Land Board to Take Up Kiholo Bay Master Plan

A finalized plan for Kiholo State Park proposes to continue allowing camping at Kiholo Bay, but doesn’t include new campsites at Keawaiki Bay.

Expansion of camping options to Keawaiki located north of Kiholo was among the alternatives previously proposed in a draft master plan for Kiholo but ultimately rejected.

Approval of the final master plan, and acceptance of an accompanying final environmental impact statement, is among the agenda items for a meeting of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources Friday in Honolulu.

According to a report to the land board by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the preferred management option is the one known as “focused camping.”

Other components of the master plan include a proposal to improve access to the park by creating a new gravel road from the nearby scenic overlook on Queen Kaahumanu Highway.

The new 2,000-foot road, which would improve safety by utilizing the overlook’s existing deceleration and acceleration lanes, would intersect with the existing Kiholo Bay road about 300 feet makai of the highway.

This map from the draft master plan shows the proposed route of new access to Kiholo Bay from Queen Kaahumanu Highway.

The plan also calls for an unpaved parking area off the highway for use by those looking to hike to Keawaiki Bay.

The “pre-final” master plan was released in August 2013, but the state has not yet publicly released either the final version or the final environmental assessment to be considered by the land board tomorrow.

Also on the agenda for board members Friday is a request from Hui Aloha Kiholo to convert the former Loretta Lynn home at the southern end of Kiholo Bay for use as an interpretive center.

The former Loretta Lynn home at Kiholo Bay. Source: Kiholo State Park Pre-final Master Plan and Draft Environmental Assessment.

The non-profit group signed a five-year curatorship agreement with the Division of State Parks for the Kiholo area in 2009.

According to a report to the land board, Hui Aloha Kiholo has secured a $100,000 grant to renovate the home built in the 1980s and reportedly used by the country music star as a vacation getaway.

The home, which hasn’t been occupied for about two decades, was acquired by the state through a land swap with Kiholo Bay resident Earl Bakken.