EDITORIAL
Maui taking big step in preserving beaches

It has long been obvious to anyone who looks that Hawai'i's beaches are disappearing. In too many places on our shoreline, waves now lap against concrete where they used to wash over white, sandy strands.

Considering the enormous value and significance of our beaches, it's amazing that this has been allowed to occur.

Indisputably, the sea level is rising. Property owners — many of whom were permitted to build too close to the shoreline in the first place — understandably try to protect their investments. They build sea walls, sometimes illegally, which succeed temporarily in armoring the coast and holding back the march of the sea. But in so doing, they assure the narrowing and eventual loss of the beach fronting their property.

The landowner's interest is obvious, but what about the broader public interest?

Maui County has taken a bold step aimed at preserving the public's interest in its beaches by proposing stricter setback rules. Understandably, these proposals have ignited a firestorm of protest from oceanfront landowners.

The current setback is 40 feet on most lots. Under the proposed rule, development would be limited to 20 feet from the shore plus 50 times the yearly erosion rate calculated for that site.

We wonder if the county has contemplated the full implication of this proposal. One homeowner complains that if his present home were to burn down, he wouldn't be able to rebuild at all on the lot under the new setback.

He's right, and that's where the county, or the state, must be prepared with a bundle of money. What's required is a revolving fund for land acquisition, to make property owners whole as erosion makes their land unsuitable for habitation.

The county or state could buy land in erosion hot spots, rezone it and resell it to developers under new rules that assure the least possible beach erosion.

Of course there's substantial emotion involved here. No one easily gives up a shorefront home.

As in many such difficult issues, it comes down to balancing equities — private ownership against public beach lands; past practice versus the long-term health of our shorelines.

These are never easy choices, but when the alternative is total loss of our beaches, preventing that outcome is a crucial public purpose.