Coastal Development | Access

November 7, 2024

Anini Beach, 2018 (by Alan Grinberg CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flicker).

Hawaii homeowner hired security to kick people off Kauai beach – SFGate

Excerpt:
LATEST Nov. 4, 2:10 p.m. The Stone family, which owns the home near Anini Beach, has issued a statement: 

“We deeply apologize, and want to reassure our neighbors that it won’t happen again. As a fourth-generation local family, we have deep respect for the land and our community,” Sheila Donnelly, a spokesperson for the family, said in a statement emailed to SFGATE.  

All beaches in Hawaii are public. It’s illegal for a landowner to restrict access, but some are trying anyway. “It’s our right as residents and even visitors of this place to be able to use the public access,” Kauai County Council Chair Mel Rapozo said at a recent County Council meeting.

On the North Shore of Kauai, a landowner with property fronting Anini Beach has a history of blocking public access. “The landowner had basically taken over the state beach, put up his or her beach amenities, hired security to kick our local people off the beach, and they even had the audacity to put up a ‘Road Closed’ sign on a post that was approaching that road,” said Rapozo, adding that the sign is now in the bed of his truck.

“Who do they think they are that they can just say, ‘I’m going to put a “Road Closed” sign just to keep the public out’?” he continued. 

The issue at Anini Beach first came to Rapozo’s attention when a constituent told him that a security guard had escorted a Native Hawaiian kupuna (elder) off the beach.

“A huge pet peeve of mine is when private landowners take over public access. That just drives me nuts,” Rapozo said…

More on Problematic Coastal Development . . .

Nap Time, Punaluu Beach, Hawaii (by Al Case CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr).

Controversial Punalu‘u project on Big Island set back as contested case moves ahead – Kaua’i Now

The developer of a controversial proposed Ka‘ū residential and commercial community on the Big Island will have to wait to find out if it will be approved for a special management area use permit to move forward with project — or if it will be considered at all — following a special meeting Monday of the Hawai‘i County Windward Planning Commission in Hilo…

The City of Fira, - Santorini, Greece - at Dusk © 2023 D Shrestha Ross

As Development Alters Greek Islands’ Nature and Culture, Locals Push Back – the New York Times

As a proliferation of pools threatens some water supplies and housing costs skyrocket, people of the Cycladic islands say the Aegean islands’ character is being lost to real-estate homogenization…“It’s very easy to talk about sustainable development, but all they actually do is approve new investments,” said Ioannis Spilanis, a former general secretary for island policy at Greece’s shipping ministry and now head of the Aegean Sustainable Tourism Observatory…

Jakarka, Indonesia - Above and Below (by Chandrahadi Junarto CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

The World’s Fastest-Sinking Megacity Has One Last Chance to Save Itself – Bloomberg

Venice is sinking. So are Rotterdam, Bangkok and New York. But no place compares to Jakarta, the fastest-sinking megacity on the planet. Over the past 25 years, the hardest-hit areas of Indonesia’s capital have subsided more than 16 feet. The city has until 2030 to figure out a solution, experts say, or it will be too late to hold back the Java Sea…

San Diego - Paradise Point Resort, Mission Bay (by K M CC BY 2.0 via Flickr).

Luxury California resort accused of restricting public beach access – SFGATE

A California Coastal Commission report reviewed by SFGATE accuses Paradise Point Resort of numerous violations that “impede public use of the area and reinforce the impression that the entire area was private…” Alleged violations included the failure to put up a single “public access” sign, blocking public pathways to the beach, and the installation of a kiosk and security guard at the primary parking entrance. Another allegation states that the resort built or placed uncovered dumpsters and an event tent on public pathways and parking spots.

Beach in Loutro, Crete © 2023 Deepika Shrestha Ross

Greeks Fight for Their Constitutional Right to Free Access and Use of Their Country’s Beaches

The beaches in Greece are considered a “public good” per their Constitution. To the average Greek citizen, this is interpreted to mean that if a hotel is built in a way that it blocks access to the beach, they have the right to walk through the hotel to reach the beach.
Increasingly, however, businesses that have been issued permits to operate in the coastal areas have taken over the coast with their concessions, and sunbeds and umbrellas are packed on almost every accessible area of the beach and charge high fees for their use.

Restaurants take over the coast in Santorini, Greece © 2023 Deepika Shrestha Ross

‘No Space for Us’: Greeks Fight Beach Takeover by Pricey Sun Chairs – the New York Times

It is peak tourist season in Greece, and on the pristine Monastiri beach on the northern tip of Paros island, a phalanx of lounge chairs with red umbrellas covers the sand. At 70 euros for a pair of front-row seats near the crystalline waters, less than half were taken on a recent day, as Greeks and tourists alike who did not want to pay instead sheltered from the sun under nearby trees….

no more posts . . .