Waikiki Beach is about as valuable to Hawaii’s economy as any single attraction could possibly be. So finding a way to help maintain it through a sustained funding source, one replenished by a new tax collected from a broad base, makes sense as a policy to be adopted by the Honolulu City Council.
Two bills, which will have their first reading Wednesday, would enable such a change; they deserve swift consideration.
The first, Bill 81, enables the Council to create a new special improvement district for this purpose, adding a new category for "construction of shoreline improvement, restoration and protection projects."
The second, Bill 82, would create the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District and set up the plan, which defines the district as encompassing Waikiki from the Ala Wai Canal to the sea and from the Ala Wai Boat Harbor to Kaimana Beach on Kalakaua Avenue.
A fund would be established to be managed by a nonprofit association, with the assessment to be collected from owners of Waikiki commercial properties. That would exclude residential dwellings unless it is legally certified as a "transient vacation unit."
Council sponsors of the bills and the other supporters of the initiative — primarily the Waikiki Improvement Association — project raising about $600,000 annually through the tax, amounting to 7.63 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Owners of the large beachfront parcels would pay in the tens of thousands of dollars per year, but the assessment would be under $100 for smaller off-beach lots.
The money is meant, long term, to underwrite the full range of improvement projects affecting the beach, although sand replenishment comes to mind as a primary concern.
However, the more immediate priority is to replace the aging sea groin positioned near the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which is starting to fail in its essential function: retaining beach sand. About $325,000 is set aside in the bill’s first-year budget as a down payment on that $1.3 million project. The state would match these funds 50-50, at least initially.
It is in that central zone of Wakiki that the work to counter erosion has been engaged most aggressively. Two years ago, sand was replenished on the beach fronting the hotel, funded as a public-private partnership, combining state funds with a major contribution from landlord Kyo-ya Resorts.
The University of Hawaii Coastal Geology Group tracked erosion rates after the replenishment. After only a single year, the 24,000 cubic yards of sand that had been placed had lost 27 percent of its volume.
Clearly the relentless erosive power of the currents take a far greater toll than a single property owner, or even a few major ones, can maintain, year after year.
Further, if the assessments are spread out throughout the district and overseen by a nonprofit, as proposed, there will be less risk that an elite group of landlords would be able to reserve the benefits for themselves. Hawaii beaches belong to the public, and ensuring public access at all times remains the paramount concern.
Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association, rightly pointed out that in addition to spreading out the fundraising burden, the nonprofit oversight "gives us a seat at the table to make sure that the projects are done properly and that they are in keeping with stakeholder objectives."
Affected property owners will receive a special notice and opportunity to provide feedback before the legislation has its second reading within the next few months.
But it’s all residents on Oahu — statewide, really — who have an interest in supporting the bills. A similar zone — the Waikiki Business Improvement District, created in 2000 — is working well, business leaders said. And the benefit to all is a well-maintained beach that is an icon in Hawaii, worth its weight in gold, let alone sand.
