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Permit process slows
Poipu Beach sand projectQuestion: What ever happened to Kauai County's effort to replace sand lost to erosion at Poipu Beach County Beach Park?
Answer: Russell Sugano of the Kauai County Public Works Department said the permit application is wending its way through the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
DLNR, in an effort to streamline the permitting process, replaced separate permits from DLNR, the state Health Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with a one-stop permit.
But the new permit application is so detailed, it's not clear whether it really saves any time, Sugano said.
Kauai County has called on the University of Hawaii to help obtain data needed to obtain the permit.
"The whole issue has become quite involved," he said.
The 5,000 cubic yards of beach sand already has been dug, and it is coming from the DLNR's bird sanctuary in west Kauai. It is piled up at the Kekaha Landfill.
Sugano said that totally apart from the permit applications issue there is a debate as to whether west Kauai sand is any different from south Kauai sand. The issue also affects Brennecke's Beach next door to Poipu Beach, which also is awaiting sand replacement.
Supposedly, there is a difference in gradation between the two sands.
But would a beachgoer at Poipu Beach -- a former "Best Beach in America" chosen by Dr. Beach -- notice a difference?
"That's what I keep asking," Sugano said, shaking his head.
Kauai County hopes to be able to move the sand from Kekaha to Poipu in late summer or early fall.
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