Kailua beach
access in question

A plan to purchase property
for the public faces opposition
from the landowner

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Public access to a beach will butt heads with private property concerns at the Kailua Neighborhood Board tomorrow.

Member Debbi Glanstein said she will ask the Neighborhood Board to remove $150,000 earmarked to acquire land for public access to Castle Beach on North Kailua Bay from a $1 million list of capital improvement projects it approved in October.

The board meets at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Kailua District Park pavilion.

Glanstein said she's concerned that "residents in that area, the stakeholders, did not have an opportunity for free and full discussion."

Chad Castle said he and his father, property owner Chris Castle, heard about the neighborhood board's proposal from a neighbor about a month ago.

Before that, there was "no letter, no phone call, no nothing," he said.

"I was pretty upset that our tax map key was used, and we were never notified.

"I'm all for beach access. It's limited in Hawaii the way it is," said Chad Castle, who lives on the property in question. "But they didn't do it right."

However, if the board had asked the Castles to sell the 400-foot-by-10-foot strip of land it wants, the answer would have been no, Chad Castle said.

The board voted to seek beach access at the north end of Kailua Beach in December 1999, but the city hasn't yet acquired any land, said Chairwoman Faith Evans.

Access was reduced several years ago when a vacant lot that used to provide beach access was developed.

Kaneohe resident David Komine likes to surf at Castle Beach and laments the fact that there used to be better access to it.

He hopes the Kailua Neighborhood Board moves ahead with its plans to buy land for permanent public access.

Komine said access to the beach is important for convenience, cultural and recreational reasons.

"But safety is another concern," he said. "Should someone get hurt at Castle Beach, what kind of access would there be for emergency medical response?"

Peter Cole, Oahu chairman of the Surfrider Foundation, said he's "always been one to advocate public access. I think it's important."

A North Shore resident since the 1960s, Cole said he is proud the North Shore community provides public access every quarter mile from Waimea Bay to the surf spot known as Velzyland.

He hopes Kailua will move in that direction.