Illegal land grabs claimed
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward OÎahu Writer
KAILUA — Morning glories, beach grass and naupaka line the shore of Kailua Beach, adding touches of green to the buff and-blue landscape. But aggressive watering of these patches by some homeowners is causing plants to spread and reduce the amount of beach in public use.
The landscape has spread so much in one location that residents of the adjoining lot filed for an application of accretion, essentially seeking to add the land under the greenery to their property.
The state surveyor did not recommend the application to the land court, which makes the final decision, but the application and aggressive watering has residents and public officials concerned about losing public use of the beaches.
"The public is being robbed," said Karen Simmons, who became aware of the accretion application when surveyors appeared at the beach near her home to survey her neighbor's property.
Simmons complained to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources in September 2000 about people extending their beachfront property by putting morning glory vines in the sand and watering them. In two areas, naupaka shoots have been planted, and one neighbor added as much as 2,000 square feet of vegetation, she said.
It all adds up to illegal taking of public beach, which carries a maximum fine of $2,000, said Sam Lemmo, DLNR coastal lands program manager. People can apply for a permit to plant in the state conservation shoreline, which is generally the highest wash of the wave, but Lemmo said most plantings are not in the public interest.
The public has "a right to access and use these areas, and we have to protect those rights to the best of our ability, so we try to discourage that type of practice," he said.
State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-49th (Kailua, Kane'ohe Bay Drive), said she would introduce bills to address the issues, including one that requires people filing for accretion claims to list the applications in the Office of Environmental Quality Control bulletin. The state bulletin listing actions that impact the environment is used as a means of public notification.
Thielen also wants to develop a bill that addresses planting on the beach.
"We want to prevent people from putting sprinklers into public land, have vegetation grow in that public land and then claim the land as their own," Thielen said.
Along the Kailua Bay shoreline, about a dozen spots appear to be irrigated, and beach plants have spread to the high-water mark on the shore, said Chip Fletcher, a recognized authority on coastal processes and a Kailua Neighborhood Board member.
"At high tide you can't walk on the dry sand anymore," said Fletcher, a geology and geophysics professor at the University of Hawai'i. "Plus, the vegetation gives the appearance of private property, so the public doesn't know where they have an easement."
In August, before the accretion application, the Kailua Neighborhood Board asked the DLNR to investigate that resident's property and another nearby for artificially promoting vegetation.
Fletcher said beachfront owners may want to promote vegetation for several reasons, including keeping people away from their property, stabilizing the beach, increasing their property or influencing the shoreline.
Some beach property owners said they water the plants to keep them green. While the plants may spread, they said, nature and the ocean will determine how long they exist, because salt water will kill the plants.
Jennie Phillips, who has lived on Kailua Beach for 39 years, has seen the ocean give and take from her property many times. She said she waters the vines to keep them green and prevent sand from flying into her yard. With the variation in ocean tides, she said she's not sure how much of an impact people can have on what grows on the beach.
"I don't think the vegetation line is at all affected by the people that live along here," Phillips said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
