Posted on: Thursday, September 23, 2004
BUREAUCRACY BUSTER
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By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kailua resident Wainani Tomich this year found a new obstacle to beach access: homeowners who plant trees in roadway shoulders in residential areas such as Lanikai.
Tomich, who grew up in Kailua, moved back to the community last year, eager to take her children to the beach in Lanikai. She was surprised to find landscaping, trees and rocks blocking what she thought were public areas.
"If you go there anytime after 4 o'clock in the afternoon, you're hard-pressed to find any parking near the beach access," she said. "They're trying to deter people from parking in Kailua, especially along the beach streets."
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser She wrote to Bureaucracy Buster to find out if that's legal. City planning officials said sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't.
Weston Wataru, service engineer for the city Department of Planning and Permitting, said "that's a pretty common complaint."
He said homeowners whose properties front on a public street have a "sidewalk area" between the legal property line and where the pavement or curb begins, even if that area is not marked or paved. In general, that means walls, trees and shrubs in that area are prohibited by city ordinance.
He said the unimproved sidewalk areas are generally about 8 feet wide but can vary. Wataru said owners in some cases can get permission to plant or build there, but they must submit a written request and pay $100 to get authorization for walls and landscaping in that area.
Officials from the city Department of Planning and Permitting explain that properties along public roadways have a "sidewalk area" between the homeowners' property line and the pavement or curb, even if that area is not marked or paved. Property owners who wish to build walls, plant trees or shrubs in that area need to get permission by submitting a written request to the city and paying a $100 fee. Officials said people who suspect that owners are improperly encroaching into that area should call residential code enforcement branch at 527-6308. Wataru and Correa acknowledge that parking also is not permitted in what's considered a sidewalk area but that regulation is not routinely enforced. "We usually don't cite unless the car is parked so badly that it's forcing the pedestrians into the roadway," Correa said.
Former Lanikai resident Dean Reimann said he never planted trees when he lived there, but understands that some rude visitors might encourage that.
He said people used to fish on the beach and then "make all kinds of noise" when they were leaving at 2 or 3 a.m. "I used to yell at them all the time."
Windward City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said she believes that most people don't know there's a chunk of property between a property owner's land and where the pavement begins that an owner must take care of, but not encroach on.
"I think it's broadly misunderstood," Marshall said. "I think a lot of people don't even understand there is a thing called a sidewalk easement."
North Shore resident Larry Luehrs said he's noticed in the past few years that more people are planting trees and shrubs and using landscaping as a barrier to roadside parking.
"They're cutting off the parking," Luehrs said. He noticed that areas nearest such popular surf breaks as Sunset and Ehukai seem to be getting the most barrier landscaping.
Wataru said his department gets about 15 to 20 requests to plant or build in those areas each month, about one-fourth of them for planting.
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Write to:
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Phone: 535-2454 and leave a message with your name and daytime phone.
"It makes me sad," she said. "If you live in that community, it's a public beach and you have to expect that you're going to have people parking there."
Advertiser writer Robbie Dingeman's research shows no permits for these trees in front of this Mokulua Drive home in Lanikai.
Honolulu police Capt. Michael Correa, assigned to Windward O'ahu, said police occasionally do get complaints about planting and parking in the roadside. "They come in waves," he said.
Sidewalk area belongs to all
The Honolulu Advertiser
605 Kapi'olani Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96813
