Zoning committee advances Waikiki Aquarium upgrade after CD1 amendment; iwi kūpuna found during related work

The Honolulu City Council Committee on Zoning on May 1 amended and reported out for adoption Resolution 25‑108, which grants a special management area (SMA) major permit to the University of Hawaii for improvements to the Waikiki Aquarium’s water intake system and for reconstruction and expansion of the Edge of Reef exhibit.

The CD1 was further amended at the hearing to clarify that a condition addressing discovery of nests of endangered, threatened, or protected birds applies only during project construction. The Department of Planning and Permitting told the committee it supports the posted CD1.

Lee Stitzelma, project manager for the University of Hawaii, said the intake upgrades replace two existing eight‑inch ocean intake pipes with two new eight‑inch pipes and add equipment including four media filters, two ultraviolet sterilizers, a heat exchanger and chiller, flow meters and level sensors. Stitzelma said the new system would allow the aquarium to use about 487,000 gallons per day of seawater and would replace asbestos‑containing transite piping with non‑asbestos materials.

The project also proposes an expanded Edge of Reef exhibit, increasing the exhibit area by 500 square feet from 1,300 to 1,800 square feet, and includes new pump vaults, aeration settling tank, new pumps and a reconstructed pump building. The committee record states most project structures will be located within required yards and will therefore require a zoning waiver and a minor special district permit because the site is inside the core area of the Diamond Head Special District.

Stitzelma told the committee that excavation work on a related discharge project — work that is already underway — uncovered iwi kūpuna (ancestral burials) in four locations. Construction was stopped when burials were discovered, and the project team has engaged the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD), the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), and on‑site archaeologists. Notifications to the public and to possible descendants were published the day of the committee hearing; the project team said burial treatment plans will be developed with SHPD and descendant groups and that the burial treatment plan used for the discharge work would be carried forward to the intake project where applicable.

Committee members asked about citations from the State Department of Health and city environmental authorities; Stitzelma said the aquarium has an administrative order and consent (AOC) addressing past discharge violations and that construction of the discharge project, including installation of injection wells, is intended to address those violations. He said a $90,000 penalty in the AOC would be avoided if an environmentally beneficial project component is implemented within the AOC timeframe.

The DPP described administrative rule changes for shoreline setback processing: under the department’s new shoreline and SMA administrative rules the department has 45 days after council approval of an SMA major permit to render a decision on any shoreline setback variance application; condition B of the CD1 requires the applicant to obtain a shoreline setback variance from DPP prior to proceeding with the project. The committee noted that a majority of the project site will be impacted by 3.2 feet of sea level rise by a future date referenced in the record; presenters said the intake upgrades are intended to improve aquarium resiliency and that equipment will be waterproofed.

The committee amended the resolution to CD1, including the verbal amendment to condition E9 to limit the bird‑nesting protocol to project construction, and reported the item out for adoption with no recorded objections.