HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

89

THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF A TERM, NON-EXCLUSIVE EASEMENT COVERING PORTIONS OF STATE SUBMERGED LANDS AT WAILEA, MAUI, TAX MAP KEY:  (2) 2-1-008 FOR BEACH ACCESS STAIRWAY PURPOSES.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Association of Apartment Owners of Wailea Elua has requested a non-exclusive easement for a portion of a stairway located on unencumbered state lands fronting property located at 3600 Wailea Alanui Drive, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii to resolve a shoreline encroachment that consists of a beach access stairway fronting the Wailea Elua Village that descends from the Wailea Costal Walk to Ulua Beach; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Association of Apartment Owners of Wailea Elua seeks to obtain an easement for the stairway to provide additional access throughout the entire Wailea Resort area to the central part of Ulua Beach from the Wailea Coastal Walk for members of the public and Wailea Resort guests who utilize Ulua Beach for recreational and marine activities; and

 

     WHEREAS, the subject encroachment connects the Wailea Coastal Walk to the middle section of Ulua Beach, a sandy pocket beach fronting the Wailea Elua Village Resorts.  North of Ulua Beach Park sits the parking lot, restroom area, Mokapu Beach Park, and another pocket beach, and south of Ulua Beach Park is a rocky shoreline fronting more resorts; and

 

     WHEREAS, Shoreline Erosion Rate Maps developed by the University of Hawaii's Coastal Geology Group show that Ulua Beach, as well as the majority of the entire Wailea-Makena coastline, has experienced consistent erosion over the last century, decreasing the width of Ulua Beach Park by roughly thirty-five percent; and

WHEREAS, the total area of the stairway structure originally built in the 1970s is one hundred twenty square feet, with twenty-two square feet of the structure encroaching into the shoreline, and the stairway serves as one of four access points to Ulua Beach from the resort areas and the Coastal Walk; and

 

     WHEREAS, on September 30, 2009, the County of Maui issued a building permit to the Association of Apartment Owners of Wailea Elua for the reconstruction of a stairway to the beach from the public accessway fronting the building's complex as the County assumed the stairway was mauka of the shoreline based on a certified shoreline survey done in 1983 and a subsequent shoreline survey in 2006 that was not certified; and

 

     WHEREAS, on July 26, 2019, the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands concluded that removal of the encroaching stairway would have minimal effects on the shoreline and beach environment, there are no negative impacts on the beach environment from the stairway, and removal of the encroachment would not improve lateral access or interfere with natural coastal processes; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands also found that issuance of a term, non-exclusive easement in a developed area for an existing stairway would involve a negligible change in use of the subject area beyond previously existing uses, the area is a portion of shoreline state lands that is accessible to the public for the purposes of beach and offshore recreational activities, and there would be no significant impact to sensitive environmental or ecological receptors; and

 

     WHEREAS, in accordance with section 11-200.1-15, Hawaii Administrative Rules, and the exemption list of the Department of Land and Natural Resources reviewed and concurred on by the Environmental Council on November 10, 2020, the request for an easement is exempt from the preparation of an environmental assessment; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 22, 2021, under agenda item D-5 and upon Department of Land and Natural Resources' staff recommendations that the issuance of a twenty-five year term, non-exclusive easement to the Association of Apartment Owners of Wailea Elua covering the subject beach access stairway purposes would have minimal or no significant effect on the environment and is presumed to be exempt from the preparation of an environmental assessment, the Board of Land and Natural Resources voted to authorize the issuance of the easement; and

 

     WHEREAS, section 171-53, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires the prior authorization of the Legislature by concurrent resolution to lease state submerged lands; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the Senate concurring, that pursuant to section 171-53, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the Board of Land and Natural Resources is hereby authorized to issue a term, non-exclusive easement covering portions of state submerged lands fronting the property identified as Tax Map Key:  (2) 2-1-008:  seaward of 069, Wailea, Maui, for beach access stairway purposes; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Report Title: 

Board of Land and Natural Resources; Tax Map Key:  (2) 2-1-008