On Sat., April 19, KITV aired a news report about naupaka and vegetation from oceanfront homes blocking beach access in Kahala. This has become an increasing problem all over the islands. In Kailua, vegetation extends over 50 feet from some properties. But because the beach is still fairly wide in those areas, people tend not to notice this sneaky land grab.
Here's the KITV link to the video report.
But take a look at this excerpt below, and explain to me why isn't the State fining these people?
Sam Lemmo, the state's coastal land administrator, pointed out many Kahala areas where residents' bushes have pushed too far.
"What you call inducing vegetation to grow out onto the public beaches -- sometimes people are going out and planting and fertilizing and then watering. We catch them and tell them not to do that," Lemmo said.
The WKNB said it will invite beach-front landowners with overgrown hedges to its meeting in May to meet with Lemmo. "We are simply trying to raise awareness about the impact of this on our public beaches and seeking people's cooperation to cut it back," Lemmo said.
The state said it hasn't decided yet what to do if the Kahala residents refuse to cut back their overgrown beach vegetation.
Huh? If they refuse to cut back, enforce the law and FINE them. They are perfectly aware of what they are doing. Enough talk. Take action!
2 comments:
Help me with this concept. Isn't the beach front land owner's seaward property boundry at the highest reach of the highest wash of the waves during normal (not storm) surf? If so, then what is public is not what is in sand, but is what is covered by the aforementioned definition. So, the vegitation line is now moot. the owner can grow anything he or she likes as long as it doesn't go further seaward than the highest wash of the waves. Everything mauka of that is private, not public, property; sand or no sand. Isn't that correct?
See - Diamond v. State, 2006 Haw. LEXIS 559 (Haw. Oct. 24, 2006)
Manawai -
I'm not sure about the legal property boundaries, so I've sent an email to a UH law extern and the litigation manager for the national Surfrider Foundation, who is assisting us with legal help on beach access issues. Will post response when I get more info.
However, I'm pretty sure they can NOT let vegetation grow all the way to the high water mark -- if you looked at the video, you can see some homeowners are letting naupaka grow all the way to the water. In Kailua, at the north end there are oceanfront homes where there is no beach at all -- just rocks. But they are growing naupaka that restricts lateral access along the rocky shoreline, which is illegal.
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