Here's a thing of beauty and a wonder to behold: government functioning the way it should in upholding the public interest.

Progress is being made toward striking a formal shoreline access agreement at Iroquois Point Island Club, a civilian subdivision on land leased from the Navy.

Initial planning for this gated community assumed that, because the property still was military-owned, the project is exempt from state beach-access law.

Technically, that's right, but in this case the interpretation skirted the intent of the law, which was to allow military control of access to its own property, primarily for security reasons.

This time civilian residents of the development were given special access to the beach not available to other civilians. And that, Attorney General Mark Bennett rightly argued, is a non-starter.

Thanks to intervention by city, state and congressional representatives, a formal accord will set out provisions for access and public parking, in addition to some sort of sign-in protocol to address liability and security concerns.

And, in keeping with the state's advice, procedures should be the same for all civilians; residents and their guests must have their names on file, as well as any nonresident visitors to the beach.

Beaches have been considered open to the public in Hawai'i since the days of the kingdom and that legacy must be preserved to the greatest extent possible.