honokohau Harbor parking fee proposal who have contacted DLNR.
   There is a lot of concern about its proposal to control and charge for all parking at the harbor. The new Hawaii Fishing and boating Association, an advocacy group for all Honkohau Harbor users and interested parties, is now forming.
   Our short-run purpose is to address the harbor's proposed parking fee initiative and then improve the experience for all harbor users in the long run.
   Membership is free. Practically everyone in the community will be negatively affected by pay parking at the harbor. Youth at Risk programs, Hawaiian canoe clubs, surfers and kayakers will all have to pay for parking. The harbor has become a community hub for weddings, memorial services, birthday celebrations and other activities, all of which will be made to suffer the inconvenience and expense of pay parking.
   Which of your favorite state parks or beaches will be next?
   Please join the association so your voice may be heard. Obtain your membership form from Kona Marine Supply, Gentry's Kona Marine, or Bite Me Fish Market, all located in the Honokohau commercial center at the harbor, or download the form at konasail.com.
   It is not too late to contact DLNR on Oahu and share your opinion: Laura H. Thielen, chairwoman, 587-4000, laura.thielen@hawaii.gov, or Edward R. Underwood, 587-1966, fax 587-1977, ed.r.underwood@hawaii.gov

Howard Conant
Keauhou

 

WEST HAWAII TODAY|MONDAY|TODAY|MONDAY, MAY 10, 2010                       OPINION

 HOWARD CONANT | COMMENTARY

Honokohau Harbor: It could get worse

Front page May 1, "Honokohau Harbor parking: Businesses claim violation on fee plan. Business owners say state officials aren't listening."
     Well, officials aren't just not listening, but are incapable of communicating or understanding the true issues. That $25 per month does not sound like an unreasonable amount, until you realize that unlike recreational users, even the smallest businesses might have five or six vehicles regularly and during the month another half dozen for day use (proposed fee $10 per day). But the issues are not only parking fees.
     As a small business owner in Honokohau Harbor, and commercial slip lessee, I was shocked to read about a meeting last Wednesday which was not publicized and to which I was not invited.
     WHT reported that the meeting was with a "handful of business representatives" and DLNR Director Laura Thielen.
     Does she decide whose opinion matters and whose does not?
     The larger issues here are the rate of increase represented by parking fees, lost business and poor public relations. For our small operation, total rent costs paid to DLNR will increase 33 percent over 2009 expenses as a result of parking fees, on top of the 90 percent plus increase in slip fees already being initiated.
     In April, I wrote to Ms. Thielen and made the following points:

  • While the plan is to institute pay parking in all DLNR harbors and marinas, Honokohau Harbor is unique in that about half the slips are commercial.
  • Many commercial operations in Honokohau are not breaking even, let alone making a profit. They use a number of captains and crew members, which will multiply the $25 by the number of employees.
  • Almost all commercial permittees pay DLNR each month for the privilege of displaying a sign behind their boats, and have paid up to $1,000 for artwork and construction of the sign. Signs are only large enough to be read from parking lots, not from the street. Restricting access from parking lots will render signs useless, wasting our precious resources.
  • Further, a significant portion of our charter business is generated from visitors who drive and walk around the harbor looking at boats. Charging for visitor parking will surely reduce access to the harbor and reduce revenue.
  • Charging for parking in undeveloped, unmarked, unpaved lots which are often mostly empty will be a public relations disaster, driving potential customers away in anger.
     It is the responsibility of the state to maintain harbor facilities and attract visitors to its facilities.
     Honokohau Harbor Phase I was completed in 1970, with the present harbor completed in 1980.
     Under state management it has been deteriorating ever since.
     In good times and bad, Department of Transportation and DLNR have claimed there is not enough money available for maintenance, replacements and renewals. Rest rooms have become "third worldly."
     The fact is the state of Hawaii is incapable of managing these facilities, incapable of training and supervising personnel and incapable of even giving adequate notice of meetings.
     Fee increases are being imposed to make up for 40 years of the state's mismanagement.
     As an example of its ineptitude, Kawaihae Small Boat Harbor construction was completed in July 1998. Planned to accommodate 90 recreational boats, no slips were ever constructed and the harbor is off limits and useless to the public.
     Hawaii is surrounded by the most gorgeous recreational water resource of any state. And yet we have the poorest facilities of any state in the Union. Recreational boating could provide millions in tax revenues - if the state would just get out of the way.
     Isn't it clear by now the state does not have the management skills or financial resources for the job?
     The time is past due to lease all recreational boating facilities to private enterprise for development and management and then watch the investment dollars and tax dollars roll in.
     Please let them know how you feel. Write or call directly to the Administrator of Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, Edward R. Underwood, 333 Queen Street, Room 300, Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone 808-587-1966, Fax 808-587-1977, email: ed.r.underwood@hawaii.gov or directly to his boss, Laura H. Thielen, Chairperson, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Kalanimoku Building, 1151 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, HI 96813, Ph: (808) 587-0400, e-mail: laura.thielen@hawaii.gov
 Howard Conant www.konasail.com


 


 
 

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