HONOLULU — A state contractor will demolish and remove unstable rocks from a Honolulu hillside where boulders came loose and crashed into three homes last week.
All five Board of Land Natural Resources members attending an emergency meeting on Friday voted to approve the plan. A contractor will be hired to remove the rocks from private property in the hills above Kula Kolea Place in Kalihi, and the state will sign an agreement with the landowners to enter the property.
The land is owned by William and Shirley Jacinto and the Church of Christ of The Redeemed of the Lord. The church doesn’t have the money to remove the boulders.
Funds for other rock fall mitigation projects will cover the estimated $150,000 cost, which is less than the $250,000 the department initially expected it would have to spend on the work, board Chairman William Aila said. Lawmakers are appropriating funds to replace what the department uses.
The state is taking action because the governor wants to protect public safety and because state legislators have provided financial support, Aila said.
“It’s something that we don’t budget for all the time. So the fact that the money was so quickly allocated and guaranteed allows us to move forward with this mitigation process,” he told reporters after the board vote.
Boulders crashed into several houses on April 12, leaving two uninhabitable and forcing the evacuation of 12 homes. There were no injuries. Emergency management officials have told residents they may return at their own risk, and most have opted to stay in their homes.
Residents are eager for the work to be done.
“The sooner that you can get those rocks stabilized or removed, the sooner we can start sleeping at night,” Lance Collins, who lives in the neighborhood below the hillside, testified to the board.
Aila said the work should take place early next week. One landowner is ready to sign the papers immediately but the state has to track down the others, he said. The contractor will need one day to set up and one day to complete the job.
Asked whether the state’s decision to remove the boulders for the private landowners would create a dangerous precedent, Aila said the state would treat each situation on a case-by-case basis.
Arlene Kahawai, the church’s pastor, told the board her parents bought the land 41 years ago from a family that sold it to raise money for their church. The family also handed over a portion to the Jacintos, she said.
Kahawai said nothing has ever been built on the land, and she has wanted to give it to the state.
The board members discussed whether the state or private landowners would be liable for the rock falls. Aila explained the state attorney general’s position is that owners of land that’s in a natural state and hasn’t been developed aren’t liable for events like rock falls.
