The City Council voted 7-2 on Wednesday to override Mayor Peter Carlisle’s veto of a bill banning all commercial activity at Kailua Beach Park, putting to rest the controversial subject — at least for now.

A representative for several kayak tour businesses who operated at Kailua Beach warned of litigation, while city Parks Director Gary Cabato said he will be asking residents around Oahu in the coming month to weigh in on proposals to allow permits to be issued for some commercial activity at selected parks in their respective regions.

Carlisle vetoed Bill 11 (2012) on July 26, arguing that most of the business conducted at the popular beach park is already illegal under a separate measure that became law on July 1. The mayor also argued that Bill 11 would go too far in setting a precedent.

The Council first passed the measure 7-2 on July 11. Both then and Wednesday, the "no" votes came from Romy Cachola and Breene Harimoto.

Kailua residents testifying for the bill said that the park is overrun by kayak rentals and other commercial interests.

Chuck Prentiss, Kailua Neighborhood Board chairman, said his community "has been waiting for more than 10 years for something to be done about the proliferation of commercial activities using public properties at Kailua Beach Park."

Mollie Foti, who has lived in Kailua for more than 50 years, said that in the past five to six years, "we have been engulfed by a tidal wave of tourism that has threatened our residential community and its most precious resource — Kailua Beach Park, Kailua Bay and its offshore islands."

Not everyone supported the bill.

Bryson Wong said he has taken high school windsurfing classes at the beach from a company and wonders what will happen if lessons are no longer allowed.

"Professional instruction is necessary given the very steep learning curve of windsurfing," Wong said, noting that he was given a test after 15 lessons. "It’s a very difficult sport to learn and Kailua is the only location on the island to safely learn this sport."

Councilman Ikaika Anderson, who represents Windward Oahu, said of the bill he introduced: "It’s not that we do not welcome the tour bus companies and their visitors. The fact is we lack the space to accommodate them."

Kayak operators and other businesses who use the beach said Bill 11 was too drastic, and that the law that took effect July 1 already takes care of the major objections. That law, Bill 5, passed in 2011, banned commercial activity at the beach from 1 p.m. Saturdays to 6:30 a.m. Mondays.

Bill 11 replaces the weekend restriction with a complete ban.

Leslie Iczkovitz, an attorney for three kayak companies, told Council members to expect a lawsuit for exceeding its authority.

Under Bill 5, any activity without a permit is banned at all city parks across the island, city attorneys have ruled.

Cabato said he is scheduling meetings in September to seek the public’s opinions on where commercial activity could be allowed through permits.

Under questioning from Anderson, Cabato said he did not foresee allowing permits at parks in communities where residents overwhelmingly oppose commercial activity.

Anderson said the Carlisle administration had 18 months to come up with rules that would allow some commercial operations.

Carlisle told the Star-Advertiser that he was not surprised by Council members overriding his veto.

"I respect a number of the reasons they had for making this decision," he said. "And we will do everything we can do to make our best effort to enforce the law."

The mayor echoed Cabato’s comments that the administration will go ahead with plans to allow some permitted commercial activity on the island.

"It’s probably taken longer than it should so we’re going to be working on that to the greatest extent possible," he said.

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