Four state parks will begin requiring paid parking beginning this month.
In November, the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of State Parks announced that it would impose paid parking systems at four popular parks statewide at an unspecified time in the future.
That time is now. State Parks Acting Administrator Alan Carpenter told the Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday that paid parking systems at Wailuku River and Kekaha Kai state parks on Hawai‘i Island have already begun this month, with two more — Kaua‘i's Wailua River State Park and O‘ahu’s Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a State Wayside — to follow.
Carpenter predicted the new fees — which will affect parking at Wailuku River and Kekaha Kai state parks on Hawai‘i Island, the Wailua River State Park on Kaua‘i and the Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a State Wayside on O‘ahu — will generate an additional $3 million per year for DLNR, on top of the roughly $15 million annually generated by parking fees currently.
The fees will work the same as those at other state parks such as ‘Akaka Falls on the Big Island: free for residents with a valid state ID or driver’s license, $10 for non-resident, non-commercial vehicles.
However, Carpenter added that the State Parks Division may also add a reservation system to some of those parks in the near future in order to reduce overcrowding.
“it’s kind of a data collection and evaluation period,” Carpenter said. “So we’ll be collecting money … but we’ll also be collecting data and then make recommendation as to if we should roll out reservations to help manage the flow and the numbers.”
Carpenter said implementing the reservation system at Diamond Head State Monument has been an overall benefit for that park, turning it from a “zoo” to something more peaceful and controllable “while not really suffering that much in terms of revenue."
Diamond Head itself, meanwhile, has its own changes coming. The BLNR approved on Friday an extension of the State Parks Division’s partnership with Pacific Historic Parks — the nonprofit that runs concessions at Diamond Head — for another 10 years, which will include the construction of a new retail area.
“I think it’s kind of a bad look to have people enter our national monument and the first thing you do is ask them to buy something,” Carpenter told the board, explaining that the existing retail kiosk will be converted into a welcome center, while a roughly 900-square-foot gift and concession store will be built adjacent to the park’s restroom facilities.
PHP President Aileen Utterdyke told the board that, since the adoption of reservations at Diamond Head in 2022, visitors to the park seem to have become more conscious of the importance of the area. Consequently, she said, PHP wants to sell merchandise that “talks about the mission” of the park and its history.
Although the board did not discuss the estimated cost and completion date for the new shop at Diamond Head, PHP will bear all the costs of construction.
ASD reached out to Carpenter for additional comments.
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