HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Several Kaaawa residents who live in multi-generational homes along the shoreline agree there is a common misconception about them and their properties.
“We’re not rich, we just live here, rent here, our neighbors do own, they are not rich either, they’re elders,” said Rosemary Sablan. “So these are not rich people homes, we just happen to live by the beach.”
This week’s winter swells sent high surf across the islands, prompting closures of Hawaii Island beach parks and reigniting erosion concerns for homeowners on Oahu.
Sablan and others living in beachside properties say the state is stopping them from protecting their homes from damage they fear they cannot afford to repair.
Hawaii currently prohibits homeowners from altering the shoreline in any way to protect their properties.
“If they didn’t want anybody protecting their properties, the state should have stopped people from buying along the shoreline,” Sablan said. “They knew this problem was coming 25 years ago.”
Another beachside resident in Kaaawa, who wished to remain anonymous, said the enforcement seems inconsistent.
“It’s not fair because when you try to protect your property, they say you can’t,” the resident said. “But once they want to fix the road, they just fix that whole sideline by Kaaawa Beach park.”
Longtime resident on Oahu’s North Shore, Todd Dunphy, has racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in state fines by pushing sand in front of his home.
“It’s (Hawaii) the worst state for help as far as beach erosion goes,” Dunphy argued. “It’s a disaster.”
Chip Fletcher, dean of UH’s School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology, said hardening the shoreline with structures like seawalls and sand barriers actually leads to more erosion.
These protective measures stop sand from moving freely across the coastline, disrupting natural processes that help maintain beaches.
“The solution right now is to get out,” Fletcher told oceanside residents.
To move people farther back from eroding shorelines, Fletcher suggested county and state leaders should build funding sources to buy oceanfront land and engage in property trades.
“That sort of discussion needs to be picked up again, and various types of funding mechanisms need to be envisioned by both county and state levels,” Fletcher said. “These properties need an exit strategy of some sort.”
However, residents like Dunphy remain determined to stay put rather than relocate.
In response to residents’ concerns, the Department of Land and Natural Resources said, “Seawalls damage beaches. The State legislature recognized this in 2020 when they passed Act 16, which prohibits the construction of private shoreline hardening structures on parcels with sandy beaches.”
More information on Act 16 is available here.
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