The following information just came in from North Shore activist Blake McElheney:
North Shore Residents Seek Commercial Tour Bus Ban at Special Meeting Tonight
North Shore residents have have watched with interest the success of Windward Oahu residents in protecting their quality of life and important public resources such as public parks.
For example, since February of this year, commercial tour bus activity has been prohibited at the most popular beach parks from Makapuu to Kailua.
The North Shore Neighborhood Board is hosting a special community meeting at Waimea Valley tonight, April 25, at 6:30 pm for the Board and residents to discuss the following Board Resolutions:
1. Requesting City Council member Martin and the City Council pursue measures to protect the community from the increasing utilization of public parks by commercial tour bus operators; and
2.
Calling for the protection of rural Oahu in the General Plan.
Council members Ernie Martin and Ikaika Anderson (author of the Kailua and Waimanalo bans) will be in attendance to share their insights on how the community can approach these issues.
Proponents of the commercial tour bus ban are encouraging North Shore residents to contact the City Council to request that the City Council pass ordinances like those passed for Waimanalo and Kailua protecting public beaches from commercial tour buses.
The meeting is tonight, April 25, at 6:30 pm in the Pikake Pavilion at Waimea Valley.
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This is the Resolution that the Board passed unanimously last night (one abstention):
“The North Shore Neighborhood Board #27 requests that Council Chair
Emeritus Ernie Martin and Council Vice-Chair Ikaika Anderson work
together to implement regulations designed to ensure that commercial
tour buses do not limit in any way the public?s right to access public parks. Such regulations will be similar to those recently enacted at Kailua and Waimanalo parks.”
It was great that Council members Ernie Martin and Ikaika Anderson were in attendance to provide insights into how Kailua and Waimanalo were able to achieve these sort of bans in order to protect the quality of life for residents. Senator Riviere was also in attendance and encouraged the community to further explore the idea that there is a carrying capacity that we may exceed if HTA continues to bring more and more visitors to Hawaii. The Board also unanimously passed a resolution requesting that the Oahu General Plan and other planning documents determine what the “cap” should be for the number of visitors that Oahu can handle in any one year given limited infrastructure in rural areas like the North Shore. Here is a link to news coverage on KITV and KGMB. KHON2 also provided coverage of the meeting.
http://www.kitv.com/story/35249485/banning-commercial-tour-buses-on-the-north-shore
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/35249310/north-shore-community-addresses-potential-ban-of-commercial-tour-buses