STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1207

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1884

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred S.B. No. 1884, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC ACCESS TO SHORELINES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to assure that the public can travel between different shoreline access points by requiring the counties to adopt ordinances requiring a subdivider or developer t connect existing or proposed access points as a condition of subdivision approval.

A member of the Maui County Council and the Hawaii Chapter of the Sierra Club supported this bill. The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation supported this measure with amendments. The Board of Land and Natural Resources supported the intent of this measure. The City and County of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting, Hawaii Association of Realtors, Hawaii Resort Developers Conference, and Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii opposed this bill.

Your Committee finds that the rapid development of the state's shoreline area threatens the public's right to access, therefore, developers should be responsible for including adequate access points for the public.

 

The issues of prescriptive easements and the preservation of existing rights of access historically used for cultural purposes by native Hawaiian cultural practitioners are of great concern. It is felt that these subjects are beyond the purview of your Committee on Water, Land, and Ocean Resources and would be better considered by your Committee on Judiciary.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Adding proposed accesses to the kinds of access that may potentially be connected to each other through a developer's dedication of public access land;

(2) Changing the definition of "lateral public access" to mean land for reasonable public access by right-of-way or easement for pedestrian travel alongside a shoreline or coastline, unless precluded by topography;

(3) Repealing an obsolete subsection;

(4) Adding language to ensure that this Act has prospective effect, only;

(5) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2006; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for clarity,

consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1884, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1884, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,

 

____________________________

EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair