Protect access to Waikiki shore

The beach at Waikiki, famous around the world and visited by millions, isn’t much of a beach — literally.

Crowded between concrete walls, hotels and persistent erosion, Waikiki Beach has been shrinking for years, to the consternation of the public and property owners alike.

It was shrinking in the late 1920s, when the territorial governor, Wallace Rider Farrington, signed legislation and reached an agreement with adjacent property owners to rebuild the beach.

It is shrinking now, even as a new agreement to limit the use of commercial equipment on the beach has been reached.

But between 1927, when Farrington signed Act 273, and today, one thing has remained constant — the affirmation of the general public’s right to access.

Act 273 required that 75 feet shoreward of the high-water mark be open to the general public; related beach-improvement laws in 1963 and 1964 reiterated that requirement, according to a new report by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). And a 1968 Hawaii Supreme Court decision enshrined beach access as a right considered all but sacred today.

It’s in that context that the new Waikiki Beach Recreational Use Guidelines, which went into effect in November, should be judged.

The guidelines clarify the 1965 SurfRider-Royal Hawaiian Sector Beach Agreement that emerged from the 1960s laws. They were developed by a working group that included community associations, hotel managers, DLNR and vendors.

The guidelines prohibit storing or “presetting” of commercial beach equipment — umbrellas, chairs, watercraft and the like — on a narrow stretch of Waikiki Beach fronting the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the Moana Surfrider and the Outrigger Waikiki. The equipment must be rented by a named customer who is actively using it and removed when not in use.

It’s hoped that the guidelines, if faithfully followed, will create more precious beach space for the public.

It’s an ongoing concern.

“I’ve been complaining since 2013,” said Oahu resident Doug Meller.

The DLNR is responsible for enforcing the rules, but critics say it hasn’t done so effectively.

Deborah Ward, a DLNR spokeswoman, maintains that the new guidelines have helped.

“There are fewer beach chairs on the beach, and more passing space,” she said. “We also asked the vendors to clean up the things they were storing on the beach, including tubes, chairs, pedal boats, etc.”

That’s good to hear, but the fact that it happens at all — and Meller said it’s still happening, even with the guidelines — explains why vigilance and enforcement are necessary. After all, taking over Waikiki Beach for commercial purposes already is against the law. But the lure of profit can be irresistible, and not only in Waikiki.

With tourists arriving in record numbers and venturing all over our islands, Hawaii’s most popular beaches have become ground zero in the struggle between public access and private use.

A few years ago, in response to complaints, the Honolulu City Council passed restrictions on vendors flooding into certain beach parks, including Kailua Beach Park, taking over public parking spaces and park areas to cater to tourists.

It took considerable negotiation to ensure that the man-made lagoons fronting the resorts at Ko Olina would be accessible to the public. Still, hotel guests can be forgiven if they perceive the lagoons to be the private property of the hotels — beach chairs, waiting for guests, can be seen covering part of the lagoon beaches.

And other parts of Waikiki Beach are “a free-for-all in some places,” said Dolan Eversole, coordinator of the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association.

In Waikiki, at least, policymakers will have to revisit the Sisyphean task of building up the beach and controlling erosion. And now that the guidelines are clearer, DLNR will need to ensure that they are followed, and that valid complaints by a vigilant public are not ignored.