Public has until July 23 to comment on proposed Waikiki Beach improvement plan

For the Hawaiian people, Waikiki was “a land beloved” for its streams and springs, its kalo loi and coconut groves, the fish in its ocean and fishponds, and “its excellent surf,” reports a draft environmental impact statement for the state’s proposal to further develop a shoreline that has been hardened by sea walls and groins since the early 20th century.

The draft EIS released last week supports a $12 million Waikiki Beach Improvement and Maintenance Program, proposed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources in partnership with the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association, for the coastline from the Kapahulu Groin to the Ewa end of Fort DeRussy Beach.

The public has until July 23 to comment on the proposal that, supporters say, is needed to save the hotels and beach sands of Waikiki from coastal erosion due to the wash of the waves, exacerbated by sea level rise; some predict tourism revenues would shrink by more than $2.2 billion a year if Waikiki Beach were to disappear.

Critics fear the project could degrade Waikiki’s legendary surf, harm reef habitat for fish and foraging areas for endangered monk seals and green sea turtles, and destroy the graceful, haunting ambience at its heart, where ancient coconut trees mark the sites where Hawaiian chiefs once lived and freshwater streams and springs entered the sea.

Perhaps most controversial is the plan to build three, 200-foot-long, T-head groins and a 3.8-acre beach out over the reef from the sea wall fronting the Halekulani Resort, and to add spurs to the Royal Hawaiian and Fort DeRussy groins on either side for the equivalent of five, T-head groins, intended to extend the life of the proposed new beaches by trapping and slowing the erosion of their sands.

A dominant refrain throughout the document’s 1,100-some pages is that Waikiki’s shoreline is already “substantially engineered”, thus more engineering is not going to make significant impact to what remains of its native species, archaeological and cultural sites, and beauty.

The draft includes public comments received on the earlier, EIS public notice document, “as well as our responses to those comments,” said Sam Lemmo, administrator for DLNR’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

“Most respondents for (the Halekulani sector) liked the proposed actions, noting that they will create a new beach for Waikiki where one does not exist now,” the draft reports; currently the sector contains only two, seasonal slivers of beach, wedged against the sea wall.

But some commented the sand dredging and filling might affect the waves offshore of the Halekulani sea wall; in front of the Royal Hawaiian Resort, they said, sand from past beach nourishment projects has drifted into the surf zone and settled in and around Canoes, so that its former fast, steep, right-breaking wave “no longer breaks the same,” and “now the left is more like a windward Oahu beach break” rather than the clean, long, peeling waves Waikiki is prized for.

Others worried the T-faces of the groins would generate reflected waves “that will travel seaward into the surf breaks at Populars, Paradise, and Threes, disrupting the wave faces for surfers,” and argued “the original beaches here were seasonal, forming only during the winter and disappearing during the summer, and the groins would block the natural lateral movement of sand.”

However, based on benthic and bathymetry studies, the draft EIS concludes that backwash from the T-head groins will have little effect on currents or wave heights and shapes.

The document further says that none of the fish species observed in the sector are endangered or prized by fishermen, and concludes the improvements are “not anticipated to result in any significant long-term degradation of the environment or loss of habitat” but may actually create more and better fish habitat and surfaces for turtle-sustaining algae.

It acknowledges a common concern shared by all respondents is that public access to and along the shoreline be ensured.

However, although it lists maintaining public shoreline access, which is mandated by state law, as one of the project goals, the draft EIS fails to include plans for improving the severely eroded, wave-washed public walkway atop the sea wall, two stretches of which have been closed, or for making it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Cultural concerns were also expressed by commenters regarding possible disturbances to ancestral burials, fishing, limu gathering and the healing traditionally practiced in the shallows of Kawehewehe, now the Halekulani channel.

Commenters also protested further overdevelopment and urbanization, interrupted viewsheds and especially “the loss of a Hawaiian sense of place and the feel of old Waikiki.”

The draft EIS said best practices would be observed with regard to possible archaeological sites.

The document, prepared by Sea Engineering, which will be the contractor for the project if approved, estimates it will take 500 days to complete the first, engineering phase, which includes adding the groins and making a segmented breakwater at Kuhio Beach Ewa swim basin, pumping sand from the Kuhio Beach Diamond Head Basin, adding more sand periodically to the Royal Hawaiian Beach as well as fronting the Halekulani, and moving sand from the Ewa end of Fort DeRussy Beach to its eroded, Diamond Head end.

Overall, the draft EIS provides a rich resource of Waikiki history and marine science, including many photographs.

It can be read online at oeqc2.doh.hawaii.gov/DocLibrary/2021-06-08-OA-DEIS-Waikiki-Beach-Improvement- and-Maintenance-Program or in print at the Waikiki- Kapahulu library; comments should be emailed to waikiki@seaengineering.com by July 23.

There will also be a public meeting, to be announced, Lemmo said.