Editorial: Public’s interest outweighs hotel’s

With a few exceptions in place to accommodate the federal government, all beaches in Hawaii are open to the public. For many residents, the legal right is a point of pride, with the shoreline — stretching to the upper reaches of the wash of waves at high tide during the season with the highest wash — belonging to no one and everyone.

But in a situation involving a strip of beach and a grassy parcel edging Kahala Hotel &Resort, the state — tasked with serving as a trustee of these public resources — is falling short of its fiduciary responsibility.

The hotel’s current owner, Resorttrust Hawaii LLC., is petitioning the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to renew and amend a long-standing revocable permit the property has used — under various ownership for decades — that utilize portions of public land for commercial purposes.

The BLNR should use Resorttrust’s petition as opportunity to correct irregularities and clarify terms of the permit issued for the South Shore property, situated east of Diamond Head.

In the 1960s, when the hotel was taking shape adjacent to a mudflat, its developers secured permission from the state to dredge a swimming lagoon to create a beach. The dredging fill became the grassy parcel. They also secured a month-to-month permit that allows maintenance of both as well as use for recreational purposes.

While it’s clear that maintenance means upkeep, more or less, clearing debris and landscaping, what qualifies as recreational use needs to be clarified.

Due to an apparent combination of passive state oversight and imprecise permit terms, under the heading of recreation, in addition to uses such as surfing and canoeing activities, the hotel has a seating area for its poolside snack bar and gazebos on public land.

Following complaints from groups opposed to using the beach for commercial purposes, the state has rightly nixed gazebo placement. Two former fixtures — used by the hotel to stage weddings and corporate events — were ousted from patches of lawn on state-ceded land about a year ago. The Seaside Grill and bar seating area, which the hotel views as recreation, remains.

Resorttrust now wants to renew its permit in a manner that gives an OK to continue current uses — and further, to specify that the hotel can keep some 40 items, ranging from cabanas and beach chairs to canoes and storage, in the public area, as has been the case for decades. It’s also seeking new permits to stage group events on public land.

The matter is slated to go before the state land board at its Sept. 14 meeting.

In response, a grassroots hui that includes the Sierra Club, Hawaii’s 1000 Friends, Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, The Surf­rider Foundation and the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board is rightly sounding an alarm. Before signing off on anything, the BLNR should hit the brakes and take a hard look at the permit process, which is failing to help the state manage its assets as it should.

The Kahala now pays less than $1,300 per month for its revocable permit, which pertains to nearly an acre of prime beachfront state land. When weighed with the hotel’s fees for use of beach chairs and cabanas on public land as well as restaurant revenue — not to mention years past in which advertised rates for weddings in gazebos on public land started at $7,000 — the hotel has scored an absurdly deep discount from the state for five decades.

The resort has acknowledged that it “want(s) to pay a fair price; in the past it was minimal.” It surely must do so — but first, the state would need to justify the grandfathering of commercialism on the public shoreline and clarify such usage, devise a competitive market rate and ramp up enforcement of set terms.

On this shore and elsewhere, the BLNR needs to step up vigilance in defense of Hawaii’s visionary shoreline use/access law.