Public shoreline access issue stirring in Wailupe

For nearly 75 years, a fairly secluded aquatic recreation area has existed around much of an East Oahu community where an ancient fishpond once stood.

This 15-foot-wide channel, dredged out of a shallow reef ringing much of the Wailupe Peninsula, is ideal for swimming, and though it isn’t exclusively for use by the neighborhood’s roughly 120 homeowners, easy access to it is.

Three gated and locked routes to the channel from the public sidewalk along Wailupe Circle within the subdivision — two walkways and a boat launch — provide such access and for many years have bugged some people who don’t live in the community where homes have sold for as much as $8 million.

Recently, there’s been elevated interest to improve public access to the channel and shoreline area, which is also a spot for fishing and makes for a shorter journey by surfers to reach a few popular surf breaks.

Ann Marie Kirk, a shoreline access advocate with the nonprofit Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, said general interest in enhancing public access to the Wailupe Peninsula waterfront rose as the organization was in a final push to help open a locked, private pathway to the ocean in the nearby community of Portlock, which the city achieved through contested condemnation litigation in May after years of effort.

“The locked gates at Wailupe have upset ocean users on the East side for many years,” Kirk said in an email. “I think seeing (how) the community prevailed at Portlock might help other communities with their access issues.”

The principle of public shoreline access is enshrined in state and county regulations, though some circumstances in Portlock and Wailupe differ.

For one, the Portlock path was the only reasonable way to reach a small sandy beach.

At Wailupe, the public can reach the channel by crossing about 300 feet of shallow reef fronting a small beach park off Kalanianaole Highway on the Diamond Head side of the peninsula, or through a shorter distance of rocky nearshore water on the other side of the peninsula at the end of a long utility easement path that follows an underground storm drainpipe makai of West Hind Drive.

A similarity also exists between Wailupe Peninsula and Portlock in that both communities were created before county regulations required subdivision developers to provide public shoreline access.

Still, some ocean users see the locked Wailupe pathways as a convenience they wish they could use along with homeowners on the peninsula, which is a little over a quarter-mile wide.

“It would be easier for me to just jump off the (peninsula’s seawall) and make a short swim,” said Koel Maruami, an urban Honolulu resident who typically goes spearfishing beyond breaking surf off the peninsula about three times a month.

Maruami said that about a year ago he asked someone in the neighborhood if he could use one of the gated pathways and was told no. So he wades out through the shallow water off Wailupe Beach Park until it gets deep enough to start a longer swim to his fishing spots.

Some pole fishermen also complain about Wailupe Peninsula homeowners having piers, which extend over submerged public lands, off limits to public use.

Though Wailupe’s shoreline is unique, frustration over public access is a broader issue along the coastline between Kahala and Portlock. The city’s East Honolulu Sustainable Communities Plan notes that physical and visual shoreline access is limited because of “rather continuous residential development.”

Jeff Prostor, president of the Wailupe Peninsula Community Association, said he was not prepared to immediately comment on any interest to expand public shoreline access.

The association for many years has maintained written rules for use of an association-owned boat launch and a pier reserved for residents and guests accompanied by residents, with fishing limited to one hour from the community pier at the end of one of the locked gateways.

Gates to the ocean accesses also are well-protected with overhead fencing in one instance — and another instance of barbed wire that had to be removed recently — along with signs stating the shoreline access points are private property.

City Councilmember Tommy Waters, whose district includes Wailupe, said through a spokesperson that constituents have been contacting him about the issue and he is researching the subject.

One person who recently urged Waters to get involved is Karyn Herrmann, a longtime East Oahu resident who took offense at the exclusion while walking through the neighborhood with a friend in June.

Herrmann, a 69-year-old retired dive instructor and elementary school teacher, said she wandered into the boat launch while it was being used and was aggressively confronted by someone who informed her the area was open only to Wailupe Peninsula residents.

“I thought, ‘Can they really do that?’” Herrmann said. “We just wanted to walk down and see what was at the other end.”

The trench in the reef at the end of the boat ramp was a product of creating the subdivision, and produced what has been described in marketing materials to homebuyers as a swimming, fishing and boating amenity.

Hawaiian Dredging Co. developed the community in 1947 by filling in a fishpond it owned on the 44-acre site with 495,000 cubic yards of coral excavated from the reef just beyond most of the fishpond’s outer edge.

To get its floating dredging machine to the area, the company also dug an entrance channel from deeper water, which allows homeowners to take boats out through the surf line.

Of all the residences, about 30 are along the seawall, and many oceanfront homes have piers extending over a shallow reef shelf to the edge of the trench.

A series of state laws govern whether the piers over submerged public land are restricted for private use, which has been a misunderstood and aggravating issue between some members of the public and homeowners.

According to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, 21 piers on the peninsula are subject to different rules depending on when they were permitted and when certain state laws were enacted.

Of the 21, 18 are not subject to public use. Two must permit the public to cross over the pier from public property. Only one must permit public use with a sign indicating so, but only if the owner uses the pier for sunbathing or swimming.

Three homeowners also have their own seawall/boat ramp, which the public may cross from public property, according to DLNR. The same condition applies to the boat ramp owned collectively by the community.

Herrmann said all the public limitations to reach the waterfront don’t seem fair.

“It just seems like they gave us the worst public access,” she said.