Waikiki stakeholders want Gov. David Ige to issue emergency declaration designating Kawehewehe Beach a disaster area

Two visitors from Switzerland traversed a public walkway hugging a stretch of the Waikiki shoreline Wednesday as waves rose high enough to spill onto its fragmented and hard-to-navigate pieces at Kawehewehe Beach.

“We thought we’d gone the wrong way,” said Melinda Pinto of St. Moritz, Switzerland, who was traveling with Adriano Coretti. “It would be easier if there was a path that you could walk on from the beginning.”

The pair, who came to Hawaii to kite surf and enjoy the beaches, fared better than others around them. Nearby a rogue wave kept a man from advancing or retreating, dousing him with seawater clear up to his head.

The city’s public beach path, between the Halekulani Hotel and the Outrigger Reef, is boarded up, but there’s nothing to stop beachgoers from walking along the disappearing shoreline, where they risk encountering potential hazards.

Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association and the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association, has asked Gov. David Ige to issue an emergency declaration designating Kawehewehe Beach as a disaster area.

“Severe and continued coastal erosion of Kawehewehe Beach has become a public health hazard,” said Egged, who cut his leg while crawling up the sharp edges of broken oceanfront sidewalk as he escorted the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on a Wednesday tour of the area.

Dolan Eversole, Waikiki Beach management coordinator for WBSIDA, said for decades now narrow Kawehewehe Beach and the surrounding areas have been subject to high tide flooding, wave over-topping and chronic erosion.

Eversole, who is also a coastal management specialist at the University of Hawaii Sea Grant, said elevated water levels since the 2017 king tides tripped Kawehewehe Beach into a more erosional state. He said the situation became critical midsummer when a section of the city public right of way — approximately 12 feet to 15 feet in length — collapsed.

He noted the buckling has impeded public access to a portion of the beach historically known for healing waters due to the fresh spring water that runs through a channel there.

Eversole said the erosion surrounding Kawehewehe Beach affects a broad area, including about 600 feet of shoreline, which encompasses the Halekulani Hotel, Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort and the Fort DeRussy groin.

Another reason that WBSIDA sounded the alarm to the governor is that waves are hitting the Outrigger Reef’s foundation.

Eversole said the hotel isn’t under immediate threat. But he added, “everybody’s concerned by the fact that there isn’t … a seawall there and the waves are directly impacting the foundation of the building. Not only is that bad for the beach, it’s not good for the structural integrity of the building itself.”

Egged said WBSIDA sent Ige a letter in late October asking for assistance in “expediting a planned beach improvement project for this region that will stabilize this area and provide for safe lateral public access through this important beach corridor.”

Copies of the letter were sent to state Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Suzanne Case, state Sen. Sharon Moriwaki (D-Kakaako-McCully- Waikiki) and Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi told the Star-Advertiser on Monday that he supports the effort to shore up Waikiki’s beaches, especially in areas that are the most affected by sea-level rise and where cement walks are broken.

“Look, from the standpoint of what’s good for the community and what’s good for our business, absolutely,” Blangiardi said. “Waikiki is the economic engine in the state and we want to make it as beautiful as possible (and) as safe as possible.”

Eversole said Hawaii’s Legislature already has appropriated $12 million in 2019 toward Waikiki Beach improvements and that WBSIDA has committed to contributing $3 million of the total. That’s enough funding to cover the cost of installing about five new erosion-blocking groins, which would edge Waikiki beaches, with construction spanning about five years.

A draft of the vision for a longer-term solution can be found online at 808ne.ws/WaikikiBeachplan. The plan focuses on improving the Fort DeRussy, Halekulani, Royal Hawaiian and Kuhio Beach shores so they are more resilient to coastal hazards and sea level rise. Also, the plan aims to produce better public shoreline access.

Created by a city ordinance in 2015, WBSIDA includes commercial property owners who pay an annual tax to the public-private partnership, with that revenue reserved for various beach upgrades and related surveys and maintenance. The district stretches from Ala Wai Harbor to Kaimana Beach and mauka to the Ala Wai Canal.

Eversole said WBSIDA is concerned that work at Kawehewehe Beach, which is part of the overall beach management plan, cannot wait until the lengthy approvals process for all projects is completed. “If the governor was to declare an emergency things could happen quicker,” he said.

Ige’s spokeswoman Jodi Leong said in an email to the Star-Advertiser this week that “the governor is in Scotland at the COP26 Climate Change conference and will not be able to immediately comment.” However, she added that such requests for a disaster area declaration normally come through the county first.

Eversole said WBSIDA wrote the letter to Ige to draw attention to a critical issue, and will continue to work with DLNR, Honolulu Hale and Waikiki stakeholders to address the growing concerns.

The special improvement district association, in tandem with DLNR, is developing a reduced-scope project that could be implemented as the first phase of the larger stabilization plan. He said a focus might be on completing the two Ewa-most structures in the proposed plan, which include a 200-foot long rock groin and spur adjacent to the Fort DeRussy groin and a single 200-foot long rock T-head groin.

Sean P. Dee, Outrigger Hospitality Group’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said while there’s currently limited beach access to Kawehewehe Beach from the public walkway on Kalia Road, the seawall has collapsed between the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort and the Halekulani Hotel, rendering that right of way unusable.

“This is a public safety issue affecting both residents and visitors as well as local small businesses like Holokai Catamaran,” Dee said. “We support the long-term beach improvements planned for the entire area but feel we need to act urgently on this dangerous situation. It is hoped that a smaller project can be prioritized and expedited by declaring this a public emergency,” he said, adding that the hospitality group also supports WBSIDA’s letter to the governor.

Waikiki Neighborhood Board chairman Bob Finley said he’s in favor of expediting these Ewa improvements, which he believes will protect the shoreline and serve as proof to critics that other elements in the master plan could effectively address the problem.

“Take any project in the state of Hawaii and you’ll have opposition,” Finely said. “This is a good project. It will help build support for the master plan, which is important. I really think the future of beach erosion in Waikiki will hang on how successful the master plan is.”

Egged said in the past two years ocean waters have overtaken a large portion of the sandy shore at Kawehe­wehe Beach. “Waikiki beaches are a major visitor attraction. They are a source of enjoyment for residents and an important economic hub for the entire state. We need to protect them,” he said.

Visitors Pinto and Coretti said the allure of beautiful beaches, including Waikiki, was the main reason they planned a three-month stay on Oahu and Maui.

“Our journey was over 30 hours by plane,” Coretti said. “Of course, it was worth it.” Pinto quickly agreed, responding: “110%. The beach is beautiful, yes?”