A plan to curb shoreline erosion, protect homes and restore a sandy beach off Iroquois Point was put into action earlier this week, as construction began on the $14 million project just Ewa of the channel to Pearl Harbor.

Project developer Hunt Cos. said the work, which will add 80,000 cubic yards of sand and nine breakwater groins, is the largest beach restoration project in Hawaii.

Construction is expected to last 10 to 12 months and follows eight years of planning and publication of a final environmental assessment in January.

Hunt, which leased a former naval housing community with 1,450 rental units now known as the Waterfront at Puu­loa, is doing the work in part to protect homes built in 1960 along a coast that has suffered from chronic erosion.

The developer also said the project will improve coastal water quality by stopping erosion of red dirt into the ocean, reduce sand buildup in the nearby harbor channel and provide new habitat for marine life.

“The effort to rehabilitate the beach at Iroquois Point has been years in the making, and we are excited to begin work on a project that will provide many environmental benefits and protect the nearby oceanfront housing community,” Steve Colón, president of the Hawaii development division of Texas-based Hunt, said in a written statement. “This beach will serve as a gathering place for residents and visitors, and we hope to revitalize the area for the enjoyment of all.”

Construction involves creating nine T-head break-walls along the mile-long stretch of shoreline. The groins will be made from 22,000 cubic yards of boulders, or enough rock to fill almost seven Olympic-size swimming pools. Each groin structure will extend 140 feet from shore. The top of each T will be 100 to 200 feet long.

Sand will be added between the rock groins. Much of the sand, about 22,000 cubic yards, already has been dredged from the harbor entrance. More dredging of the channel is planned to provide the additional roughly 60,000 cubic yards of sand.

By comparison, the Waikiki beach replenishment project completed earlier this year added 24,000 cubic yards of sand.

Hunt said it obtained a complex set of approvals from agencies that included the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state Department of Health, Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Program, State Historic Preservation Division and National Marine Fisheries Service.

Still, constructing groins on Hawaii beaches is a controversial practice.

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs raised concerns in a 2007 letter saying the groins might not retain the sand between them and could increase erosion of adjacent beaches.

“Such activities have less to do with beach nourishment and more to do with protecting existing shoreline development,” OHA said in its letter, which suggested that homes be relocated further inland instead of armoring the beach.

The former Navy housing, which Hunt now rents to civilians and the military, is threatened by shoreline erosion.

According to the environmental assessment produced by the Navy, 16 homes were abandoned due to erosion and waves, while more are in danger.

Old aerial photographs and other information show that the beach off Iroquois Point receded as much as 130 feet between 1928 and 1961, and an additional 150 feet between 1961 and 2003, the report said.

Past attempts have been made to stabilize the beach, including rock barriers, a sand berm, concrete masonry, a wooden wall, timber piles, concrete blocks and a retaining wall. But those efforts — in 1978, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1995, 2004 and 2009 — failed.

Remnants of those projects, along with abandoned storm drain outfalls, will be removed as part of the present work, Hunt said.

The environmental report suggested that the groins will not have a significant impact on surfing. The report said waves breaking on the shallow fringing reef are “generally not well-formed or organized and provide relatively limited board surfing.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that the project is not likely to adversely affect the Hawaiian monk seal, the hawksbill sea turtle or the green sea turtle.