KAHALA — The city has found that a homeowner who dumped tons of sand on the beach and later built a fence enclosing the new sand did not cause any significant impacts to the environment.

The finding was made despite a previous city decision stating that the shoreline fence erected without a permit by the owners of a home in the 4700 block of Kahala Avenue impedes public access to the shore.

Now the homeowners, Katheryn and Ned Weldon, plan to seek an after-the-fact approval in the form of a variance from the city Department of Planning and Permitting, said Don Clegg, a consultant hired by the homeowner to help process the permits.

The city's findings, however, are sending a message to other homeowners that it's OK to add sand to the beach, said Rep. Barbara Marumoto, R-17th (Kahala, Wai'alae Iki).

"I'm a little baffled," Marumoto said. "How could someone dump all that sand and get away with it?"

Kahala residents have launched a campaign to bring the issue of the fence, the rocks and the sand fill to the public's attention and to have the shoreline restored to its previous condition. These same residents would like to see any fence built on private property and not in the shoreline setback area.

The home is next to a drainage canal. Heavy rains last year undermined the fence. The owners need a variance to build a new fence within the shoreline setback area — a distance less than 40 feet from the ocean — and to keep the 93 tons of sand and boulders that were originally placed within the shoreline setback area.

The government regulates any construction within 40 feet of the ocean's edge.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the use of state beaches, has repeatedly stated that there were concerns about the effects of the fence, the rocks and the sand fill on the beach.

"'We still maintain that these improvements need to be removed because they are illegal in the sense that they don't have county permits," said Sam Lemmo, state Department of Land and Natural Resources office of conservation administrator. "The fence and the boulders are not in our jurisdiction and we felt that the environmental assessment lacked adequate justification on the impact to the coastal processes and beach access and public safety."

Lemmo said a solution to the problem with the fence is for the city and the state to present a unified set of rules and restrictions over shoreline construction. Currently, the city issues variances depending upon the outcome of an environmental review, while the state has a zero tolerance of any structures within 40 feet of the shoreline, Lemmo said.

Correction: Kathryn and Ned Weldon, Kahala beachfront residents seeking a variance for sand-fill they placed on their oceanfront property, had a permit for their original fence, but the permission was later withdrawn by the city after the Weldons placed rocks at the base of the fence to shore it up after heavy rains last year. The property owners are seeking city permits for a minor shoreline structure for a fence and the variance for the 93 tons of sand-fill that were placed on the edge of their property. The city has jurisdiction over all shoreline construction that is within the 40-foot shoreline setback area. Information in a Local News story yesterday was incorrect.