Department of Land and Natural Resources

For Immediate News Release: December 24, 2020

EISPN SCOPING MEETING FOR THE WAIKῙKῙ BEACH IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE PROGRAM  

(Honolulu) – The beaches of Waikīkī are chronically eroding, and the backshore is frequently flooded, particularly during high tides and high surf events. Without beach improvements and maintenance, sea level rise is likely to result in total beach loss in Waikīkī long before the end of the century. The DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands (OCCL) will be holding a virtual scoping meeting next month regarding the Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice (EISPN) for the Waikīkī Beach Improvement and Maintenance Program.

Improvements and maintenance are necessary to restore and maintain the beaches of Waikīkī to continue to support Hawaii’s tourism-based economy. The DLNR proposes beach improvement and maintenance projects in the Fort DeRussy, Halekulani, Royal Hawaiian, and Kūhiō Beach sectors of Waikīkī.  Projects would include the construction of new beach stabilization structures, and the recovery of offshore sand and its placement on the shoreline.  The objectives of the proposed actions are to restore and improve Waikīkī’s community beaches, increase beach stability through improvement and maintenance of shoreline structures, provide safe access to and along the shoreline, and increase resilience to coastal hazards and sea level rise.

The EISPN for this project has been published in the Office of Environmental Quality Control’s, The Environmental Notice, since yesterday, December 23, 2020 and comments are currently being solicited until January 22, 2021.  Comments may be emailed to:  [email protected] .  

The scoping meeting for the EISPN is on January 7, 2021 and will commence at 2:00 pm.

The webinar link is: https://zoom.us/j/94554967228

For further information, contact the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands at (808) 587-0377.

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For more information regarding this project: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/occl/waikiki/

Media contact:

AJ McWhorter
Communications Specialist
Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources
[email protected]
808-587-0396 (Communications Office)