A new state park for Hilo? Kusch schedules meeting on proposal

Rep. Matthias Kusch has a community meeting slated for Wednesday evening to discuss a proposal to purchase 283 acres of land in the Kaumana area for what he calls a passive recreation wilderness state park for Hilo.

The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Hilo High School cafeteria.

The agricultural zoned land on Akolea Road is owned by Bikini Atoll Morimba LLC, which — according to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website — has a Salisbury, Md., address.

Bikini Atoll Morimba is comprised of Bikini islanders and their descendants displaced by the U.S. exploding an atomic bomb on their island in 1946. The group had hoped to subdivide the land — which they bought in 2019 for $4.8 million — for commercial residential development, but encountered opposition from residents of nearby subdivisions.

“There’s a lot of community angst about development,” said Kusch.

He envisions a park with walking trails through natural landscapes, bicycling paths, dog walking, pavilions, a safe walking route to school for E.B. de Silva Elementary students, preservation of cultural sites and what he called “clean, quiet open space.”

“It’s at the headwaters of the Ainako Stream, a lot of springs and stuff,” Kusch said. “It’s got some neat topography. I think it would be a fantastic park. And if you look at Hilo, there really is no such thing. If you want to go walk in a natural park, you’ve got to go to Kalopa — an hour drive, hour plus. You’ve got to go to Volcano — 45 (minutes) to an hour. Or you’ve got to go up on the Saddle, where there are some limited access points, and only one loop that I’m aware of — the Kaumana Trail, where you can park up above it and then you walk down from the highway.

“But there’s really nothing in town outside of what’s available on our bayfront.”

Kusch said the issue of walking safely to school was raised in a community meeting, which caused him to look “at all these landlocked, one-way-in, one-way-out subdivisions.”

“Terrace Circle is the most prominent, maybe 200 homes, one-way-in, one-way-out on Kaumana Drive,” he noted. Kusch added that a walking path along the southern border of the property could connect to nearby residential streets, such as Haleloke and Hokulani streets and Iiwipolena Road.

“Kids nowadays sit in the back of the car with an iPhone or a iPad, because parents don’t think walking to school is safe. And on Kaumana Drive above Ainako Avenue they’re 100% correct — it’s a dangerous road,” he said. “And so, being able to provide a safe access corridor for kids, it’s a huge amount of growth for kids to have that autonomy … to walk to school. I’m not talking about the days when it’s pouring rain, but there are a lot of days when it’s not.

“I have three daughters; they all walk to school: E.B. deSilva, Hilo Intermediate and Hilo High. I would argue that the majority of days, you can walk to school. And navigation is an important skill kids lack nowadays. They get their driver’s license, they don’t know how to get downtown. They don’t know how to navigate because they’ve been in the back seat being chauffeured around and they’re looking at an iPad or a screen.”

According to Kusch, the land recently was listed for sale at $4.5 million, but the listing appears to have been removed. He said he’s been in talks with representatives of the owners and a request for de-listing the property is part of the negotiations.

“That’s the first step. That’ll give lawmakers confidence that the purchase can go through and they won’t have to put a lot of time, energy and potentially, taxpayer dollars towards something that then, someone (else) snatches,” he said.

Kusch’s proposal includes paying the asking price for the property, and he says he has a matching grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Land and Water Conservation Fund.

“That’s a 50% match. So assuming it appraises for the $4.5 million, the state would pay $2.25 million for 283 acres of park land, which is an exceptional deal,” he said. “We’ll find out in a couple of weeks whether we’re on (Gov. Josh Green’s) budget. We will then go through the Legislature. I’ll be introducing a bill on this park to push it through the committees that it’ll see — and part of this meeting is letting people know how to sign up and testify at the Legislature.”

Kusch said a soil study would be done to “make sure there’s no hazardous substances” such as arsenic.

“The good news is … it doesn’t appear there was ever any sugar cane grown on this land,” he said. “And if there was, it would’ve been before World War I when they didn’t use the chemicals they did later. From what I understand now, from historical accounts, it was used for a former dairy that was in the area, for their cows. So the likelihood of having arsenic in the soil is low, but it’s something that we’ve got to do our due diligence on.”

According to Kusch, if an environmental assessment is required, “It’ll probably be for the area where put in a parking lot and restroom facilities, but not for paths and such.

He said he’d like to see a park where “keiki, kupuna, families, and pets can enjoy safe outdoor recreation while supporting mental, physical, cultural, and environmental health.”

For those who can’t make it to the meeting, Kusch said it will be recorded by the school’s student media service KVIKS, which has a YouTube channel.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.