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Kuhio Beach
will see more ocean
in Florida design
firm’s proposal

The firm, which has done
30 beach renourishments,
also offers a lower price

---

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Just as Waikiki nears the end of the restoration project on the sidewalks and street fronting Kuhio Beach, the state is looking at plans to expand the dwindling beach out to the sea next year

The Board of Land and Natural Resources heard from a Florida firm last night on how to reshape Hawaii's most famous beach.

The new design by Olsen Associates calls for gently scalloping Kuhio Beach four times in crescent shapes, rather than keeping the beach's double basins on the Ewa side and Diamond Head side.

The plan would cost $275,000 less and open the beach 55 percent more to the open ocean than the current plan, proposed by the Honolulu firm Edward K. Noda and Associates.

"You see more sea because there are less structures (in the ocean), and it'll be wider. It provides 0.6 of an acre more sandy beach than the current plan, although using the same amount of sand," said Kevin Bodge, senior engineer and vice president of Olsen, based in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Florida firm has designed about 30 beach-renourishment projects around the world, including Montego Bay, Antigua, and Fisher Island, Fla.

"Hurricane Floyd ran over 10 of my projects and they all held up very well," Bodge said.

But the Florida plan would decrease the protected shallow pools where children now play, said Elaine Tamaye, vice president of the Honolulu firm.

"The biggest difference, it doesn't allow for a big calm area for children. There's no right or wrong, it's a matter of perspective," she said.

Timothy Johns, BLNR director, said the board must decide whether to keep going with the Honolulu firm, or switch to the Florida firm. They will meet soon to discuss the options, he said.

Tamaye reminded the board that her firm met extensively with the Waikiki community. Its $2.2 million plan addresses residents' top three concerns: It reduces the safety hazard of the existing concrete sea wall, improves water quality and creates a stable beach.

"I would question whether it (the Florida plan) would provide the same visual ambience," Tamaye said.

"The community has always had a sense that Waikiki is a special place and it should not be created around the world."

Both plans would tear down existing cement sea walls called "crib walls," put up about 52 years ago by the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent beach erosion.

The Honolulu plan calls for building Hawaiian rock lava groins to take the brunt of the waves. The Florida plan calls for building more smaller versions of the groins.

Both firms say their plans won't have an impact on the famous surfing spots off the beach, but may improve them.