A community group and a Maui resident have sued the state and the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea over using part of Wailea Beach exclusively for hotel guests.
Malama Kahakai and Dana Naone Hall filed the suit in state court on Maui last week, seeking to invalidate an easement the state Board of Land and Natural Resources granted Four Seasons to set out chairs on the beach last month.
The suit claims that the board’s approval of the easement was granted without the public’s knowledge or participation, and that an environmental assessment should have been required before such a decision.
Naone Hall said the BLNR’s decision could set a precedent for similar requests by other hotels and private entities to occupy public beach areas.
"The state has breached its public trust duty to protect and conserve Wailea Beach in its natural state for present and future generations of Hawaii’s people," Naone Hall and Malama Kahakai said in a statement.
The Four Seasons declined comment.
A representative of the state board said as a policy it does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit alleges that various resorts and condominiums along Wailea Beach, including the Grand Wailea Hotel and Wailea Beach Villas, have effectively partitioned more than three-fourths of the beach for their private use by setting out equipment including chairs, umbrellas, tables and canoes, and holding events such as yoga classes.
The complaint claims that there has been a significant history of complaints over private use of the public beach.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources, which is guided by the BLNR, reported observing at least 60 chairs, two canoes and a Hobie Cat on the beach after a public complaint in 2005, according to the suit.
Other complaints followed, and in 2007 the agency reached an agreement with Four Seasons calling for the resort to cease commercial activities on the beach and store equipment mauka of the certified shoreline, the suit said.
But the suit claims that the resort continued commercial activities on the beach in violation of DLNR rules through last year.
Then last month, DLNR’s board approved an easement allowing Four Seasons to set out chairs in a specified area on the beach. Naone Hall and Malama Kahakai claim the agenda notice was insufficient to inform the public.
The agenda notice reads, "Grant of Term, Non-Exclusive Easement to 3900 WA Associates, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company for Encroachments related to the Presetting of Chairs on the Beach Purposes, Honuaula, Maui."
The easement was granted Jan. 25.
According to minutes of the meeting, DLNR staff was allowing pre-setting of chairs on a small area of the beach that it viewed as not impeding public beach use. Additionally, hotel staff was to remove any empty chairs by 8 a.m. Storing equipment remained an issue to be addressed later.
But the suit claims Four Seasons is setting up chairs outside the easement area, isn’t removing empty chairs and is also setting up tables and umbrellas.
The suit also claims that BLNR improperly considered and approved the easement that takes up a considerable part of the beach that should be open to public use.
"This privatization of Wailea Beach causes recreational injuries to plaintiffs and others by hampering, preventing or discouraging their use and enjoyment of Wailea Beach in its natural state that is held in trust by the state of Hawaii for them and, therefore, substantially curtails beneficial uses of the environment," the suit said.
