Beachfront property owners and conservation advocates across Hawaiʻi are being asked to weigh in on proposed amendments to the state's shoreline and conservation land rules.
What the Proposed Rules Would Change
The Hawaiʻi DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands submitted the proposed amendments to Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules Chapter 13-5, which governs roughly two million acres of public and private conservation land statewide, including beach and marine areas and access, according to KHON2. The draft amendments would revise the department's rules for conservation lands.
The changes would also overhaul rules for shoreline hardening and clarify regulations for restoring existing structures, according to the station's report. Officials say the amendments aim to strengthen conservation criteria while simultaneously simplifying permits for minor activities, addressing coastal hazards and erosion, and streamlining provisions for restoring loko iʻa, the ancient Native Hawaiian fishponds found throughout the islands.
Beach Restoration and Fishpond Provisions
Beyond setbacks, the proposed revisions to Chapter 13-5's Small Scale Beach Restoration program would regulate previously unpermitted maintenance practices like sand pushing and sand backpassing, while adding mandatory cultural impact assessments and community engagement requirements for restoration projects, per the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The rulemaking also formally codifies permit streamlining for loko iʻa restoration, building on the Board of Land and Natural Resources' creation of the Hoʻāla Loko Iʻa Program back in June 2014 to simplify the tangle of state and federal permits facing community groups rebuilding traditional fishponds.
The proposed update would amend HAR Chapter 13-5, which governs conservation land.
The Erosion Numbers Behind the Rulemaking
A joint benchmark study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Hawaiʻi found that 70 percent of sandy beaches on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, and Maui are experiencing long-term chronic erosion, with more than 13 miles of beach completely lost to erosion over the past century, nearly all of it previously fronting seawalls, according to University of Hawaiʻi News. Separate University of Hawaiʻi coastal research published in 2020 estimated that up to 40 percent of Oʻahu's sandy beaches could disappear by mid-century due to shoreline hardening, and that 51.5 percent of sandy shorelines will be hardened or are at risk of hardening, as reported by Seaside Sustainability.
That erosion data builds on Act 16, enacted in 2020, which tightened shoreline-hardening rules and restricted structures such as seawalls and revetments at beaches, according to a bill text hosted by LegiScan. Hoodline has covered local fights over illegal seawalls cutting off beach access under those same Act 16 provisions on Oʻahu's North Shore. A University of Hawaiʻi study also found that 85 percent of Maui beaches were eroding.
How to Comment and Attend Hearings
Eight public hearings are scheduled across Maui, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi and Molokaʻi, running from October 28 through November 19, per KHON2's reporting. Ahead of those hearings, DLNR said it will hold a public informational briefing on the proposed changes on October 21 at 5 p.m. at the Kalanimoku Building in Honolulu, with the session also available online via Zoom, to explain the reasoning behind the changes before testimony begins.
Written comments can be emailed to [email protected], while mailed comments must be postmarked by November 30 and sent to the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, P.O. Box 621, Honolulu, HI 96809. Residents with disabilities who need accommodations can contact the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands at 808-587-0377, though requests must be made at least four days before the relevant hearing. DLNR has posted the full proposed amendments, hearing dates and locations, and Zoom details online for residents who want to review the rules before weighing in.
