Much-anticipated repairs to the Laupahoehoe Small Boat Harbor Breakwater are finally moving forward, with an informational meeting scheduled next week for the public to review design proposals and ask questions.

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Much-anticipated repairs to the Laupahoehoe Small Boat Harbor Breakwater are finally moving forward, with an informational meeting scheduled next week for the public to review design proposals and ask questions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host the meeting from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, in the Building G Conference Room of Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School. Located off of Old Mamalahoa Highway, the school is sited along the Hamakua Coast north of Hilo and will open its doors to attendees at 5:30 p.m.

According to the Corps — which bears responsibility for maintaining the 200-foot-long breakwater, basin and navigational channel at full federal expense — the seawall has sustained extensive wave-related structural damage over the years, impacting use of the harbor by subsistence fishermen, casual boaters and chartered sport-fishing vessels. To remedy this, the Corps has developed a repair plan that includes replacement of the breakwater core and installation of a new concrete crest cap.

According to a press release about the project, these proposed repairs will “reduce wave energy in the harbor and improve navigation.” The planned renovation work will be contained within the bulwark’s existing structure, with the Corps reiterating that the project “will not expand the footprint of the breakwater in any dimension.”

The boat ramp adjacent to the breakwater has been officially closed to motorized boat trailering since 2009, although it’s still utilized by swimmers and paddlers manually launching lightweight vessels like kayaks. Prior to its closure, the ramp was the only place for boats to access the ocean between Hilo and Kawaihae, making it a perennial top priority for county officials while assembling annual capital improvement project budgets.

When windward swells are exceptionally calm, local families often use the ramp as a wading pool and entry point into the flat-bottomed harbor basin. Other amenities at Laupahoehoe Point Beach Park include campsites, beach showers, flat, open grass lawns for games like volleyball, and large covered pavilions complete with picnic tables, barbecue grills and sinks.

A memorial monument located on the park grounds is dedicated to teachers and students who died during the April 1, 1946, tsunami that struck a schoolhouse located on the peninsula at the time.

Nani Shimabuku is the operations and maintenance program manager of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Branch for Honolulu District. Shimabuku said the effectiveness of the breakwater, which was completed in 1988, has been degraded over time by an endless onslaught of powerful waves smashing into the structure.

“The breakwater continues to provide protection, but repairs are needed, so we’d like to get it restored to that intended function,” she said. “It’s just that over time there’s been some deterioration, so it’s really like we want to reset the structure itself because … some of the rocks have fallen off or they’ve been dislodged or they’ve just moved. We want to just ensure that the porosity of the structure (is reduced).”

This “porosity,” she said, allows some of the wave energy to pass through the breakwater into the harbor, creating unsafe conditions for swimmers, paddlers and boaters.

“It’s too porous, there’s too much water — the wave energy and whatnot — going through the structure,” she said. “We want that structure to be there, for wave action to hit it, and for it to deflect that wave energy.”

Although not necessarily a part of planning considerations, another benefit of the repair project, she said, is to provide safe ocean access in and out of Laupahoehoe in times of natural disasters and other emergencies.

“Looking at emergency access, we do acknowledge that we would like to have it so that in the event that there’s some sort of emergency, emergency vessels or emergency personnel can get to (the area) to make it easier for them,” she said.

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Repair work is scheduled to begin in 2028, while the project’s timeline and budget have not yet been finalized, Shimabuku said.

Ocean access at the beach park will remain open while work is underway, but certain sections of the park may be off-limits temporarily as they’re utilized as staging and equipment storage areas.

“We’re doing what we can to minimize the impacts to the community,” she said. “It is a priority for us, and we’ve been thinking about working through that in our planning. We appreciate the community’s patience as we work through this.

“We really look forward to meeting with the Laupahoehoe community at our public meeting next week,” she added.

One of the project’s advocates within Hawaii County has been Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball, who acknowledged the growing restlessness among community members fed up with waiting for the project to proceed.

Kimball told the Tribune-Herald that the Corps has been working with county officials “for as long as (she’s) been in office to get this project going and probably since about a decade before that.”

“The community has been anxious to see progress on the boat ramp repairs for some time,” she said. “There have been several starts and stops, which has caused a lot of frustration. The boat ramp is a critical part of community sustainability, being the only access point for fishermen in the area. It also serves as a point of access in the event the area becomes inaccessible from the highway during a disaster.”

She guessed that after nearly two decades of tediously slow progress, putting pressure on federal lawmakers representing Hawaii Island seems to have finally done the trick.

“I have been lobbying with our congressional delegation to help unclog the wheels on this,” she said. “(U.S. Rep) Jill Tokuda’s staff came out last year. I think maybe that got things moving. I know the (Parks and Recreation Department) staff has been negotiating with them all this time, too.”

She said she frequently receives inquiries from Hamakua community members irritated by the long-derelict boat ramp and slow pace of repairs.

“I have constituents who regularly check in for updates on this project,” she said. “There has been a lot of frustration that this has not been addressed sooner. Many folks comment on how the original location of the boat ramp was much better, and the current location has been a problem since the beginning. I am hopeful that it is finally going to happen and the new design will address the past problems with the breakwater.”

She said the County Council approved $10 million in the fiscal year 2026-2027 capital improvement project budget for the boat ramp, which falls under county jurisdiction. Prior to that, the county had initially allocated $5 million toward the “overall replacement” of the deteriorating ramp in August 2023. Items stay on the CIP budget for three years.

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Email Stefan Verbano at [email protected].