Unseen Hawai'i Adventure Tours, LLC:

Ha'iku Stairs Controlled and Managed Access Plan

I. Introduction

Unseen Hawai'i believes that a properly executed controlled and managed

access plan for the Ha'iku Stairs will protect the culture, history and ecology of the entire
Ha'iku area and will also be a safe and exciting economic boon to the entire State of
Hawai’i. Any controlled and managed access plan the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board
would support, however, would first necessarily have to deal with a plethora of nuisance
issues and general concerns about Ha'iku turning into a tourist trap. Unseen Hawai’i
loves the Ha'iku Stairs and Hawai'i and only supports reopening the Ha'iku Stairs if it
can be done properly through an effective “controlled and managed access plan”.
The board members of Unseen Hawai'i Adventure Tours, LLC (hereinafter
referred to as “Unseen Hawai'i”) believe that we are the ideal entity to institute this
controlled and managed access plan succeeds. Unseen Hawai'i believes that any
sustainable controlled and managed access plan to reopen the Ha'iku Stairs needs to
fully address three equally important concerns associated with reopening the Ha'iku
Stairs. These three concerns are as follows: 1) impact on the immediate neighborhood
and the broader Hawai’i, 2) safety, and 3) protecting and restoring the cultural and
ecological significance of the area.
Unseen Hawai'i will work with the neighboring residents to resolve all concerns
associated with reopening the Ha'iku Stairs, under the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board’s
proposed, “controlled and managed access plan.” Unseen Hawai'i will 1) mitigate or
eliminate impacts on the surrounding neighborhood, 2) implement safety improvements
and procedures to increase safety, and 3) only allow guided commercial tours to ensure
the proper respect for and preservation of the land. Unseen Hawai'i will not only protect
the area surrounding the Ha'iku Stairs from further degradation, Unseen Hawai’i will
help restore the Ha'iku Stairs and the surrounding area to what it was before the
negative impact caused by trespassing hikers. If done properly reopening the Ha'iku
Stairs can create a win, win, win scenario.

II. Recent History of the Ha'iku Stairs

The Ha’iku Stairs was originally build in 1942 but this “recent” history of the
Ha'iku Stairs starts in 2008 when the Ha'iku Stairs first became one of the most famous
illegal hikes in the world. Since at least 2008 it also became apparent how big an
international attraction the Ha'iku Stairs had become. In 2015 the Ha’iku Stairs was
featured in the National Geographic article “Worlds Best Hikes: Endangered Trails -
National Geographic.” The Ha'iku Stairs was also featured in many other international
publications on world renowned hikes since 2008 and is often compared to other world
famous hikes like Machu Picchu. Restricting access to the Ha'iku Stairs in 2008 also
highlighted four major issues that, at the time, supported the City’s significant economic
expenditures associated with restricting access to the Ha'iku Stairs.

II(a). Thousands of People Illegally Access The Ha'iku Stairs Every Year

1
 While access to the Ha'iku Stairs has been officially closed to the public since
1987, enforcement of trespassing violations did not begin till the Board of Water Supply
closed off access to the Ha'iku Stairs and hired security personal to deter trespassing
hikers in 2008 (see generally Final EIS, Vol. I, Sec. 2.1.1, 3.1.2, Jan. 2020). Security
issued thousands of warnings and HPD issued hundreds of citations annually to
trespassing hikers. It is debatable whether the initial 2008 actions of the BOW actually
increased or decreased the steady flow of hikers illegally accessing the stairs but there
is relative consensus that the later hiring of a special duty HPD officer with varying
hours had some effect.
Positing a guard at the base of the Ha'iku Stairs and starting to issue trespassing
citations to hikers in 2008 may have reduced the flow of traffic going up the Ha'iku Stairs
but it certainly didn’t stop it. Since as early as 2008, when data actually began being
taken on this issue, thousands of hikers were reported and hundreds were issued
trespassing citations annually for illegally attempting to accessing the Ha'iku Stairs.
According to residents and unofficial studies, stakeouts, and observations, however, the
unreported incidents of trespassing is much higher. Unofficial studies, stakeouts, and
observations conducted by residents and concerned citizens estimate the actual
number of trespassers at between 100 to 200 a day. Ha'iku resident and business
owner Rick Barboza for example, counted 191 people attempting to trespass over his
property alone on a single random night in 2014.
Some neighborhood residents suggested that the Board of Water’s initial well
intended efforts to reduce the number of illegal hikers in 2008 had the unintended effect
of actually increasing the number of illegal hikers. They argue that putting a guard at
the base of the Ha'iku Stairs with scheduled hours and advertising to the world that this
hike was forbidden and illegal, motivated hikers from across the world to come here
specifically to do this “forbidden hike”. Observations from some neighborhood residents
suggest that the BOW’s well intended efforts in 2008 actually increased rather than
decreased the flow of illegal hikers accessing the Ha'iku Stairs.
In August 2017, unable to control the flood of hikers that were constantly
attempting to access the Ha'iku Stairs, the Board of Water Supply hired a special duty
HPD officer (Final EIS, Vol. I, Sec. 2.1.2.3, Jan. 2020). This measure appears to have
reduced the number of hikers accessing the Ha'iku Stairs. Hiring a special duty police
officer was likely more effective at deterring trespassers for two reasons: 1) these
special duty police officers had more variable enforcement schedules and 2) these
special duty police officers were able to issue citations on the spot to further deter hikers
from accessing the Ha'iku Stairs. These special duty police officers issued a total of
5,532 citations and warnings from August 2017 to September 2018 (Final EIS, Vol. I,
Sec. 2.1.2.3, Jan. 2020). This did little to reduce the number of nuisance complaints
from Ha'iku residents however.

II(b). Continuing Nuisance Issues Reported By Neighboring Landowners

Ha'iku residents are understandably vexed by the throngs of hikers that have
been trespassing through their private land at all hours because there is currently no
legal way to access the Ha'iku Stairs. In addition to the trespassing issue which made

2
up about 85% of all complaints, about 15% of all complaints in the Ha'iku area are for
nusance, vandalism, or theft complaints (see Final EIS, Vol. I, Sec. 2.1.2.1, Jan. 2020).
Both the Draft EIS and also the Final EIS listed 13 different nuisance complaints
reported by neighboring residents. These 13 nuisance complains are as follows:
* Nightly Disturbances from hikers arriving from 2AM to 4AM to climb the Ha’iku
Stairs to watch the sunrise
* Car doors slamming in the middle of the night
* Loud voices in the middle of the night
* Presence of strangers and nightly noises triggering dogs barking throughout the
neighborhood
* Presence of strangers and influx of cars creating safety concerns for young
children
* Hikers walking through private property in the middle of the night
* Hikers using water hoses on private property to wash off and leaving hoses
running
* Hikers throwing trash and wastes in residents yards
* Hikers disrespecting or threatening property owners
* Hikers vandalizing or damaging private property, such as cutting fences
* Hikers relieving themselves in the street against rocks walls or other areas
* Hikers’ parked cars affect the ability for emergency response vehicles to pass
through narrow streets
* Hikers’ parked cars blocking driveways and trash receptacles making it difficult
for trash collection
(Draft EIS, Vol. I, Section 2.1.1, June 2019; Final EIS, Vol I, Section 4.9, January 2020).
Whether efforts taken by the Board of Water to reduce the number of hikers illegally
accessing the Ha'iku Stairs ultimately increased or decreased the number of illegal
hikers, these measures had little effect on the nuisance complaints related to hikers in
the area.
Kaneohe Neighborhood Board attendees also expressed concerns that
reopening the Ha'iku Stairs would change the character of their neighborhood. Given
the international draw of the Ha'iku Stairs, residents expressed concerns that if the
Ha'iku Stairs were reopened the Ha'iku neighborhood would become a tourist trap akin
to Waikiki. Neighborhood members observed that the majority of people illegally hiking
the Ha'iku Stairs were “disrespectful tourists”. They complained that if the Ha'iku Stairs
becomes a legal commercial hike, the influx of tourists in Ha'iku would change the
character of the neighborhood. Specifically neighborhood residents expressed concerns
about busses coming into their neighborhood carting throngs of tourists. Neighborhood
residents were also concerned about the street damage and the noise that these heavy
busses with loud engine and hydraulic lifts would bring to their neighborhood. Unseen
Hawai'i believes that any controlled and managed access plan that the Ha'iku
community would support must have workable solutions to all of these problems.

II(c). Safety and Safety Related Rescues Has Been An Important Issue

Neighborhood residents and the broader Hawai’i community expressed concerns

both for the safety of hikers and also for the safety of first responders who are frequently

3
tasked with rescuing hikers from the Ha'iku Stairs. While those who had hiked the
Ha'iku Stairs admitted that if properly maintained, hiking the Ha'iku Stairs was not
unreasonably dangerous to the physically able, many residents expressed greater
concern for people who were ill prepared for the rigors of the hike. Many Kaneohe
Neighborhood Board attendees expressed even greater concern for the safety of our
local search and rescue and other certified first responders who are frequently asked to
risk their lives to rescue the ill prepared from real or imagined threats.
Friends of Ha'iku Stairs, another entity that like Unseen Hawai'i has been working
on creating a controlled and managed access plan to reopen the Ha'iku Stairs for many
years, argued repeatedly both at Kaneohe Neighborhood board meetings and at Board
of Water meetings that despite appearances, the Ha'iku Stairs is among the safest hikes
in Hawai'i. Friends of Ha'iku Stairs argued that the steel stairs and handrails covers the
entire trail. This means that as long as hikers stay on the stairs, it’s impossible to get
lost and near impossible to fall from the stairs. The Friends of Ha'iku Stairs frequently
claimed in open Kaneohe Neighborhood Board meetings that no one has ever died or
been seriously injured by falling off the Ha'iku Stairs - though many people have fallen
to their deaths on the surrounding ridges. While it would be difficult to definitively
confirm that no one has ever died or been seriously injured on the Ha'iku Stairs in its
entire 70+ year history, Unseen Hawai'i has yet to hear anyone contradict this claim by
the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs.
The Public Safety Mitigation section of the Draft EIS, seems to confirm the
experiences of both the neighborhood residents and also the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs
regarding the safety of the Ha'iku Stairs. The Public Safety Mitigation section of the
Draft EIS is short. It discusses “eliminating liability regarding trespassing hikers” and
the safety of the deconstruction crew and the general public if and when the Ha'iku
Stairs are deconstructed. It does not mention any frequently occurring safety concerns
with the Ha'iku Stairs itself (see generally Draft EIS, Vol. I, Section 1.7.3.10, June 2019).
Neither the Draft EIS nor the Final EIS mention any deaths occurring on the stairs other
than the death of one hiker in 2012 who died of natural causes and was reported as a
natural death by HPD (Final EIS, Vol I, Section 2.1.2.1, January 2020). Apart from the
discussion of the February 2015 storm that damaged nine modules making that section
“unsafe and potentially hazardous for individuals attempting to climb them” neither the
Draft EIS nor the Final EIS mention any true safety concerns for hikers from the stairs
themselves (Final EIS, Vol. I, Sec. 4.9, Jan. 2020).
Even if no one has ever been seriously injured or killed by falling from the Ha'iku
Stairs, this undermines the genuine safety concerns associated with reopening the
Ha'iku Stairs. The actual danger to hikers aside, the perceived danger of the Ha'iku
Stairs is obvious. There are portions of the Ha'iku Stairs that are vertical. Hikers can
and have frozen at various points on the hike and refused to come down. Hikers
frequently need to be rescued from the Ha'iku Stairs not because of any physical injury
or medical condition but rather because they are afraid to come down. The geography
of the Ha'iku Stairs makes it near impossible for rescuers to save frightened hikers by
any other method but by helicopter. These types of helicopter rescues are dangerous
both to the frightened hiker and also to our local search and rescue. Irrespective of
whether the danger associated with the Ha'iku Stairs is real or imagined, an effective

4
controlled and managed access plan needs to include safety measures designed if
nothing else to reduce the number of dangerous rescues from the Ha'iku Stairs.

II(d). Protecting the Fragile Ecology of Ha'iku Is a Critical Issue

While not a lot appears to have been definitively known about the ecology of the
Ha'iku Stairs prior to the 2019 and 2020 Draft and Final EIS, it is a commonly know
principle in conservation that when more people traverse previously less traveled
environments, ecological disasters are bound to happen. From this perspective it is
almost a given that since the construction of the Ha'iku Stairs in 1942, this area has
suffered tremendous environmental degradation. It is also all but certain that the
degree of environmental degradation to the area increased proportionately with the
increase of hikers who ascend the Ha'iku Stairs. Fortunately, however, the drafters of
the EIS had the foresight to realize that even if the construction of the Ha'iku Stairs likely
caused severe ecological degradation, it doesn’t necessarily mean that removing the
Stairs would fix the problem. They questioned the ecological effects of removal.
Considering the ecology of the Ha'iku area, the Draft EIS opined, “removal of
Ha’iku Stairs has the potential to impact endangered plant species” (Draft EIS, Vol. I,
Section 1.7.3.3, June 2019). To address this concern, the Draft EIS opined, “[p]rior to
the proposed removal of stair modules, a biologist should search and mark locations of
any endangered plants, with focus on those identified in the biological survey” (Draft
EIS, Vol. I, Section 1.7.3.3, June 2019). Community resident and owner of a native
Hawai'ian plant nursery called Hui Ku Maoli Ola, was selected to conduct this study on
the ecology of the area surrounding the Ha'iku Stairs.
Rick Barboza, one of the owners of Hui Ku Maoli Ola, the native Hawai'ian plant
nursery at the base of the Ha'iku Stairs, wrote the Flora and Fauna Study for both the
June 2019 Draft EIS and also the January 2020 Final EIS. Rick believes that
restoration of the area should be, “listed as a high priority regardless if the intent is to
tear down the stairs or keep it open for public use” (Final EIS, Vol II, Appx. E, Jan
2020). Rick believes that while trespassing hikers have caused tremendous ecological
damage to the land, removing the stairs as things are now would create a much worse
environmental disaster. Rick believes that if the Ha'iku Stairs are ultimately torn down,
the land should be restored to at least 90% native species coverage before doing so
(see Final EIS, Vol II, Appx. E, Jan 2020). This is because if the stairs are removed as
things are now, there would be no way for conservation workers to safely access the
area to do conservation work there. If that happens, the invasive species that are there
now could spread like wild fire across the entire ridge. Rick also proposed the
preferable alternative that the Ha'iku Stairs be managed by a private entity that would
be held responsible for ensuring the ecological restoration of the area. In evaluating
the conveyance alternative, the Draft EIS found, “the managed access scenarios would
increase control of public activities and decrease environmental impacts on the project
site.” (Draft EIS, Vol. I, Section 6.4.3.3, June 2019).

III. The Kaneohe Neighborhood Board Voted to Create a “Controlled and

Managed Access Plan” to Reopen the Ha'iku Stairs; Various Components of the City
Appeared to Have Been Working Throughout 2020 to Make That Happen

5
 While members of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board were keenly aware of the
many access related issues associated with the Ha'iku Stairs, they also understood the
historical, cultural, and ecological importance of the Ha'iku Stairs, and did not want it
torn down. In a presumed compromise, in 2016 and every time the issue has come up
since, the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board voted in support of implementing a “controlled
and managed access plan” to reopen the Ha'iku Stairs. However, this vote to reopen
the Ha'iku Stairs was made with reservations by many members of the neighborhood
and outright opposition from a few vocal members who doubted whether a workable
controlled and managed access plan could and would be created. Unseen Hawai'i
believes that any “controlled and managed access plan” that the Kaneohe
Neighborhood Board supports would necessarily address all access related issues.
The support of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board for the creation of a controlled
and managed access plan notwithstanding, as of January 2020 (when the Final EIS
was drafted) there was still no way to legally access the Ha'iku Stairs. Both the Draft
and the Final EIS analyzed the viability of three alternate legal access routes over public
and/or private property to access the stairs. The three potential legal access routes
contemplated in the EIS were as follows: access via Ha'iku Road, access via Kuneki
Street, and access via Po’okela Street. All potential legal access routes were rejected
for various reasons. The Final EIS considered the following: “there is no current legal
access to the property containing Ha’iku Stairs” (Final EIS, Vol. I, Sec. 1.5.3.1, Jan.
2020). The Final EIS concluded as follows: “access cannot occur if legal access is not
obtained” (Final EIS, Vol. I, Sec. 1.5.3.1, Jan. 2020). The Final EIS seriously considered
the third-party operator alternative listing several reasons why that was the preferred
alternative. The Final EIS ultimately rejected the third-party operator alternative, in a
large part because of this at the time incurable legal access issue (Final EIS, Vol. I, Sec.
1.6.1, Jan. 2020).
In addition to the legal access issue the Final EIS discussed one more fatal flaw.
The Final EIS contemplated that the Board of Water Supply (hereinafter “BWS”) would
retain ownership of the Ha'iku Stairs but a third-party entity would operate and manage
the stairs. The BWS also publicly stated many times through this consideration period
that its preferred alternative was to convey the Ha'iku Stairs to the City or a City Agency
but that under no condition would it contract with a private entity to manage the Ha'iku
Stairs. Consequently, the Final EIS rejected the third-party operator alternative
because it would require the BWS to expose itself to greater liability, expend significant
resources, and because it was outside of the BWS’s core mission.
Shortly after the Final EIS was released, however, and apparently intent on
preventing the destruction of this historic landmark, components of the City began
almost simultaneously resolving the issues that caused the drafters of the Final EIS to
reject the “Third-Party Operator Alternative” that was contemplated and rejected in the
Final EIS. At a virtual BWS meeting held on April 27, 2020, at which Unseen Hawai'i
was present and submitted testimony, the BWS voted unanimously to turn the Ha'iku
Stairs over to the C&C of Honolulu. On July 1, 2020, the C&C of Honolulu accepted
conveyance of the Ha'iku Stairs from the BWS. The C&C of Honolulu then quickly
assigned the Ha'iku Stairs to the Department of Enterprise Services, presumably to
scout the interest among interested third-party operators.

6
 Presumably preempting how the aforementioned events would unfold, on or
about February 11, 2020, just weeks after the Final EIS was released, the Department
of Enterprise Services put out a Request for Information (hereinafter “RFI”) regarding
the procurement structure, financial/commercial feasibility, technical feasibility, and
other issues surrounding a concession at the Ha'iku Stairs. Unseen Hawai'i and 13
other potential operators submitted responses to the Department of Enterprise Services
RFI on or before February 28, 2020 at 4:00PM.

IV. In 2020 the City Created A Legal Access Route to the Ha'iku Stairs

Likely seeing the outpouring of public opposition to the removal of Ha'iku Stairs
and widespread support for creating a workable “controlled and managed access plan,”
the Ha'iku Residents, the People of Hawai'i, and many components of the City
collectively made moves throughout 2020 toward legally reopening the Ha'iku Stairs
under an effective “controlled and managed access plan.”
On December 7, 2020 at the City Council Economic Assistance and
Revitalization Committee meeting regarding Resolution 20-323, the former Director of
the Department of Enterprise Services, Guy Kaulukukui, announced that it had an
agreement with a private land owner, Hui Ku Maoli Ola. According to Director
Kaulukukui, this agreement with Hui Ku Maoli Ola created a legal access way to the
Ha'iku Stairs over Hui Ku Maoli Ola’s private property. In so doing, Director Kaulukukui
appears to have opened up the Ha'iku Road legal access route contemplated in the
Legal Access section of the Ha’iku Stairs Draft EIS. (Draft EIS, Vol. I, Section 1.5.3.1,
June 2019). Of the three considered legal access ways contemplated by the EIS, this
one makes the most sense because as Mahealani Cypher, a prominent Kaneohe
Neighborhood Board member and community activist said at a Kaneohe Neighborhood
Board meeting: the Ha'iku Road was the access way that was used historically and it is
the route that has the biggest buffer zone away from other private property owners.
Director Kaulukukui appeared to strongly support the reopening of the Ha'iku
Stairs under an effective controlled and managed access plan and as a means to
stimulate the economy. However, Director Kaulukukui also made it clear that if a private
managing entity is selected to managed the Ha'iku Stairs, it would be expected to play a
much larger, more active, and more costly roll in mitigating and eliminating all
neighborhood, safety, and ecological concerns than was contemplated and rejected by
the EIS. In so doing, the Department of Enterprise Services resolved perhaps the
biggest practical concern with re-opening the Ha'iku Stairs under an effective controlled
and managed access plan, legal access.
Providing a way to legally access the Ha'iku Stairs by itself does not go far
enough to address the legitimate concerns of neighboring residents related both to
illegal trespassing and neighboring residents’s right to quiet enjoyment of their land.
Providing a legal assess route will not automatically stop all illegal trespassing.
Additionally, providing a legal access way alone does nothing to alleviate the increased
traffic, parking congestion, and other nuisances complaints that have already been
reported in the neighborhood. Unseen Hawai'i will take several steps to mitigate all
access related impacts on the neighboring community.

7
 V. Unseen Hawai'i’s Controlled and Managed Access Plan Resolves All
Remaining Concerns Associated with Reopening the Ha'iku Stairs

Unseen Hawai'i will control access to the Ha'iku Stairs 24 hours a day to
dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of hikers that attempt to illegally trespass
across neighboring residents’s property or create other nuisance issues in the
neighborhood surrounding the Ha'iku Stairs. Unseen Hawai'i will work with safety
experts to make safety improvements that will increase the actual and perceived safety
of hiking the Ha'iku Stairs. Unseen Hawai'i will continue to consult with and work with
biologists, ecologists, and conservationists to restore the land surrounding the Ha'iku
Stairs. By doing all of these things, Unseen Hawai'i will resolve all of the remaining
concerns associated with reopening the Ha'iku Stairs and create a win, win, win
scenario for the City and County of Honolulu, for the People of Hawai'i, and for the
environment.

V(a). Unseen Hawai'i Will Do Several Things to Reduce or Eliminate All

Neighborhood Nuisance Concerns and Concerns About
Changes to the Character of the Neighborhood

Entry will be controlled 24 hours a day. No access to the Ha'iku Stairs will be
permitted from any other entry point apart from the legal and buffered access route
created by the Department of Enterprise Services through Hui Ku Maoli Ola. Only
guided commercial tours will be permitted and only 100 commercial hikers will be
allowed to access the Ha'iku Stairs daily. All bookings will be done from a separate
offsite location. Transportation will be offered on Unseen Hawai’i’s free shuttle. All
commercial tours will be guided by culturally knowledgable and respectful, certified first
responder Tour Operators, and first aid and CPR certified Tour Guides. No hikers will
be permitted to gather and/or loiter in the surrounding neighborhood. Collectively these
measures will reduce or eliminate the frequency of nuisance complaints connected to
the Ha'iku Stairs.
Entry will be controlled 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unseen Hawai'i will
operate commercial tours from 5:00AM to 5:00PM daily. From 5:00PM to 5:00AM, and
all times when commercial tours are not operating, Unseen Hawai'i will position a
security guard at the staging area at the base of the Ha'iku Stairs. Unseen Hawai’i's
Tour Operators and security, supported by Unseen Hawai'i’s strategically position
support cameras will restrict unauthorized access to the Ha'iku Stairs 24 hours a day.
Approved access outside of business hours will be granted only to kanaka maoli
requesting access through hunting and gathering rights and other specially approved
access for maintenance and repairs. Restricting unauthorized access 24 hours a day,
will reduce or eliminate the following nuisance issues reported by neighboring residents:
“nightly disturbances from hikers arriving from 2AM to 4AM to climb the Ha'iku Stairs to
watch the sunrise,” “car doors slamming in the middle of the night,” “loud voices in the
middle of the night,” “presence of strangers and nightly noises triggering dogs barking
throughout the neighborhood,” “hikers walking through private property in the middle of
the night” and “hikers vandalizing or damaging private property, such as cutting fences.”

8
 Hikers will be shuttled directly to the newly created Ha'iku Stairs staging area at
Hui Ku Maoli Ola on luxury Mercedes Sprinter vans rather than on big 40 passenger
busses. The Mercedes Sprinter van is a 15 passenger van that does not require a CDL
to operate. It has a much quieter engine than a bus and does not have noisy hydraulic
lifts. With its 15 as opposed to 40 person capacity it will both cary far fewer people
through the neighborhood. This much lighter vehicle will also have a much lower impact
on the neighborhood streets. Unseen Hawai'i’s use of Mercedes Sprinter vans rather
than busses will address residents’s concerns about large busses carting in throngs of
tourist, tearing up their streets, and changing the character of the neighborhood.
Unseen Hawai'i will only guide 100 commercial hikers up the Ha'iku Stairs Daily.
Unseen Hawai’i believes that limiting the daily number of hikers is the first step both in
reducing nuisance complaints and also in addressing the community concerns about
changes to the culture and lifestyle of the community. The fewer people allowed to hike
the Ha'iku Stairs daily the fewer people there will be in the Ha'iku area to potentially
change the character of the neighborhood.
All bookings for the Ha'iku Stairs will be taken at a separate offsite location and
all hikers will be strongly encouraged to park at this offsite location and get to the Ha'iku
Stairs staging area via Unseen Hawai'i’s complementary shuttle service. This will
dramatically reduce the number of hikers’ cars going into and parking in the surrounding
neighborhood. Also, by providing education and supervision to hikers before they arrive
in the Ha'iku area till after they leave, Unseen Hawai'i can reduce or eliminate many
community nuisance complaints.
To encourage hikers to take Unseen Hawai'i’s shuttles to the Ha'iku Stairs,
Unseen Hawai'i will offer several incentives. Unseen Hawai'i will offer a safe and free
place for hikers to park their car while they are hiking. Unseen Hawai'i’s will shuttle
passengers on its free luxury Mercedes Sprinter vans. While traveling on Unseen
Hawai’i’s shuttles, Unseen Hawai’i’s knowledgable operators and guides will entertain
guests with stories about the history and legends associated with the Ha'iku area. Tour
Operators will also tell all hikers that part of the respect that they owe to the land is a
respect for the residents of that land.
Hikers will be shuttled to the newly created Ha'iku Stairs staging area at
Hui Ku Maoli Ola on luxury Mercedes Sprinter vans rather than on big 40 passenger
busses. The Mercedes Sprinter van is a 15 passenger van that does not require a CDL
to operate. It has a much quieter engine than a bus and does not have noisy hydraulic
lifts. With its 15 as opposed to 40 person capacity it will both cary far fewer people
through the neighborhood. This much lighter vehicle will also have a much lower impact
on the neighborhood streets. Unseen Hawai'i’s use of Mercedes Sprinter vans rather
than busses will address residents’s concerns about large busses carting in throngs of
tourist, tearing up their streets, and changing the character of the neighborhood.
Unseen Hawai'i will not altogether prohibit hikers from taking their own
transportation into Ha'iku, but it will do several things to discourage hikers from doing
so. If hikers elect to arrive via private transport, (or simply walk to the access point) prior
to arriving at the staging area they need to watch a mandatory short video clearly
illustrating the only legal access route. This video will also discussing difficulties that
may arise through separate private transportation, and the importance of respecting the
neighboring community if hikers do elect to take their own transportation. As part of the

9
difficulties that may arise through separate private transportation, this video will warn
hikers that they are not allowed to loiter at the staging area. Hikers may arrive at the
designated staging area only 5 minutes before or 5 minutes after their scheduled hike.
If they miss this 10 minute arrival window they will not be allowed to hike.
By both offering several benefits to hikers who elect to use Unseen Hawai'i’s free
transportation to the Ha'iku Stairs and discouraging hikers from taking their own
transportation, Unseen Hawai'i will dramatically reduce the number of hikers that drive
their own vehicles and arrive unsupervised in the Ha'iku area. The more hikers that
take Unseen Hawai'i’s shuttles to the base of the Ha'iku Stairs, the less often the
following nuisance problems would occur: “strangers and influx of cars creating safety
concerns for young children,” “hikers disrespecting or threatening property owners,”
“hikers vandalizing or damaging private property, such as cutting fences,” “hikers’
parked cars affect the ability for emergency response vehicles to pass through narrow
streets,” and “hikers’ parked cars blocking driveways and trash receptacles making it
difficult for trash collection”. This is because hikers arriving on Unseen Hawai'i shuttles
will be guided and supervised by Unseen Hawai'i Tour Operators and Guides at all
times to ensure that all hikers exhibit the proper respect for the surrounding community
throughout their entire time in the Ha'iku area. Increasing the supervision of hikers will
also indirectly help to eliminate or reduce all other nuisance concerns.
Unseen Hawai'i will create a rest station at the Hui Ku Maoli Ola staging area that
will be set up at the base of the Ha'iku Stairs. This rest station will include: portable
compostable restrooms (or standard portapotties), trash receptacles, mandatory wash
stations and cleaning procedures that all hikers must do prior to beginning their hike. All
hikers will be required to clean their shoes and will be given the opportunity to wash up
or use the restroom either prior to beginning their accent up the Ha'iku Stairs or after
hikers have descended. All of the services provided at the comfort station erected at at
the staging area at the base of the Ha'iku Stairs will be regularly maintained. These
comfort stations will help to reduce or eliminate the following: “Hikers using water hoses
on private property to wash off and leaving hoses running,” “Hikers throwing trash and
waste in residents yards,” and “Hikers relieving themselves in the street against rocks,
walls, or other areas.”
Unseen Hawai'i is confident that the above procedures will help reduce or
altogether eliminate neighborhood nuisance concerns because Unseen Hawai'i got
many of its ideas about how to reduce the neighborhood nuisance threats directly from
members of the Ha'iku community. Unseen Hawai'i was able to hear first hand all of the
concerns that neighborhood residents had their thoughts about what needed to be done
by attending Kaneohe Neighborhood Board meetings over the last three years. Unseen
Hawai'i will do this not only to make sure our procedures are effective, but also to hear
the community members’s evolving thoughts about how we could further reduce the
impact on the surrounding community. Even after it finds procedures proven to work,
Unseen Hawai'i will continue to attend Kaneohe Neighborhood Board meetings to
ensure that our procedures continue working. If at any point conditions change or our
procedures for whatever reason stop working, regular attendance at Kaneohe
Neighborhood Board meetings will also allow Unseen Hawai'i to be informed of these
issues before they become problems and make quick and effective adjustments guided
by the community itself.

10
 By limiting access to the only legal access route and doing outreach to ensure
that locals and visitors alike know this route, controlling access 24 hours a day, limiting
the number of hikers allowed daily, and only allowing guided commercial tours, Unseen
Hawai'i will reduce or eliminate all neighborhood nuisance complaints. Unseen Hawai'i
will also continue sending representatives to every Kaneohe Board Meeting to followup
on the effectiveness of its measures to reduce or eliminate neighborhood nuisance
threats. Unseen Hawai'i sees itself not only as stuarts of the land and sea where we
adventure, it also sees itself as stuarts of the neighborhoods surrounding the areas
where it adventures. These measures aimed directly at eliminating neighborhood
nuisance threats will also indirectly: 1) increase the safety of all Ha'iku Stairs hikes and
2) help to protect the ecology of the surrounding area.

V(b). Additional Safety Precautions

Unseen Hawai'i intends to include several additional safety precautions to

dramatically reduce the risk of injury, rescues, or death. Unseen Hawai'i has consulted
with three safety experts and will do safety builds as recommend by its designated
safety experts. Unseen Hawai'i will also take measures to reduce the likelihood of ill
prepared hikers climbing the Ha'iku Stairs. If all else fails, all of Unseen Hawai'i’s tours
are guided by Certified First Responders who can render aid if any health problems or
injury occurs.

V(b)(1). Unseen Hawai'i Will Retain An Already Identified Contractor to Repair the Nine
Damaged Modules and Will Have an In-house Safety and Fall Mitigation Specialists

Addressing the safety concerns of trespassing hikers, the EIS discusses the
following event and the resulting safety concerns: “In February 2015, high winds
uprooted trees on the ridge and nine stair modules were damaged when they slid down
the cliff. These nine damaged stair modules are unsafe and potentially hazardous for
any individuals attempting to climb them” (Draft EIS, Vol. 1, Sec. 4.9, June 2019).
Unseen Hawai'i has spoken with a contracting company with experience doing similar
builds into Hawai'i’s specific rock type. This contracting company has both worked with
and was referred by the climbing instructor and fall mitigation specialists discussed
subsequently. If Unseen Hawai'i is selected to manage the Ha'iku Stairs it would either
retain this contractor or alternately bring this contractor in as a shareholder in Unseen
Hawai'i - depending largely on the estimate costs of replacing the 9 damaged modules
and the election of this contractor.
Unseen Hawai'i has met with and discussed the possibility of future collaboration
with three potential safety consultants: a local climbing instructor and fall mitigation
specialists, an international Circus operator and safety consultant, and a international
zipline operator and safety consultant. These consultants suggested different things
presumably based on their work and previous life experiences. If awarded the City
contract to manage the Ha'iku Stairs, Unseen Hawai'i will likely bring one of these safety
experts in as a voting shareholder with vested interests in making the Ha'iku Stairs as
safe as economically possible.

11
 The Circus operator and the zipline operator both suggested constructing a
safety line which would be connected to a harness that would run along the side of the
stairs to prevent hikers from falling from the stairs. This safety line would allow free
movement going in one direction but locks and stops if the direction of movement
suddenly changes. Hikers would wear a harness connected to this safety line to
prevent people from falling from the stairs. This would also presumably reduce the risk
of rescues by allowing hikers to feel more secure knowing that they are harnessed in.
This recommendation by the Circus and zipline operators makes sense because Circus
and zipline operators use similar safety lines in their respective operations. This is the
type of safety that a Circus and zipline operator would be familiar with.
The local climbing and fall mitigation specialists had reservations about the
safety procedures proposed by the international Circus and zipline operators. The
owner of the local climbing company first disclaimed that he had never hiked the Ha'iku
Stairs so he could not claim familiarity with the specific geography and construction,
however, he said he had seen pictures of the modules. He warned that implementing
“safety lines” can in some situations make climbs less as opposed to more safe. This
climbing instructor and fall mitigation specialist expressed a desire to see the stairs
(preferably with a geotech engineer) before he was willing to opine as to whether the
specific safety line that the Circus and zipline operator proposed would increase or
decrease the actual danger of the hike. Either way, however, he also warned against
building anything into the mountain without first consulting with a specialist who was
familiar with Hawai'i’s unique geology and how to safely build into the type of rock we
have here. He offered the contractor discussed above as a specialist that he worked
with previously on similar builds and trusted. He offered as a preliminary suggestion (in
addition to, if not necessarily in place of the safety line) that it would be relatively cheap
and effective safety addition to simply wrap or cover each stair and all hand holds with a
material that provides much better grip than the current uncovered metal stairs.
Unseen Hawai'i will continue to consider the best safety specialist but both with
respect to this preliminary analysis and also going forward, Unseen Hawai'i is inclined to
trust the local operator and safety consultant that is familiar working with the unique
geology of Hawai'i.

V(b)(2). Heart Health Screening

Unseen Hawai'i will also take measures to reduce the frequency of ill prepared
hikers climbing the Ha'iku Stairs. Unseen Hawai'i will inquire into or check hikers’s
resting and active heart rates before allowing them to climb the Ha'iku Stairs. The
purpose of this inquiry is to screen out any obvious heart health issues that may prevent
a hiker from being physically able to climb the Ha'iku Stairs. Medically trained
specialists with Unseen Hawai'i’s fitness and health component will set parameters for
the minimum required heart health of hikers.

V(b)(3). All of Unseen Hawai'i’s Tour Operators Are Certified First

Responders Capable of Rendering Aid if All Else Fails

12
 All hikes will be lead by Unseen Hawai'i’s “Tour Operators”. All of Unseen
Hawai'i’s Tour Operators are Certified First Responders (hereinafter “CFRs”) certified to
render CPR, first aid, and beyond, depending on the environment. Presumably,
Unseen Hawai'i’s safety experts will suggest the “and beyond” training required of CFRs
should include something similar to the CFR training required of firefighters. If Unseen
Hawai'i teams up with its climbing and fall mitigation specialist as seems likely, he may
recommend a different type of safety training given to climbers. Irrespective of what
Unseen Hawai'i’s safety expert recommends, however, all of Unseen Hawai'i’s Tour
Operators are certified to perform CPR, first aid and beyond. Unseen Hawai'i Tour
Operators will guide every commercial tour and be there to render emergency aid if all
else fails.

V(c). Measures to Restore the Ecological Health of the Area

Unseen Hawai'i intends to only allow guided commercial tours to ensure that all
hikers observe the cultural and ecological protocol necessary to ensure the preservation
of Ha'iku Stairs. Unseen Hawai'i will ensure the protection and restoration of the native
ecology surrounding the Ha'iku Stairs by teaming up with Rick Barboza and Hui Ku
Maoli Ola. Hui Ku Maoli Ola will develop all of Unseen Hawai'i’s environmental
protocols and Rick will be able to ensure compliance with his established protocol
because he lives and works just a few hundred feet away.
Unseen Hawai'i has been meeting with Rick Barboza to discuss a possible
collaboration on the Ha'iku Stairs before there was any real possiblity of any private
entity being selected to manage the Ha'iku Stairs. Rick Barboza is a Ha'iku community
member, the native Hawai'ian plant expert that did the Floura and Fauna study for both
the Draft and the Final EIS, and one of the owners of Hui Ku Maoli Ola the property that
the Department of Enterprise Services created a legal access route through. Unseen
Hawai'i began meeting with Rick Barboza over two years ago in part because Unseen
Hawai'i agreed with Momilani Cypher and apparently the Department of Enterprise
Services that Rick’s property was the ideal legal access way for the Ha'iku Stairs both
because: 1) it was the traditional right of way used to access the Ha'iku Stairs and 2) it
was the access point that had the greatest degree of buffering to reduce the impact to
surrounding neighbors. Unseen Hawai'i was surprised and excited to hear that the
Department of Enterprise Services had a deal with Hui Ku Maoli Ola to create a legal
access right of way to the base of the Ha'iku Stairs. Unseen Hawai'i was not made
privity to the details of this arrangement that Hui Ku Maoli Ola had with the City but the
creation of a legal access was very positive movement toward Unseen Hawai'i’s goal of
restoring and reopening the Ha'iku Stairs under a properly managed controlled and
managed access plan.
If Unseen Hawai'i is given the contract to manage the Ha'iku Stairs, Unseen
Hawai'i will team up with Hui Ku Maoli Ola to ensure Unseen Hawai'i and all its
operators, guides and guests observe the proper cultural and ecological protocols while
hiking the Ha'iku Stairs. Rick Barboza and Hui Ku Maoli Ola are the perfect
collaborators to help Unseen Hawai'i with its conservation efforts in Ha'iku. This
because Rick Barboza wrote the ecological protocol that should be followed in Ha'iku
into the Final EIS. Rick opined as follows:
Should the Ha'iku Stairs stay open, a managing entity (either government driven or

13
 private enterprise) needs to begin limiting the amount of people, as well as educating
them on the proper protocols when entering such an ecological and culturally sensitive
place. In addition, precautions should be taken at all levels to minimize the spread of
invasive weeds from adjacent access points leading to the stairway. This could be in the
form of expanded native forest restoration into these areas which would add tremendous
benefits [to] the surrounding ecology as well as boot and gear wash sites with inspections
of gear prior to beginning the hike. Providing a fee to hikers and an even heftier fine for
trespassers will easily provide the revenue needed to execute proper management and
restoration of the area. The visiting hikers could also be involved in the management of the
stairs by actively participating in weed removal, out planting of native plants, trash pick up
maintenance.
(Final EIS, Vol. 1+2, Apx. E, p. 843, January 2020). As can probably be gleaned, Rick’s
thoughts on ecological preservation have been integrated into Unseen Hawai'i’s plans
for managing the Ha'iku Stairs. If selected to manage the Ha'iku Stairs Unseen Hawai'i
would team up with Rick Barboza and Hui Ku Maoli Ola to ensure that the Ha'iku Stairs
are restored to minimum of 90% native species cover.

VI. Conclusion

Unseen Hawai'i identified four major issues that must be resolved before the
Ha'iku Stairs can be opened under a properly managed controlled and managed access
plan. Unseen Hawai'i was made aware of these issues and was able to help guide the
Ha'iku Stairs to the point its is now through regular attendance at Board of Water, City
Counsel, and Kaneohe Neighborhood Board meetings over the last three years.
Unseen Hawai'i has also privately met with many Ha'iku residents to get their candid
thoughts both about the issues that must be resolved and what we can do to help. The
Draft and Final EIS which contains the opinions and recommendations of experts in a
variety of fields also was extremely constructive in helping Unseen Hawai'i first identify
the four issues and then come up with effective solutions for them all. Unseen Hawai'i
is intimately aware of all the issues that must be resolved in order to create an effective
controlled and managed access plan and has the knowhow, the experience, and the
ability to resolve all of these issues. Unseen Hawai'i should be the entity selected to
implement the this controlled and managed access plan.

14