KAHALA, Hawaii (KHON2) -- A Kahala property owner faces thousands of dollars in fines over several violations of State and County shoreline laws after a joint City and State investigation revealed erosion control structures collapsed onto Hunakai Beach.
Officials with the State Department of Land and Natural Resources and City Department of Planning and Permitting said unauthorized erosion control devices along a beachfront property at Hunakai Beach are impacting beach access. Residents said it is a battle against nature.
"They're kind of losing, or they've lost," Kahala resident Mark Enomoto said. "It was kind of this ugly mishmash of fences and stuff and then the King Tides kind of did its number on this place."
Enomoto added that it got to the point in the last two years where the beach is effectively cut in two, but it is still passible if the beachgoer is okay with wading in knee-deep water.
"Not to mention that you could step on any of this kind of rusted junk over there," Enomoto said.
The DLNR said it has been in touch with the Japanese corporation that owns the land since August 2005 -- something the Senate Water and Land Committee chair was not happy about.
KHON2 pointed out to Sen. Lorraine Inouye that officials have been communicating with the company for close to 19 years.
"Unacceptable! And actually it's, I can see it's a fault as well of government to have this linger for that many years," Sen. Inouye said. "But with the North Shore incidences as well, you can't delay issues like this!
DLNR officials were unavailable on Tuesday, June 11 due to the State holiday, but the chair said the following in a statement on Monday, June 10:
“We appreciate the collaborative spirit in which the City and County of Honolulu addressed this issue with us. It involved some complex jurisdictional considerations and having a joint site visit with the C&C resulted in both state and county actions. Our hope is this all leads to the restoration of the shoreline at this location very soon.”
Dawn Chang, Dept. of Land and Natural Resources chair
Residents hope officials are able to cut through the red tape on future violations.
"I mean, I guess to me the beach is public property," Enomoto said, "it's the only free thing in Hawaii, I guess, and so interdepartmental collaboration I think is really important.
Sen. Inouye agreed.
"And now with hurricane season here, it makes matters worse," Sen. Inouye said. "This is not the only one that needs to be addressed."
The Japanese corporation has until Friday, June 28 to remove all erosion control structures or it will face thousands of dollars in fines.