Media Release

April 26, 2020

Honolulu community organizations including The Outdoor Circle, Save Ala Moana Beach Park Hui, Oʻahu Island Parks Conservancy, Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, Hawaiʻi Audubon Society, Scenic Hawai`i, Trees for Honolulu’s Future, Friends of Sherwood Forest, The Greater Waikiki Outdoor Circle and other organizations are deeply concerned about the City administration’s latest actions at Ala Moana Park, specifically an assault on mature canopy trees within `Āina Moana (Magic Island)[1], and their absence of communication on the extent of this destructive action, as well as circumventing full disclosure for public input. Notably as well, required permit approvals for this project appear unfulfilled and incomplete.[2]

On April 9^th, the City announced:

“With City parks closed and essential construction activity continuing amidst the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, the City will begin an extensive reconstruction project to revitalize the badly degraded parking lot at ‘Āina Moana (Magic Island) on Monday, April 13,” .…including… “Improvements to tree planters such as: new curbing, irrigation, replacement of damaged trees, and new tree plantings.”[3]

Alarmingly, many mature shade canopy trees have been targeted for destruction during this project, with the City now planning to remove at least twenty-six (26) shade canopy trees in the Ala Moana Park Magic Island parking area, including six (6) Banyan trees and (7) Monkeypod trees. More than twelve mature trees, including banyan, monkeypod and false kamani trees, were removed between April 14 and April 24, beginning in early morning when the canopy trees were cut and shredded before noon each day, during the public pandemic lockdown and restriction from the Park.

The Mayor has taken recent actions to plant more trees throughout the park, but those trees will take 10 to 20 years to grow to maturity.  Meanwhile, the beautiful mature canopy trees at Magic Island are being destroyed, negatively affecting our climate and removing the habitat of protected birds, including the endangered Manu-o-ku (White Tern). There is no evidence that the City considered redesigning the parking lot in a manner that preserved the shade-giving mature trees. 

Clearly, any slated replacements are likely to render a scorching hot environment for park users for years to come — in direct conflict with the Mayor’s stated goal of increasing urban tree canopy coverage per the City’s 2019 Action 33 Tree Resiliency Sustainability Report.[4]  Previously, Mayor Caldwell and the City Council set a joint goal of increasing O‘ahu’s urban tree canopy coverage to 35% by 2035 to help cool O‘ahu’s communities and urban areas, protect against flooding, and reduce energy consumption and costs.

Significantly, no approvals or permits for Magic Island tree removals have been found, despite the provisions in City Council Resolution 20-21, CD1 unanimously adopted by the full City Council on February 19, 2020, which states in part:

B.  Prior to the issuance of any development permit for construction work or tree removal that would impact historic features of the Park, the Applicant shall provide the DPP with written confirmation of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division’s (“SHPD’s”) review and approval of the construction work or tree removal.

F.  Prior to the issuance of any development permit for new paved areas, the Applicant shall submit to the DPP for review and approval a tree disposition plan for the area. Tree removal must be avoided if possible, and if trees are removed, they must be relocated on-site or replaced.

[1] References Attachment I, Public Concerns

[2] References Attachment III, ʻĀina Moana (Magic Island) TMK 2-3-037-025 Development Permit Pending Approval 

[3] References Attachment II, City Department of Customer Services April 9, 2020 Project Notice

[4] References Attachment IV, City and County of Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and

 Resiliency Action 33, O ‘ahu Resilience Strategy

If SHPD and DNLR have provided written confirmation to DPP regarding review and approval by those entities, notice should be made to allow for comments. Similarly, the public should be notified if DPP reviewed and approved a tree disposition plan with specific information on affected trees to meet the needs for accountability and transparency in government, even more critical during this time of limited access and communication.

In addition, the Ala Moana Regional Park and Magic Island Improvements Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) discloses that the protected White Tern is a threatened species found in area, and White Terns commonly nest in banyan and monkeypod trees and have used other tree species for nesting and roosting. The FEIS warns that any tree trimming or removal should be conducted in the fall and early winter when White Tern breeding is at its lowest, and if a White Tern nest or chick is found the tree should not be trimmed or removed until the chick has fledged.[1]  Mature canopy trees provide habitat for endangered species while new seedling trees do not. What is the toll on our endangered species from loss of habitat?

Given the high level of public interest to protect Ala Moana Regional Park from the City administration’s proposed drastic changes, we ask the city to immediately cease all tree removals, and before undertaking any further tree removals or relocations to confer with the known interested representative entities, including the undersigned.  

Having the public directly represented in this regard, where traditional users of the Park have had clear concerns about proposed changes, including improvements in the landscaped ‘Āina Moana parking area and the historic Keyhole landscaped parking configuration, is especially important given the restrictions on public access during this pandemic phenomenon, when the public is precluded from public areas and access to public officials.

Contacts for the groups concerned are: Winston Welch (808 593-0300), The Outdoor Circle; Shar Chun-Lum (808 354-2434) and Bruce Lum (808 237-9120), Save Ala Moana Beach Park; Michelle Matson (808 222-3936), O`ahu Island Parks Conservancy, Donna Wong (808 262-0682), Hawaii’s Thousand Friends.

For more information, see the references that follow.

[1] References Attachment IV, FEIS, Appendix E