The next phase of the Bayfront Trails project connecting parts of Hilo is currently up in the air because of funding uncertainties.
The Hilo Bayfront Trails project — spearheaded by the nonprofit Hilo Bayfront Trails Inc. — has built out a network of pedestrian trails throughout downtown Hilo since 2016. Most recently, the project completed a 920-foot path connecting Pauahi Street to the Bayfront soccer field entrance, alongside several accessibility improvements.
While Bayfront Trails President Matthias Kusch has said he hopes to expand the project in future phases — eventually connecting the University of Hawaii campus to downtown Hilo with one contiguous trail — funding for those phases has been harder to come by.
“The (County Council)’s not going for it,” Kusch told the Tribune-Herald last week, explaining that a pair of grant requests to the county had been rejected.
According to public records, the two requests via the county’s Nonprofit Waiwai Grant in Aid program were for $40,000 and $30,000, respectively, for developing “shovel-ready” engineering plans in Gilbert Carvalho Park and Wailoa Wailoa River State Recreation Area. The two were rejected for being “not aligned with the County Code.”
The two grant applications described the planned expansions as a loop trail connecting Carvalho park that would complete the Department of Public Work’s Haili Greenway connecting the Bayfront to Hilo Medical Center, and a series of trail segments 3,300 feet long in total linking Pauahi Street, the soccer field trails, and Kilauea Avenue to the west side of Wailoa park.
Kusch said the grants would have been enough to jump-start the initial planning process, which would allow the projects to secure federal grant funding at a favorable fund-matching rate for the county.
“We really could have leveraged our taxpayer funds for a very low-maintenance, long-lasting project,” Kusch said. “These trails, they could easily be here for the next 100 years.”
But without the county grants to start the process, Kusch said Bayfront Trails Inc. doesn’t have the cash to conduct the necessary surveys and studies on its own.
“Without a partnership with the county, it’s stuck,” Kusch said. “I’m not Bill Gates.”
Kusch said he has allies in the state Legislature who could help secure state grants during the next legislative session, and specifically referred to Hilo Rep. Chris Todd.
Todd told the Tribune-Herald that lawmakers this year approved a $3 million allocation to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for Wailoa park improvements, but that money won’t necessarily go to Bayfront Trails in particular.
“Hopefully, the DLNR will look at the project and think it’s good,” Todd said. “But, really, it’s up to them how they spend the money.”
But Todd said he would support grant funding for further expansions of the trails.
“We’d all like to see it continue to expand,” Todd said. “The trails we have, they’ve revitalized Wailoa and that whole area.”
Kusch said better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians is needed to help keep residents here instead of moving to the mainland.
He compared Hilo to popular urban centers in states like Texas or California, saying that the young people who keep moving away from the Big Island find cities with better options for walking, running or cycling more attractive.
“This would also be great for retirees,” Kusch said. “It just feels like there’s a common thread that’s missing here. And I hope we’ll still be able to make that connection better.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.