HAWAII
Expired 'burrito' sandbags litter beaches on Oahu's North Shore

Sophie Cocke, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Sun, October 10, 2021

Oct. 10—On a gusty Saturday morning, local residents and visitors lounged along Oahu's picturesque Sunset Beach, breathing in the thick, salty air and swimming in the deep-blue and turquoise waters. Two women strolled along the beach where waves glide up the deep deposits of golden sand, until they encountered a tangled mound of thick, black fabric, sand bags the size of large tree trunks, boulders and wood planks with protruding screws, and turned back.

Here, waves slam angrily against the littered shoreline, tugging at the black fabric and debris that property owners have strewn along the public beach to protect their homes from being sucked into the ocean. The large heap that fronts about half a dozen homes prevents residents and visitors from walking along the shoreline.

Ocean Lemus, who was at the beach with his friends Saturday, stared intently at the mess and questioned how this could be allowed to exist along one of the world's most famous stretches of sand.

"It looks like a trash heap ... not something you would assume to find on Sunset Beach, which is the premier surf spot, " he said.

Indeed, it's not supposed to be there.

In 2018, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources gave property owners along the span of North Shore coastline that fronts surf breaks known as Monster Mush and Kammies permission to install emergency "burritos, " long, sand-filled tubes covered by heavy fabric that create a hard barrier against ocean waves.

Typically, such protections are forbidden under state law. In order for property owners to armor a shoreline or install a structure on a public beach, they need to get a conservation district use permit. The process includes conducting an extensive study that looks at potential environmental impacts, opportunities for the public to weigh in on the use of the public trust resource, and approval from the Land Board that oversees DLNR.

But DLNR deemed the homes "imminently threatened " and allowed the homeowners to install the protections on a temporary basis with the condition they be removed in three years, or even earlier if there were signs they were damaging the beach.

The homeowners have refused to remove the protections, however, which expired between July and September of this year. They are among dozens of property owners throughout the islands who have been allowed to install temporary sandbags and other protections that are now expired.

In addition to marring the beauty of the coastlines, scientists worry they pose an existential threat to Hawaii's prized beaches. When waves slam up against a hardened shoreline that is migrating inland, they claw away at the sand, causing beaches to disappear.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica published an last year that found DLNR had granted 66 emergency shoreline permits to property owners across the islands. Nearly half of the permits were for properties along Oahu's North Shore, known as the Seven Mile Miracle because of its abundance of prime surf breaks and stunning beaches.

Many of the beneficiaries are owners of multimillion-dollar homes along some of the most prized beaches in the state and include famous surfers Kelly Slater and Fred Patacchia. While DLNR says Slater's system was installed without permission, they haven't forced him to remove it.

The news organizations found the temporary sandbags and burrito systems are rarely removed from public beaches when they expire. Instead, state officials repeatedly have granted homeowners extensions or don't enforce their own deadlines, while granting after-the-fact approval for structures that were built illegally.

DLNR now seems to be trying to rein in the protections, particularly along the North Shore, though none of the homeowners have been fined or faced any other enforcement action. The state can fine property owners $15, 000 a day for unauthorized structures that remain on the beach.

Asked why DLNR hadn't forced the homeowners to remove the burritos, the department said in written responses to questions that the homes remain imminently threatened and that property owners have a right to due process.

"We understand that many of these homeowners are in a very stressful and challenging situation, " wrote DLNR's Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

DLNR officials, including Board of Land and Natural Resources Chairwoman Suzanne Case, who oversees the department, did not respond to interview requests. But in written responses, officials said the temporary protection measures along areas such as Kammies have "led to obvious degradation of the public beach resource."

The officials say there are now about 70 coastal properties throughout the state that have expired emergency permits and that those owners have or will be receiving letters of "alleged noncompliance " along with requests for information about how they intend to "correct the situation " and their "plans moving forward in the long term."

OCCL says it is requiring certain homeowners, though it didn't specify how many, to prove that a "bona fide planning effort " is underway, including employing "professional planners, engineers, or consultants to develop and implement a long-term solution whether it involves relocation or abandonment, beach restoration, or some other form of shoreline management."

OCCL also said a surety bond or other financial assurance may be required as part of any potential approvals for a time extension to ensure the temporary protections are removed when they expire.

Officials didn't specify how long of an extension may be granted to the homeowners.

Many of the North Shore homeowners declined or didn't respond to requests for comment. But William Kernot, who is among the owners of homes that front the Kammies surf break, confirmed he received one of the letters.

He acknowledged his burrito system "looks terrible " but maintained it wasn't harming the beach, even though it's blocking the public shoreline. He said DLNR should approve a seawall for his property to improve the aesthetics of the coastline.

Coastal experts say engineering a seawall along this stretch, which isn't permitted under state law, would be extremely difficult because the base would have to be so wide and deep in order for it to be stable.

"It would take over the whole beach, " said Dolan Eversole, a coastal geologist with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, referring to the much wider beach that exists there during the winter months when the sand shifts.

"If we desire beaches on the North Shore, we are going to have to get out of the way, " Eversole said.

Meanwhile, Randy Rarick, a well-known surfer and surf promoter who has lived along Sunset Beach for 50 years, says he is already seeing damage to this stretch of coastline from sea-level rise and the burritos.

In the winter months, western swells typically deposit large amounts of sand to the east of the homes along Kammies, replenishing the long stretch of Sunset Beach. But he says the homes with burritos are blocking this from occurring, causing the sand to be depleted, a sign the burrito systems could contribute to a domino effect of beach loss down the coastline.

Rarick says backwash from the waves hitting this stretch of coastline hardened with sandbags, tarps and boulders is disrupting the famous surf breaks.

"I feel really sorry for the homeowners, " Rarick said, "but sea-level rise is upon us."