Despite opposition from some Big Island residents, food trucks will be allowed to set up shop at certain state parks in Hawaii.
The Board of Land and Natural Resources voted Friday to open solicitations for bids by food truck operators seeking to operate in 18 state parks, including five on the Big Island: Akaka Falls, Rainbow Falls, Hapuna Beach, Kekaha Kai and Wailoa River.
The specific terms for a food truck concession contract were not spelled out at Friday’s hearing.
However, Curt Cottrell, administrator for the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ State Parks Division, said contracts would be issued for a specific park for three years, with an option for food truck vendors to get extensions for an additional three years.
Cottrell said opening parks as sites for commercial vendors brings obvious opportunities to generate income for the state, explaining that the fees from each truck will go into a shared fund that will be incorporated into the DLNR’s state park budget.
“We’re not anticipating an equal — like, money in from a food truck going exactly back out to that park unit — but what this will do is give us even greater flexibility for enriching all of our underserviced park units,” Cottrell said.
State Parks Assistant Administrator Alan Carpenter said a perk of the proposal is that the state isn’t required to provide much assistance. Truck operators will be responsible for hauling away waste, and will largely be expected to leave the park each evening. Cottrell said they might even be expected to provide portable toilet facilities at their expense.
“They can also provide a certain degree of onsite presence, which equals security in some of the lots where we don’t have parking,” Cottrell said.
The board was largely supportive of the proposal, although some Big Island residents did not agree.
One West Hawaii resident, Janice Palma-Glennie, said the presence of commercial vendors at state parks would take away from “the intrinsic value of nature in its raw space.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to find a place to enjoy Mother Nature’s free gifts as they are being overshadowed and, I would say, stolen from the public by a growing minority of entrepreneurs,” Palma-Glennie said.
In written testimony, Kailua-Kona resident Rick Gaffney said a trial period where concessions were offered at Kekaha Kai State Park resulted in a significant increase in litter, a disruption of foot traffic, the overwhelming of the park’s restroom facilities, and overcrowding in the park’s small parking lot.
Palma-Glennie said the proposal was “Oahu-esque,” an opinion echoed by Big Island land board member Riley Smith, who recommended that the board solicit feedback from residents of each island to determine which parks would be best suited for food trucks.
“One of the biggest concerns living on Hawaii Island is that blanket decisions sometimes get made on the island of Oahu that impact everyone else throughout the state,” Smith said.
Despite Smith’s concerns, the board still voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
