Ban on gear at Kaanapali Beach proposed

Land board to take up recommendation

By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer
Hotel cabanas, surf school gear, kiosks and other equipment and materials used by commercial activity providers would be banned from Kaanapali Beach under a recommendation to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting in Honolulu on Friday.

The submittal by the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation calls for commercial use permits to be reissued to existing activity providers, but would prohibit them from setting up equipment, umbrellas or stands to greet customers on the beach. Hotel cabanas, beach chairs and similar commercial furnishings would also be banned.

“Due to the amount of commercial activities occurring on Kaanapali Beach and in order to not impede the public’s use of the beach, these activities on the beach should not be allowed,” said a report submitted to the board by DOBOR Administrator Edward Underwood.

The board is meeting at 9 a.m. in the land board conference room in Honolulu.

The DOBOR submittal to the board would reissue 33 commercial activity permits for operations in the waters off the West Maui beach — but with additional conditions requiring activities providers to apply for one-year addendums to their permits authorizing them to load and unload passengers on the beach to be shuttled to the offshore activities.

Five years ago, the state began requiring ocean activity businesses on Kaanapali Beach to get permits after residents at the resort and other beach users complained about the clutter of rental gear, storage containers and activities stations set up on the shoreline.

The Kaanapali Beach Operators Association initiated a legal action in 2001 over ocean activities businesses soliciting customers on the beach.

While the land board was reviewing a rule to require permits for commercial activities on the beach in 2003, three owners of condominium units at the Whaler at Kaanapali filed another civil suit against one beach activities operator who had set up a tent for his business on the beach fronting the condominium.

In June 2003, the board approved a rule to require conservation use permits and also requiring activities operators to remove all of their gear from the public beach daily.

The action sought to reduce some of the clutter of gear on the beach. The permits are subject to approval by the land board.

At the time, the attorney representing the condominium owners noted that the public would be able to comment on applications to renew the commercial activities permits in the waters off Kaanapali Beach.

The submittal to the board meeting Friday recommends that all commercial use permits at Kaanapali be granted for one year at a time

Also Friday, the BLNR will discuss possible enforcement action against two Maui landowners who allegedly performed unauthorized work on the public shoreline near their properties.

The Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands is proposing a $2,500 fine for Haiku resident Frederick Honig, who it says, installed concrete, cables, ropes and anchors, and made cuts into the cliff makai of his property in Haiku. The shoreline cliff is state conservation land.

Honig, who operates Kealii Nui Botanical Gardens on Haumana Road, declined to comment.

In a letter responding to a DLNR warning, he wrote that he had a “right of access to the shoreline,” and that the work was “in keeping with the maintenance and repair of the ancient trail that was there.”

OCCL is also seeking a $1,000 fine for Makena landowner Sara Dodge, who allegedly constructed a rock wall and planter on a sandy beach near her property. Dodge, who lives in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., could not be reached for comment.

OCCL is also asking for Honig and Dodge to remove their work from the shoreline area.

• Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.