LIHUE >> Kauai County has adopted a beach access law only 27 years after it was supposed to have done it. The new law covers access to mountain areas as well. Kauai finally adopts
beach access lawSolid-waste program to be audited
By Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.comThe measure was approved unanimously Thursday night by the Kauai County Council and sent to Mayor Maryanne Kusaka's office. She has said she favors the measure.
A state law passed in 1973 required each county to pass a beach access ordinance by 1974. The state left it up to each county to decide on how much access is required.
The bill adopted on Kauai requires anyone subdividing land adjoining either a beach or a mountain area used for recreation to build trails through property no less than 300 feet or more than 1,500 feet apart.
The measure also gives the county planning commission the option of requiring access trails across subdivided land that adjoins parcels next to the ocean or mountains.
It gives the county engineer the authority to grant waivers if the terrain is too rugged for safe trails.
The new ordinance applies only to future subdivisions.
The only opposition came from brothers Bruce and Keith Robinson, members of the family that owns Gay & Robinson Sugar Co., the largest single landowner on Kauai.
Bruce Robinson said the ordinance would discriminate against landowners wanting to subdivide small parcels because of the cost.
Keith Robinson warned landowners "will immediately face serious security and sanitation problems.
"A large percentage of the public will not stay within those access corridors but will spread out onto the adjoining land to snoop, steal, vandalize, plant marijuana and relieve themselves whenever they want to go to the bathroom," he said.
LIHUE >> A divided Kauai County Council has approved its first performance audit of a county agency. Solid-waste program
to be auditedBy Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.comOn a 4-3 vote Thursday night, the Council gave the go-ahead to a $30,000 preliminary audit of the county's solid-waste program.
The program has failed in repeated efforts to carry out a solid-waste plan approved by the Council in 1984.
Supporters said the study would provide only some clues as to which areas need more detailed study.
The three Council members who voted against the bill said they would prefer to spend the limited amount of money on a more narrow area: the county's problem of disposing of junk cars.
In the 2000 county election, Kauai voters approved a change in the County Charter giving the Council, for the first time, authority to conduct performance audits of county agencies.
However, the Council budgeted only $30,000 for audits in the first year.
Kauai County
