Downed coconut palms cause consternation at Kalauakoi

Fire trucks cannot get through to the Kaluakoi Villas, says Ho’olehua fire captain Miller Majoho. “They’re restricting our access to the buildings of the villas,” he complained. “And also we launch our watercraft from the fourth green, and now we can’t get in there too. That’s where we launch our jet ski.”

Molokai Properties Limited employees started removing coconut palms April 9 as part of a plan to limit access to the now-closed Kaluakoi Golf Course. The palms were felled across the green of the course and then dragged into place, effectively barring vehicles from the turf. Barred vehicles include, however, fire trucks and emergency medical personnel who might need access. The Villas in question, especially along the ninth fairway, a par 3, are already in a high-risk area for fire.

Majoho says his crew will “have to make our own access.”

Darryl Canady, a resident of the nearby Ke Nani Kai condominiums, said that one of the “bigger villas had a mattress fire. The fire truck couldn’t get down to it because of the coconut trees.” Canady says that most of the villa owners are not full-time residents. All of the Kaluakoi-Area buildings are in a fire zone, and due to heavy rains earlier in the season, some residents say that it’s the tallest grass that’s grown in 15 years.

Lydia Stevens, a renter who has been staying at the Kaluakoi Villas for a few months said, “They’ve blocked [access] more now. When they had the palms there originally, there was a small opening. [But] they were able to drive through. Since then they added a trunk… now it goes across the sidewalk we walk on. If [a fire] happened again, they’d have to drive over the palm.”

“What they seem to be trying to do is to put someone with a key at the top of the parking lot,” mused Stevens. “Someone, probably a fireman, would have to have a key so they could unlock the gate to come down here. The angle, though, to get to us immediately,” she concluded, “would be to come through the maintenance area.” Stevens leaves Kaluakoi Tuesday.