LAHAINA – To facilitate improved ferry service between Lanai and Maui, the state plans to replace the ferry pier in Lahaina Small Boat Harbor.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District Regulatory Branch, recently posted a public notice at www.poh.usace.army.mil/Media/PublicNotices.aspx. The public can mail or e-mail comments until the close of business on June 20, 2018.

The state Department of Land & Natural Resources, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation is the applicant, seeking to construct the ferry pier seaward of the existing U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) lighthouse adjacent to Lahaina Small Boat Harbor and approximately 70 feet north of the existing public pier.

The new 3,350-square-foot ferry pier and gangway, excluding a 365-square-foot area of fiber reinforced polymer grates, would be 2,823 square feet larger than the existing 162-square-foot catwalk.

USCG has given the applicant permission to use the area adjacent to the lighthouse on the condition that before work can start on the ferry pier itself, DLNR must repair the foundation on and landward of the existing seawall beneath the lighthouse.

Repairs to the seawall next to the foundation of the lighthouse would require the demolition of the existing 162-square-foot catwalk pier.

Once the lighthouse foundation repairs are complete, structural Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the rest of the project will be put in place, including turbidity curtains, oil booms and a 60-foot wide by 150-foot long spud barge. Turbidity curtains would be placed around the active part of the project area and oil booms placed around any working vessels. Both turbidity curtains and oils booms would be installed using skiffs.

After the barge is installed, the surface of the existing 162-square-foot catwalk within the project area adjacent to the lighthouse would be demolished and removed. The six pilings remaining after the removal of the former catwalk would be cut to make the tops even with the water surface to Mean Sea Level Zero.

Next, a 5,650-square-foot steel beam and untreated plywood L-shaped trestle platform would be temporarily installed in and around the perimeter of the footprint of the permanent ferry pier and its gangways for construction access.

Construction of the permanent ferry pier would start with the installation of the permanent pilings. The pilings would be installed from the landward end of the gangway out to the ocean end of the pier. Following installation of the pilings, the rest of the pier and gangway would be constructed from the ocean end of the pier in toward the land.

The pier would consist of three-and-a-half-foot long by five-foot wide precast concrete tubs with reinforcing steel within precast member walls. The tubs would be filled with cast-in-place concrete, connected by four-inch thick precast planks and interspersed with five 10’2″ wide by six-foot long fiber reinforced polymer grates.

Excluding the grates, the rest of the pier would be topped with an eight-inch cast-in-place concrete slab. The 15-foot wide by 35-foot long lower concrete half of the gangway would be constructed on top of four of the 16 total pilings using the same materials and methods as the pier.

A three-inch diameter waterline, three-quarter-inch diameter waterline, three-inch diameter sewer line and electrical conduits would be installed in the pre-cast concrete tubs of the pier and concrete half of the gangway prior to pouring cast-in-place concrete into the tubs.

The 15-foot wide by 35-foot long upper aluminum half of the gangway between the concrete gangway and the shoreline would be installed with the waterlines, sewer line and electrical conduits fully enclosed within a utility raceway as part of the aluminum structure.

A 14-foot tall, one-story trellis shade structure would be installed above the surface of the pier, and other vessel utilities – such as a pump-out unit, hose bibs and lighting – would be installed on the pier.

Work in the adjacent uplands would include the replacement of the Administration Building and construction of new concrete pavement and bollards.

In its Department of the Army permit review, the Corps of Engineers welcomes comments on the direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of this proposed project. Comments are used to assess impacts on endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects and other public interest factors, including the need for a public hearing.

Comments can be mailed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District Regulatory Office, Attn: Ms. Vera Koskelo, Building 230, Fort Shafter, HI 96858-5440, or e-mailed to Vera.B.Koskelo@usace.army.mil (reference POH-2015-00221 in the subject heading of the e-mail). In order to be accepted, e-mail comments must originate from the author’s e-mail account.

Comments must include the DA permit number, POH- 2015-00221, and the commentor’s name, address and phone number. For more information on the project or the permit process, contact Vera Koskelo at (808) 835-4310 or Vera.B.Koskelo@usace.army.mil.