For decades, scuba dive company operator Bobby Baker has been taking "the overfed to the newly wed" - his words - on underwater adventures at Maui's Makena Landing Beach Park.

But starting Sept. 1, the Maui County Parks and Recreation Department must revoke Baker's commercial ocean recreation permit along with the permits of 18 other dive and kayak rental companies at Makena Landing and five permits at nearby Maluaka North and South beach parks, the Maui News reported today.

Parks Department Director Tamara Horcajo told the Maui News the decision was not the county's to make. Despite what the general public may believe, the county does not own the land, parking lots or restrooms, which are maintained by Maui Prince Hotel.

However, Horcajo said it is extremely important to note that the public will still have access as usual to the facilities and beach. That access is protected by law, she said. Only commercial operators will be restricted.

The beaches with clear views of Puu Olai are framed by rocky ocean outcrops that make them popular with local artists and wedding parties - and just about everyone else. It can be a tight squeeze, especially on the weekends.

So last month the property's owner, developer Everett Dowling, along with the Makena Homeowners Association and the Native Hawaiian group Hui Alanui O Makena, decided it would be best to close off access to entrepreneurs like Baker in order to free up some space.

"I don't understand what the problem is, it's such a great place to take people," said Baker, whose Maui Sun Divers brings in groups of four divers to Makena Landing about two times a day. "We just go out into the water, and we disappear."

Horcajo notified the permit holders by letter June 24. Long before he received a letter from the parks department asking for comment on proposed rules governing commercial activities at beach parks, Dowling said he'd been hearing complaints about overcrowding at the parks from neighbors and other island residents.

"Imagine having a picnic with your family on a tiny stretch of beach and a 40-foot bus loaded with tourists pulls up and idles while they unload kayaks. It detracts from the experience," Dowling said. "It was the community groups that contacted us and said you shouldn't allow this."

There are better places zoned and permitted for commercial activity, such as the small-boat launch in Kihei, Dowling said.

"This is all about money and property values," Baker retorted. "It has nothing to do with local people."

Brian Yeslander, who owns Kelii's Kayak Tours, said he was shocked by the news. He has operated at Makena Landing for 18 years. Yeslander said he typically brings out tours of up to eight people five days a week. They are in the water around 7:30 a.m. and gone by 10 a.m.

It's rarely, if ever, crowded then, Yeslander said.

"The complaints are unsubstantiated," he said.

Yeslander added that he and other operators also addressed complaints that their vehicles and trailers were blocking access by staying out of the parking lots.

"Moving to Kihei Small Boat Launch, that isn't an attractive option," Yeslander said. "What people want to see is the natural beauty in the Makena area. The problem is that they are basically shutting down all of South Maui to us now that we are no longer allowed in the state's Ahihi-Kinau Nature Preserve Area or Oneuli Beach."

Horcajo said that the idea to revoke the permits did not come from her office.

For several months, the Parks and Recreation Department has been working with scuba, windsurfing, kayaking and other operators to create new administrative rules intended to better regulate visitor activities, including caps on the number of companies allowed at the beaches, and parking restrictions. The beaches are crowded, she said, and many of the changes have been very unpopular with the businesses.

Although Horcajo said the county is nearly finished with the exhaustive process, she worried that the Makena Landing situation would sour her department's working relationships with commercial operators.

As part of that initiative, department staff had written letters to all the stakeholders seeking their input, including park owners such as the state and Maui Land and Pineapple Co.

When he researched the issue, Dowling, whose Namalu subsidiary owns the Makena land, said he learned that the areas are actually zoned Parks 1, which strictly prohibits commercial activities there. Once that was discovered, he had no choice, he said.

"This came as a surprise," Horcajo said. "We're still trying to follow up on all the issues and hopefully reach some sort of compromise. . . . But it is a privately owned and maintained park by Dowling's company. It's my understanding that he has a right to do this."

Clarence Tavares Sr. is a member of the Makena Homeowners Association but said he doesn't agree with other members, a few of whom are in housing development themselves, who say that the kayak and scuba companies clog up Makena Landing.

"I don't know where they are going to go now," Tavares said. "I thought they were pretty good over there. I think it was a good spot for them."

Public access is not an issue, though. When the Makena Landing land was zoned by the original owner for development, public access or right-of-entry was a condition for County Council approval, Horcajo said. But the allowance of commercial operations was not part of the deal, she said.

"I want to work with Namalu as a partner," Horcajo said. "Maybe we can get them to partner with some of the permit holders. . . . We like having their presence there. They offer recreation programs. They have emergency equipment with them, so it's important for our department to keep working with these people."

The Maluaka North and South beaches are on either side of the Maui Prince Hotel, which Dowling and Morgan Stanley Real Estate purchased for $575 million a year ago as part of the 1,800-acre Makena Resort holdings. Dowling said he's working on reviving the stalled Makena Resort plan to build housing on 600 acres of undeveloped land. But that did not factor into his decision, he said.

Then when grub work recently began on a seven-home subdivision right behind Makena Landing, it fueled speculation about Dowling's real intentions. The commercial operators believed it was a Dowling project, and concluded that was why he wanted them out, Baker said.

But the subdivision has actually been six years in the making by developers Bill Frampton, Dave Ward and John Santos and has nothing to do with Dowling, Frampton said. He said they had no idea that commercial operators were getting kicked out. He also wondered where they would go south of Kihei.

Horcajo said she has not had a chance yet to discuss with Dowling what his long-term plans are for the areas.

When asked if Dowling was pursuing this course of action because he and his business partners are developing in the area, he replied: "We're doing it because it's illegal to allow it."