Reclaiming Kaanapali’s shoreline through $11M sand revitalization effort

The Kaanapali Beach Resort has struggled with shoreline erosion and beach loss for decades, having turned to such measures as steel plates and sand bags to protect its hotels from the ravages of storms and rising seas at different times over the years.

Now, with the beach half the size it was three decades ago and erosion only growing worse, the West Maui resort is looking to try a new solution: one of the largest beach restoration projects ever attempted in Hawaii.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Kaanapali resort are teaming up and sharing the cost of a $11 million-plus beach nourishment effort that officials hope will keep the rising tide of climate change at bay for up to 20 years.

A final environmental impact statement published Dec. 23 describes a project that would retrieve 75,000 cubic yards of sand that lies just offshore to restore the condition of a mile of Kaanapali Beach to the way it was in 1988.

State officials describe the project as a “nature-based” climate adaption measure and a mid-term solution that allows time to deal with the critical long-term issue of sea-level rise.

The project is one of three beach nourishment efforts along the West Maui coast in various stages of planning. The other two are at Kahana Bay and Napili Bay.

Tara Owens, a coastal processes and hazards specialist with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, said West Maui has some of the most vulnerable beaches in the state, owing to limited sand supply and seasonal waves hitting the shore from both the northern and southern directions.

With sea-level rise driving increasing erosion and wave impacts, she said, many beaches have narrowed considerably, and that’s a problem in locations where buildings, roads and infrastructure were built close to the shoreline.

“Narrower beaches reduce the natural buffering capacity along the shoreline,” Owens said. “And seasonal beach changes driven by prevailing wave conditions have become more noticeable and damaging.”

According to the Kaanapali EIS, the sand would be recovered from an 8.5-acre sand deposit located approximately 150 feet offshore of Puu Kekaa at the north end of the beach at a depth of 28 to 56 feet. The sand would be brought up by a moored crane barge equipped with a clamshell bucket, with barges rotating between the sand deposit and two off-loading sites where the vessels “would be moored to an elevated trestle or floating bridge to shore.”

“The sand would be transferred to shore along the trestle or bridge system. Land-based equipment would then transfer the sand from the shoreline to the placement area where crews would spread sand along the shoreline.”

The Kaanapali resort, Hawaii’s first planned resort, has been working toward restoring its beach since 2006, with the original cost estimated at $6.8 million, according to Wayne Hedani, president and general manager of the Kaanapali Operations Association, which manages the resort.

The plan, he said, was to split the cost with the state. The state’s financial contribution was eventually approved by the state Legislature in 2013. But various delays on the state side brought the project to where it is now — at over $11 million.

Hedani said the latest plan is for the resort to contribute $5.05 million and for the state to pick up the balance, whatever that ends up being.

“We told them we’re tapped out,” Hedani said.

For its part, the state justifies its contribution to the project in the EIS by saying, in part, “we believe that restoration of the beach environment is not only a worthwhile endeavor in terms of conserving the public trust beach, shoreline access, and coastal ecosystem but is also an attractive and rewarding investment in and for the community.”

The project, the document said, is also worthwhile because the resort and its hotels are major employers and significant contributors to the West Maui economy.

Gov. David Ige must now approve the final EIS, and DLNR’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands must obtain additional regulatory permits with the aim of starting the two-month project in October.

But storm clouds might be forming as a group of community members has vowed to do what it can to stop the effort.

“We will be there to oppose this every step of the way,” said Lahaina resident Kekai Keahi, a community activist and one of the leaders of the cultural group Kamalu O Kahalawai.

Keahi and others have argued the state shouldn’t be putting up so much taxpayer funds for the benefit of private companies.

More importantly, he said, the project will end up destroying the reef near Hana­kaoo Beach Park at the south end of the resort and ruining one of the best fishing grounds for nabeta and Kona crab when it scoops sand up from the sea floor off Puu Kekaa.

In addition, the new sand, he said, will end up interfering with canoe paddling and canoe racing at Hanakaoo park, also known as Canoe Beach.

“I can understand why the hotels would want to protect their investment, but at the expense of the environment?” Keahi said.

Hedani said he believes the greater population of West Maui supports the project, and those opposed are in the minority and using social media to spread misinformation.

“It’s mind-boggling,” He­dani said. “I can’t imagine why they would be opposed.”

He said those speaking against it “don’t care about science.”

“You try to explain that it won’t affect the reef, that it will save the coral by preventing soil from washing into the ocean. It doesn’t matter to them,” Hedani said.

The resort, he said, could have pursued the restoration of a larger beach but decided to go no further than what it was in 1988 because that will not have an impact on the reef.

The EIS says the project will not cause adverse effects and is designed to minimize the impact to the environment using sand that previously sat on the same beach.

As for the use of public funds, Hedani said the money is coming from a hotel tax established in 2013 to help restore natural resources.

“So, in essence, the industry is funding the project,” he said.

During public hearings and in public comments on the EIS, a number of Maui residents and a handful of nonprofit groups — from the West Maui Preservation Association to the Sierra Club Maui Group — suggested that beach restoration wasn’t the best option for preserving the shore, at least by itself.

In her EIS comments, Lauren Bickley, Hawaii regional manager of the Surfrider Foundation, urged a more holistic plan that includes detail about how the resort plans to move its public boardwalk and hotels farther from the ocean.

Chronic erosion and sea-level rise is a problem that is not going away, she said.

“To propose that a one-time sand renourishment project will mitigate either of these issues for the long term is short-sighted and provides a false sense of security,” Bickley wrote.

UH climate researcher Chip Fletcher agrees, telling the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that beach nourishment should never be a one-off exercise. Rather, it should be embedded within a larger plan that acknowledges the reality of sea-level rise and the likelihood levels will rise by 3 feet or more by century’s end.

“Engaging in denial is not a very good strategy,” he said.

“My personal point of view is that Kaanapali is lucky to have so much space mauka,” Fletcher said, noting the resort’s golf courses occupy much of the space on the other side of the strip of beachfront hotels. “I can envision a design that could engineer a very thoughtful relocation of the physical footprint.”

But Hedani said the resort is just trying to get through the immediate process. “Managed retreat” is something to consider, he said, but a feasible long-term solution has yet to emerge.

“It will take hundreds of millions of dollars in investment,” Hedani said.

Lahaina resident Michalei Tancayo said she knows many folks who use the waters off Kaanapali to put food on the table for their families. She said the beach nourishment plan may save the resort for a while, but there’s a real chance it could ruin the nearshore waters.

“Don’t play Mother Nature,” Tancayo said. “It’s not a solution. Go back to the drawing table. Go ahead and find another solution.”