As of Saturday, private security guards are posted at the Waipi‘o Valley Lookout from 3:30 p.m. to midnight, Mayor Mitch Roth told the Tribune-Herald on Friday.
According to Maurice Messina, the county Parks and Recreation director, the cost to the county is $37 an hour.
“They are there to enforce the mayor’s emergency rules on the county road after county workers knock off for the day,” Messina said. He added the county’s Waipi‘o resource rangers are there every day from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
”And what has happened is, we’ve noticed that in those afternoon hours up until the late night, there have been people coming in and not following the mayor’s (emergency rules). And so, what we want to do is supplement the rangers during that time to make sure that the mayor’s proclamations are being followed.”
Citing concerns about rockfalls, Roth closed Waipi‘o Valley Road by emergency proclamation on Feb. 25 to all but a handful of people, including valley residents and farmers.
A group called Malama I Ke Kai ‘O Waipi‘o then sued the county and Roth, alleging their rights to ocean access were being violated and that the county exaggerated how dangerous the road is based on faulty math in an engineering study.
The county eventually settled with the litigants and added Hawaii Island residents, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and legally permitted tour groups to the list of those legally allowed to access the valley via the narrow, steep roadway.
That didn’t sit well with Waipi‘o residents and farmers, as well as their supporters, who formed their own organization called Protect Waipi‘o Valley, which set up what it calls a “kupuna checkpoint.” Since then, kupuna, or elders, have been stopping vehicles atop the valley rim, attempting to dissuade occupants who weren’t legally allowed to use the road under the mayor’s first emergency proclamation from doing so now.
The emergency proclamations, under state law, are effective for only 60 days. According to Roth, the second emergency proclamation will be replaced with a new one on Monday.
He said there will be no major changes in the new document.
“If you’re a Hawaii resident, you can still go down there. If people are going down there, they shouldn’t go down without a four-wheel drive,” Roth said. “The road is still dangerous. We’re not inviting people down there, because there are still gates down there at the bottom blocking off private property, which may be property that goes out to the ocean. So, there may not be a route to the ocean unless people are walking to the ocean from the gates.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
