Owner of home that fell onto beach could face big fine

The owner of a North Shore property is facing hundreds of dollars in daily fines after his house collapsed onto the beach at Rocky Point in the early morning hours of Feb. 28 as heavy surf pounded the shoreline.

The owner, with the help of a contractor, pulled the home off the beach and stacked it atop pallets next to the lot’s main house, where it has awkwardly remained for weeks.

The work was done without the required permits, according to Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting, which says that the house at 59-181-H Ke Nui Road needs to be removed within the next month and related repairs stopped, or the owner could be fined as much as $300 a day on top of an initial fine of up to $1,150.

“We initially allowed the owner to recover the structure from the beach because of the hazards it presented, not only to the public, but also to the environment,” according to a statement from DPP. “But that was with the understanding that the owner would take proper actions to ensure that the structure complied with all building and land use codes.”

On Friday, DPP issued two notices of violation to the Annie L. Guerrero Trust for unauthorized work in the shoreline area and failure to obtain required permits, including a building permit and special management area permit.

“The structure has been jacked up and reposted on beams, which continues to present a hazard. A portion of the structure also overlaps the primary dwelling unit, which is not allowed,” said DPP. “The structure, in its current location, is not allowed.”

DPP says the owner must remove the house from the lot within 30 days of the violation notices or face civil fines.

Francis Guerrero, who lives in Honolulu, told the Star-Advertiser that his mother had purchased the house in 1946 when he was a young boy. He said he had not seen the notices of violation and declined to discuss his plans for the house.

Guerrero said that for dec­ades the sand in front of his North Shore property has gone away in the winter and come back in the summer. “I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal about the sand going away,” he said. Guerrero said the government should be helping beachfront property owners save their homes, not fining them.

“The movement of sand is an annual thing. It’s not new. It’s not special,” he said.

But government officials have been warning beachfront property owners, particularly along this stretch of coastline, that their homes are increasingly at risk from sea level rise, changing weather patterns and stronger storms brought on by climate change. The area around Rocky Point, where surfers paddle out to popular surf breaks, has resembled a demolition site in recent years with property owners, often illegally, installing massive sandbags, black tarps and boulders along the public beach to try to save their homes.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which is responsible for protecting Hawaii’s public shorelines, sent a letter to the Annie L. Guerrero Trust on Feb. 4, just weeks before the house collapsed, warning that the structure was at risk of falling onto the beach. Despite the safety hazard that it posed along this popular beach, no action was taken to try to remove the house.

The tenant who was occupying the property evacuated just hours before the home went lurching toward the ocean in the middle of the night.