Lawmaker outlines bills aimed at easing North Shore’s woes

Facing growing traffic and beach erosion problems on the North Shore, area residents gathered for a meeting Saturday about two bills introduced by a state lawmaker to begin the process of addressing those issues.

One of the bills introduced by Sen. Clayton Hee (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua) proposes to move a section of Kamehameha Highway, from Laniakea to Chun’s Reef, in the mauka direction, away from the erosion threatening the highway. While absent from the current version of the bill, the plan is also to create a wayside park on the makai side of the same section of highway.

"Right now, nobody’s talked about a park, it’s always been, ‘Move the highway,’" Hee said outside the community meeting — the first of three — at the Sunset Beach Community Center. "But it’s been over a decade, so we’re trying to spur the discussion and accomplish two things at the same time — the creation of the park and the movement of the highway mauka."

Denise Antolini, a North Shore resident and environmental lawyer, said the bill would address a cluster of concerns at Laniakea — the highway being undermined by erosion, traffic and pedestrians crossing the highway to see the Hawaiian green sea turtles on the beach.

"The community for years has been trying to get the (Department of Transportation) to cooperate to realign the highway and DOT has been slow to respond," said Antolini, who also attended the meeting. "This bill lights the fire under the rear end of the Department of Transportation."

She said the benefit of having a wayside park as part of the bill is to have the Department of Land and Natural Resources drive the process from a resource perspective, rather than have the issue focus solely on highway realignment.

A state park would also bridge two parcels the city bought for support parks at Laniakea and Chun’s Reef rather than keep them separate, she said. In the end, the park would allow coastal erosion to take place without affecting the highway.

Standing before about 50 community members gathered for the meeting, Hee urged them to email Sen. David Ige, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, requesting that he consider recommending the bill move through the committee and onto the Senate floor.

"These normally are bills that have a 50/50 chance of surviving the committee of Ways and Means," he said. "Your participation will be very important."

He said Kamehameha Schools, which owns the land mauka of the highway, understands that the highway needs to be moved or it will be washed away and that erosion has reached close enough to the makai side of the highway that a crosswalk cannot be installed.

The other bill Hee introduced is Senate Bill 3036, which would require the University of Hawaii’s Sea Grant College Program to create a North Shore beach management plan for the shoreline stretching from Waimea Bay to Sunset Beach. That bill also faces a hearing before the Ways and Means Committee.

Hee said that bill was prompted by the erosion that threatened homes at Rocky Point during a large swell in December.

Dolan Eversole, an official with the Sea Grant College Program, told the attendees that the sea level is rising about 1.5 millimeters a year in Hawaii, accelerating coastal erosion. He said the rising sea level combined with the highest tides of the year create serious situations, which will occur more frequently.

"We’re more interested in the extremes," he said. "That’s when we see all the actions. That’s when we see the erosion and the flooding."

Hee said the management plan will be a tool to understand what to expect so the government can plan accordingly.

"Although the nuances might be different from island to island, the general findings will probably be relevant from island to island," he said.

Community leaders say the next public meeting hasn’t been planned, but more information can be found on the Sea Grant program’s website at seagrant.soest. hawaii.edu/hawaii-north-shore-beach-management.

"It’s important to keep the discussion alive," Hee said later outside the meeting. "It’s important that legislators hear from the community and part of this is to mobilize the community to be a part of the solution as opposed to wondering what government solutions might exist."