City plan to remove changing areas in Waimanalo Beach Park draws criticism

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – For many beach-goers, showers and changing areas are a must-have.
At Waimanalo Beach Park, the City plans to demolish two rundown comfort stations as part of a multimillion dollar renovation project and install new prefabricated structures with individual, unisex bathroom stalls — doing away with separate changing areas for men and women.
Some say having to change in a stall — stinks.
“It’s too small and it smells. I’d rather have your own changing room,” said Karen Natividad, a visitor from California.
Beach-goers say they like the convenience of a large private space for changing. The women’s restroom has 5 functioning toilet stalls, three sinks, three semiprivate areas and a private changing area with a door that can fit several people, like a family.
Meantime, the second comfort station is closed forcing beach goers to use portable toilets.
The City Council Zoning committee today voted to move forward with the long-overdue project, which drew criticism from some residents who said their feedback was not considered.
“There’s a level of distrust that exists within the community,” said Kimeona Kane, chair of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board. “If there is another conversation for us to perhaps review some of this and submit some of the recommendations for consideration and really have a really fruitful conversation around it, I think we could do that.”
“The precise final design of some of these buildings is not set. It’s more about the location of the structure, the general size. I would hate to see the community feel like this is a take it or leave it,” said Alex Beatty, urban design branch chief for the City’s Department of Planning and Permitting.
“We need to do a better job,” said City Parks and Recreation director Laura Thielen, who admitted the City dropped the ball. “When we go back, we have to listen to the community. I just don’t think that was communicated as well as we should have at that first meeting.”
Thielen said the current layout poses a public safety risk.
“A lot of people can’t get into the bathrooms because the enclosed sink area may be taken over by people doing drugs, people sleeping and encampment people bathing,” she said, noting that the new design places sinks outside of the building and aims to reduce vandalism.
“The fixtures are designed to be very vandal resistant. All the pipes and the water lines go directly to the back, so we don’t have people breaking the p-traps and using it to fill up buckets and breaking the sinks and things like that,” she said.
Instead of large communal space, officials say ADA stalls will have more space for children and their caregivers to change.
Thielen says the City will schedule another meeting with community members to address their concerns.

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