At Mayor Blangiardi’s final 2025 townhall last night at Kalani High School, Director Laura H. Thielen was joined by Managing Director Mike Formby and the Mayor to deliver the good news… the plan for an earthen motorized recreational park facility, a.k.a. a dirt racetrack, on roughly 20-acres of undeveloped park land in Kalaeloa is moving forward.
The site of this interim racetrack is located at the corner of Independence Avenue and Coral Sea Road, referred to as Lot 13060 (see the map for the location),. Along with providing the motorsports community with a much anticipated recreational resource, after the former Hawaii Raceway Park shut down nearly 20 years ago in March 2006, the hope is that having a proper place for motorsports will help reduce illegal street racing and off-roading. It will also activate an area which experiences frequent trespassers and unauthorized use.
We are working with long-time racetrack and motorsports advocate Li Cobian on the layout of the track, and the timeline for making it a reality. This racetrack is intended to be an interim facility while we work to develop a Master Plan for all of the roughly 400 acres the City received as part of a June 2024 land transfer of the former Naval Air Station at Barbers Point to the Department of Parks and Recreation. That Master Plan will include robust public input, along with environmental and cultural assessments. The permanent racetrack location and layout will be determined through that Master Plan, and may be in another area near this interim location.
The City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation has allocated $1.8 million in the upcoming budget for consultant services to help develop that Master Plan. In this budget cycle we have also appropriated $150,000 on guard services to reduce illegal activity in this area, and $500,000 in CIP funds to renovate and reopen the bathrooms at the Kalaeloa Campgrounds. This half a million dollars with also assist with shoreline improvements to reduce illegal off-roading on White Sands Beach in collaboration with 808 Cleanups.
If you need an auxiliary aid/service, other accommodations due to a disability, or an interpreter for a language other than English in reference to this announcement, please contact the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation at (808) 768-3003 on weekdays from 7:45 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. or email parks@honolulu.gov at least three business days before the scheduled event. Without sufficient advanced notice, it may not be possible to fulfill requests.
—PAU—
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