25 Years Later: Sandy Beach Initiative

This past Friday, Nov. 8, marked the 25th anniversary of the historic "Save Sandy Beach Initiative" vote in 1988, when Oahu residents took a stand to defend the wild nature of the Ka Iwi coast and said "no" to a city-approved, luxury subdivision that would have stretched more than a mile along the mauka side of Kalanianaole Highway from Sandy Beach Park to the 11th hole of the Hawaii Kai Golf Course.

It all started when the Ho- nolulu City Council ignored massive public opposition — as well as laws protecting scenic resources — and approved the project’s final permits. In a last-ditch grassroots campaign, hundreds of volunteers got organized, and the public finally voted overwhelmingly, 2-to-1, to stop the development and protect the land.

If the "Defend Sandy Beach" folks had left it up to the city, the wide-open Ka Iwi coast would be a very different place today.

Luckily, at the time, the community was equipped to stand up to powerful development interests and a pliant City Council by using its county charter-granted power of last resort: its right to use the difficult initiative voting process to make land-use decisions.

The sad part of the story is that, after the developer sued, the Hawaii Supreme Court surgically removed this voting right from all four of the state’s county charters.

As we admire the natural beauties of the Ka Iwi coast today, we are filled with aloha for everyone who worked and voted to protect it when its future was threatened.

But we also mourn the loss of the voters’ tool — land-use initiative — that let us protect it, that gave us a direct say in the future of our island. While neither we nor most people would advocate initiative as a regular zoning tool, it is, especially on an island with such limited and coveted land, a means of last resort when elected officials scandalously fail us.

Twenty-five years ago at Sandy Beach, a determined band of activists, surfers, students and housewives collected 40,000 signatures in order to have an islandwide vote about whether to protect a place of great beauty for the perpetual enjoyment of all.

Today that power no longer exists. Instead, we find ourselves at the mercy of powerful financial interests that seek to manipulate the governance of our beautiful island, often from far away.

And we wonder: If voters still had access to land-use initiative, would the remaining wild beaches on the North Shore, or huge swaths of Central Oahu’s prime ag land, or the precious green pastures of Malaekahana still be in danger of disappearing?

MAKINGS OF A MOVEMENT
Highlights of events that led to the 1988 Save Sandy Beach land-use initiative:

April 1987: Honolulu City Council, 5-4, OKs Kaiser Development Co. permit for shoreline management area permit for about 200 homes on 31 acres mauka of Sandy Beach (“Golf Course 5 & 6”).

May 1987: Lawsuit is filed against permit approval by Sandy Beach Defense Fund; it is thrown out five months later.

June 1987: Save Sandy Beach Initiative coalition starts petitions to put question on 1988 ballot to downzone site to preservation.

September 1987: Petitions certified to put initiative on September 1988 primary election ballot.

Fall 1987: Kaiser sues city, coalition to dismiss initiative.

Early 1988: Circuit Court judge bars Kaiser from subpoenaing petition signers.

March 1988: Another Circuit judge rules that state law gave zoning powers “exclusively” to county councils.

July 1988: Court blocks initiative from primary election.

Sept. 9, 1988: Hawaii Supreme Court puts Save Sandy Beach Initiative back on ballot for general election.

Nov. 8, 1988: Voters approve the initiative (165,007 yes, 85,210 no): “Are you in favor of rezoning from residential to preservation 31 acres of land near Sandy Beach, the site of a proposed housing project?”

1989 and after: Hawaii Supreme Court in 1989 invalidates zoning by initiative, and restricts land-use decisions to county councils. But city puts moratorium on issuing permits for the property, then passes ordinance downzoning parcels to preservation. Developer sues city; it wins favorable rulings, and finally in 2002, a land-swap settlement is reached.

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This was co-signed by the former volunteer members of the Save Sandy Beach Initiative Coalition steering committee: Phil Estermann, Jocelyn Fujii, Ursula Retherford, Curt Sanburn and Brad Shields.