Posted on January 5, 2021
WAIKIKI –
The state wants to give the beaches of Waikiki a facelift. The state Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) wants improve the Fort DeRussy, Halekulani, Royal Hawaiian, and Kuhio Beach shores. Projects would include building new beach stabilization structures, and recovering offshore sand and putting it back on the shoreline.
It says the beaches are chronically eroding, and the backshore is frequently flooded, particularly during high tides and high surf events. Without beach improvements and maintenance, it says, sea level rise is likely to result in total beach loss in Waikiki long before the end of the century.
That’s why the DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands (OCCL) will be holding a virtual scoping meeting next month regarding the Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice (EISPN) for the Waikiki Beach Improvement and Maintenance Program. It says this is necessary to support Hawaii’s tourism-based economy, provide safe access to and along the shoreline, and increase resilience to coastal hazards and sea level rise.
The EISPN for this project was published in the Office of Environmental Quality Control’s “The Environmental Notice” on December 23, 2020 and comments are currently being solicited until January 22, 2021. Comments may be emailed to: waikiki@seaengineering.com.
The scoping meeting for the EISPN is on January 7, 2021 and will commence at 2 p.m.
The webinar link is: https://zoom.us/j/94554967228.
For further information, contact the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands at (808) 587-0377.
Source: kitv
