City officials have announced that four more Wai'anae Coast parks will shut down nightly from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. beginning July 28.

The parks are: Tracks, Poka'i Bay, portions of Lualualei No. 2 and Nanakuli Beach Park, including the area known as Cove. The shoreline sections of all four, however, will remain accessible for fishing 24 hours a day.

The action is being taken in response to "public health and safety concerns" raised by the Nanakuli-Ma'ili Neighborhood Board and the Wai'anae Neighborhood Board, said Patty Teruya, chairwoman of the Nanakuli-Ma'ili board.

Teruya said the parking lots for the four areas already are closed at night. But problems have continued at the parks, she said. "These are parks which have had numerous problems such as late-night drinking, illegal camping and things like that. So, now we're asking to close the parks to make it a lot more safer."

Also, community members are working with providers to help those now sleeping overnight on the beach find shelter elsewhere, Teruya said. "There's numerous homeless nestled into the beach parks that have been there five or six years," she said.

In addition, she said, "We have a lot of late-night congregations." Teruya added, "We have people partying all night long."

Closing the parks will give police more muscle in enforcing park laws, Teruya said.

In the last two years, city and state officials have shut down overnight use at Ma'ili, Nani Kai and Surfers' beach parks, effectively removing the homeless and others from those Wai'anae beaches at night. The policy has gone into effect at other facilities on the island, including Ala Moana Beach Park and Mokule'ia Beach Park.

The policy has been working well at those parks, Teruya said.

Police Maj. Michael Moses said the parking lots were the initial focus of the park closures due to complaints about illegal drinking, drug activity, assaults and other criminal activity.

"There's still activity occurring in the parks themselves," Moses said. The actions are not directed at kicking out the homeless, he said. "It's based on public safety and health concerns" raised by the community.