Healy Tibbitts Builders Inc. workers attach fenders to a new section of concrete pier at Lahaina Harbor in February as part of the Lahaina Small Boat Harbor pier project. The new pier which is now “fully usable,” according to the state, has been drawing safety concerns from the community. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Residents and a Maui lawmaker have multiple safety and operational concerns about the new Lahaina Small Boat Harbor pier located near a popular surf break in West Maui.

Just about 70 feet out from the existing Lahaina Harbor pier, the new 20- by 115-foot long concrete structure installed for small boats and ferries has created a rip current that is sucking water under the pier, which the community says poses public health and safety concerns.

“I go there almost every day. It’s super scary, it’s like a trap,” said private surf coach Pedro Robalinho, who witnessed a boy in late July having trouble paddling away from the pier.

The current pulled the young surfer underwater for a few seconds before a few adults jumped in and helped, Robalinho said on Thursday.

“It’s a community, so everybody is watching everyone and all the adults have a lot of love for the groms. Usually there are some parents filming, some coaches around and if something happens, like in that situation, we’re probably going to see it and we’ll be able to help, but there’s lots of trauma,” Robalinho added. “But one day if they are surfing by themselves or if a mom who doesn’t have much experience with the water and is just watching, she’s going to watch her kid quickly drop in front of her and won’t be able to do anything and it’s going to be super bad.”  

The roughly $18 million small boat harbor pier project, which also involves construction of the Lahaina harbor office and work on surrounding areas, is estimated to be completed in late October, although the pier is fully useable, state Department of Land and Natural Resources officials said this week. Contractor for the DLNR’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation’s project is Healy Tibbitts Builders Inc.

West Maui resident Van Fischer had emailed several stakeholders last month, including lawmakers, state departments and media, after multiple incidents of keiki being pulled toward or under the pier while surfing at the Lahaina harbor, a historically popular spot among locals. 

“This new pier has created a rip tide that is sucking water under the pier,” Fischer said in the email. “With all the groms that surf that area, it is inevitable that one is going to get sucked under when no one is watching.”

He explained how a 9-year-old was pulled under and tangled during the early construction phases, and had to be pulled out by a bystander. 

Fischer said that a girl on July 16 was sucked under the pier, and “luckily a surfer grabbed her hand, which was the only thing left above the surface.”  

The current was so strong that another individual jumped off the rock wall and pulled her out.

Fischer and Robalinho both expressed a need for urgent action by state and county officials, and suggested that the state install a wire mesh fencing from the pier to the ocean floor on the north, east and west sides to prevent someone from being pulled under. 

The community could maybe pitch in some funds and support, too, Robalinho said. 

“We don’t care about the money, it’s about saving lives,” he added. “I have my kids that go out there, I have my daughters, I have these students that I love and I see this whole situation getting harder during the swell.”  

A state official said this week that the channel should only be used for vessel ingress and egress and that “surfers should stay out of the channel for safety reasons.”  

DOBOR Assistant Administrator Meghan Statts said the Lahaina Small Boat Harbor is an active recreational and commercial vessel harbor, which includes cruise ship tendering.

“We also have signage in place near the Lahaina harbor office that states that there is no swimming in the harbor and jumping or diving off of the docks in the facility is prohibited,” Statts said. 

Though some folks still enter the water by jumping in, most swimmers, divers and surfers for years have also used a set of stairs near the pier to get in and out of the water. 

Maui County owns the wall that the stairs are attached to and the stairs itself were installed “many years ago” by a hui of boaters and community members, but they “did not have permission from our division as the wall is not our property,” Statts said. 

The long term solution would be to remove the stairs and reinstall it further north so that people enter the water further from the pier, Statts said.

However, some residents told The Maui News that there is a historical site down north that may be impacted by any potential construction. Other ideas that were tossed around was putting stairs on the pier itself on the north side. 

Still, many longtime watermen said this week that it doesn’t matter where or how people get into the harbor, the changing currents can still pull groms back toward the pier when surfing or swimming in that general vicinity.

In an effort to address the community’s immediate concerns, DOBOR installed signage on the ferry pier fronting the surfers’ stairs to be aware of the strong current in the area. 

The department’s main plan is to eventually install a floating channel marker boom from the corner of the new pier nearest to the stairs out past the pier to keep surfers and swimmers from getting too close, Statts said. 

“We’ll need to get an Army Corps of Engineers permit to allow installation of the boom before we can issue a bid solicitation to have it installed.”

Between getting a permit and installing the floating channel marker, this could take up to six months to complete, Statts added.

“Is it going to avoid people from getting that close? Yes. Is it going to make people aware? Yes. So, it’s partially a help,” Robalinho said in response. “I think signs are a good idea, information is a great idea, but it’s not enough… . It’s not going to solve the problem, but it’s going to help and I don’t know if (the boom) is going to create a different type of danger.”

For state Rep. Angus McKelvey, whose district includes Lahaina, the pier’s design flaws are “an accident waiting to happen” and that the community “has the right to be upset.”  

“There’s so many problems with this project it’s not even funny,” McKelvey said on Thursday.

McKelvey said that during discussions he had, some boat operators expressed that they cannot use the north side of the pier, especially during low tide or when people are entering the water to surf, as well as the south side of the pier because the cleats that were installed are too small to hold the ropes for the ferry and there’s also no place to drop loading ramps.

While portions of the existing pier will be closed at various stages, this project was phased so that commercial operators and the existing Expeditions Maui-Lanai ferry will be able to operate without any interruption of service, according to a DLNR news release. 

“Until this situation is rectified, they cannot use this pier, so this pier is unusable by the very entity that’s supposed to use it,” McKelvey said.

McKelvey added that Federal Transit Administration funds used for the project was granted mainly for pier use by Expedition ferries, which operates the only ferry service from Maui to Lanai. 

“Boat operators themselves, the ferry operators themselves won’t use it if the kids are going to get swept underneath because of the current,” McKelvey added.

A spokesperson from Expeditions could not be reached for comment.

The historic South swell that pummeled Lahaina’s coastal areas last month, including beachfront restaurants and roads, also created sand piles in the harbor and the channel, which could have an effect on ocean currents and vessel operations, McKelvey noted.

“The most obvious pressing thing, besides fixing the stairs and trying to work with the operators on finding solutions, is that they (DOBOR) need to do the dredging,” McKelvey said. “There’s all this sand that’s now piled up inside between the ferry pier and the mooring dock, so the Expedition boats can’t even get in.”

A DOBOR spokesperson said Thursday via email that the ferry pier is “fully usable at this time.”

Construction of the Lahaina harbor office and surrounding areas are still underway, but reassured that “doesn’t impact the use of the pier.”

“DOBOR is looking at doing some maintenance dredging in the channel, but that would still require various permits which could take a number of months to obtain,” a spokesperson said.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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