This petition is being circulated by Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo.

Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo (KKNOW) is STRONGLY OPPOSED to Application SSBN OA-23-02, submitted by Pāhonu Beach Community Restoration Foundation, Inc (PBCRFI). PBCRFI seeks to move 10,000 cubic yards of sand from offshore to the beachfront areas fronting 8 homes Makapuʻu-ward of Kaiona Beach along Kalanianaʻole Highway. 10,000 cubic yards is equivalent to 1,000 dump truck loads. In addition to mining sand they plan to install (5) five 73 ft groins to retain the mined sand in place. 

On April 3rd the Department of Land and Natural Resources(DLNR), Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands accepted the permit application indicating the application is complete and PBCRFI may move to the next steps to obtain the permit. See letter from DLNR here. (A copy of their permit application submission and supplement materials is publicly available at https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/occl/beach-restoration/ under the Header SSBN OA-23-02 Waimānalo, O‘ahu)

KKNOW has heard from the community of their overall disapproval of this project. We support our communities disapproval and wanted to highlight a few main points: 

• Fighting the inevitable, shoreline erosion is happening, climate change is real, sea level rise will continue to occur. Science has shown that Hawaiʻi will continue to lose up to 3 ft of shoreline every year, and these landowners should explore other alternatives.
• Sand movement is prevalent along the whole Waimānalo Bay (and in general the coast across the pae ʻāina). Kaiona Beach Park has seen major sand movement and loss of sand for years at end, some of this sand returns on its own time. Waimānalo Kupuna have witnessed extreme sand movement in Waimānalo for generations, including at the aforementioned project site.
• The project only supports these property owners, not the community as a whole. These private landowners are trying to save their oceanfront properties, without looking at the bigger picture of the numerous impacts that this will cause. How does this project help the whole of the Waimanalo community?
• Negative impacts that could occur include, but are not limited to extreme erosion along other parts of the coastline, reef and fish habitat destruction, changes in natural current and ocean movements, and altering or destroying precious fishing grounds.
• The project is planning to install temporary “reef fingers”, and will most likely request permission to make these permanent structures in the future. PBCRFI is attempting to deceive us by calling these structures “reef fingers” when they really are groins, smaller in scale than the groins in Waikiki and Iroquois Point but with the same concept. (See page 6 of the application)
• Sand moving projects in Waikiki and Kaʻanapali, hasn't been successful. Those projects have mined thousands of cubic yards of sand, in the years following those mining efforts that sand has shifted or and more mining with follow up projects were needed. How do we know this won't be the case here in Waimānalo.
• The ocean will do what it wants to do, we must adapt instead of fighting against this unstoppable force.
• The sand like the reef, fish and limu are community assets. This is a very Hawaiian Concept. How can it be allowed to be used for personal interests?

Again, KKNOW is STRONGLY OPPOSED to Application SSBN OA-23-02, submitted by Pāhonu Beach Community Restoration Foundation, Inc. and we call on you to help our cause by calling our legislators, submitting testimony and comments to the DLNR and spread word the word of our efforts. Reach out to us at info@kekulanuiowaimanalo.org with questions, concerns, input and to find out more ways to help us stop this unnecessary project in Waimānalo. 

**Pāhonu Beach Community Restoration Foundation INC (PBCRFI) is not affiliated to Ke Kula Nui O Waimanalo (KKNOW) or the restoration work being done at Pāhonu loko i’a. By choosing that name, the owners are indirectly suggesting affiliation to our group and project.

About Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo: 

Our vision is to Kūkulu Kaiāulu- Build Community. Our mission is to provide a community of practice through collaboration of Kānaka to promote strong and healthy ahupuaʻa.  KKNOW has been actively leading the restoration of limu in Waimānalo Bay and Pāhonu Loko Iʻa. In addition to our limu and pahonun restoration we provide numerous programs in our community, including Ulu Pono Mahiʻ Āina, MALAMA Aquaponics, Waimānalo Pono Research Hui, Project PʻINK, Ola Kino, OLA- Opio Leadership Academy, Hui Hua Moa and others. Learn more at www.kekulanuiowaimanalo.org.

CONTACT | Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo | Email: info@kekulanuiowaimanalo.org