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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Bill expands Kaua'i beach-access law

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Mayor Bryan Baptiste has proposed that Kaua'i County require developers of larger projects to provide lateral public access along the shoreline as well as mauka-makai access.

Baptiste proposed increasing access requirements laid out in county planning documents. The measures he has put to the County Council are an expansion to a bill he helped get passed in 2001 when he was a council member.

That ordinance requires that developers of subdivisions of six lots or more dedicate pedestrian access from the nearest street to shorelines or to mountain trails, if the subdivision is in an inland area.

The new bill expands that, and is designed to ensure anglers, surfers or other beachgoers have a safe route along the shoreline to get from one place by the ocean to another, said county attorney Lani Nakazawa.

"This is another tool that the county can use to provide access to beachgoers along our beautiful shorelines," Baptiste said.

He said that planning agencies have occasionally required such access, but it has not been county policy. The commitment to requiring access has changed as the membership of the planning commission and staff of the planning department have changed, he said.

"These ordinances put the requirement in place and ensures the continuity of lateral access requirements as we move forward, regardless of how the membership on decision-making bodies changes," Baptiste said.

Nakazawa said the access requirement would apply not only to larger subdivisions but also coastal resorts.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.