As with Kailua, the lovely and spacious beaches of Waimanalo, long a place of peaceful escape for neighborhood residents, have become famous — maybe too famous.

Tourists, informed by guidebooks and social media, are flocking in greater numbers to the beach parks at Waimanalo, Kaiona, Kaupo, Makapuu, Waimanalo Bay and Bellows Field. Commercial film crews and wedding planners see gold in those unspoiled beaches, poignant reminders of Hawaii’s coastlines before intensive development.

The inevitable tension between community and commerce rose up at a committee hearing of the City Council on Nov. 19. The Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee, headed by Windward-area Councilmember Ikaika Anderson, heard testimony on Bill 8, which would have severely limited commercial activities at the city’s Waimanalo-area beach parks.

The committee wisely deferred action on the bill after getting an earful from all sides. Wedding planners, photographers and film industry representatives, restricted from Kailua beach a few years ago, feared losing access to the rest of the Windward coast. Local residents complained about tour buses and commercial vehicles hogging parking spaces, blocking the public’s access to the beach.

Both sides have a point, and there is room for compromise on Bill 8. Commercial use of public beaches and beach parks need not be banned outright; Kailua Beach Park has strict rules against commercialization, yet is filled with tourists, many from Japan, riding rented bicycles and using rented kayaks after getting off tour buses parked in Kailua town. Weddings and wedding photography on the beach itself — which is regulated by the state, not the city — is relatively unobtrusive. (The use of buzzy commercial drones is another matter).

The Honolulu Film Office regulates commercial filming through a permitting process, and can ensure that commercial filming, including by wedding planners, operates in a way that does not interfere with the public’s right to enjoy the beach park.

Nonetheless, the primary issue is ensuring that the public beach parks remain fully accessible to the public, and are not co-opted by commercial enterprises. As Anderson pointed out, it mainly comes down to tour bus stops, a sore point in the community. Space in parking lots and rights-of-way can’t be taken over by tour buses, kayak rental trailers, large commercial trucks and the like. The current rule allows tour buses to stop for 15 minutes, but Anderson said he has heard complaints that tour companies routinely abuse this privilege, ignoring the limit until someone complains.

A ban on such commercial stops is not unreasonable for beach parks ill-equipped to handle the increased load. Such a ban reflects a primary principle: The beaches in Hawaii are public beaches belonging to all, and cannot be bought, even temporarily, for private commercial purposes. Blocking access to beach parking should be considered the equivalent of blocking access to the beach.

This principle is reflected in Bill 8 as well as in state regulations. The bill contains a proviso that says, “The public will not be unduly inconvenienced or deprived of the use of the park or beach during commercial filming activities.”

Likewise, the state’s rules say that an applicant for a commercial license to use a public beach “shall not engage in any activity that may obstruct, impede, or interfere with the public use of the surrounding area or any public access to the area.”

Included in the rules are a long list of prohibited items, from tarps to signage to arches.

The committee is expected revisit Bill 8 in January. A reasonable compromise is preferred — except, of course, when it comes to public access.