Waikiki beach to be replenished this month
Larger visions for lagoons and T-groins remain on hold
Sand replenishment at Kuhio Beach is to start later this month, if all goes as planned by state officials.
Longer-term concepts for improving the popular Waikiki beach, such as "scalloping" it to make "lagoons" or blocking erosion with T-groins, remain on the drawing board and are not coming any time soon -- if ever, said Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
"As we look at Waikiki, we want to investigate any options" that will put or keep more sand on the beach, Young said.
"But we're only in discussion stages right now" on the more costly or complex options, Young emphasized yesterday.
The shorter-term fix for eroding Kuhio Beach will cost $425,000. Contractor American Marine will vacuum sand about 2,000 feet offshore -- effectively "recycling" what was put on the beach in former replenishments.
It should take a month to move 10,000 cubic yards of sand -- about 1,000 dump-truck loads' worth -- from offshore to the beach between the Kapahulu Groin and the Duke Kahanamoku statue.
Young could not say precisely when the work might start. "We want to make sure we don't have a south swell prospect," he said.
The project originally was planned for fall 2004, then spring 2005, but was postponed by scheduling and permit problems.
It was then set for April, but a 48 million-gallon sewage spill into the Ala Wai Canal and subsequent pollution of Waikiki beaches in late March and early April nixed that slot.
Officials always planned to avoid summer's high surf and winter's high tourist season.
Between 1939 and 2000, almost 250,000 cubic yards of sand were added to Kuhio Beach to widen it, DLNR records show. But the beach has not had a significant replenishment since 1975.
DLNR officials previously said the Kuhio replenishment project would not significantly affect beach use because the sand would be placed at night.
Councilman Charles Djou, who represents the Waikiki area, said he had heard about the idea of a lagoonlike beach -- similar to those built at Ko Olina -- only in the last few months.
"From my vantage point, if we're talking about spending taxpayer resources, no, it doesn't strike me as serious," Djou said.
"If someone were talking about doing that for free and giving it over to the city," on the other hand, he would be willing to take a look at it, he said.
Young said any proposal would involve discussions with the city, because the City Council acts as trustees for Kapiolani Park.
In 2000 the Board of Land and Natural Resources was considering spending $2 million on a Kuhio project that would remove the existing "crib" wall and use new T-shaped groins to break wave action and create four gently curving beaches. Public outcry and a lack of funding shifted the short-term priority to the current, cheaper project -- which does not alter the crib wall.