From Marti:
KAHEA joined a coalition of environmental, conservation, and ocean user groups in appealing the decision of the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting to allow Kyo-Ya, the owner of the Moana Surfrider Hotel, to build a massive luxury hotel on the beach at Waikiki.
Kyo-ya proposes to knock down the 8-story building (that should not be built there) and build a new huge 26-story, surfboard-shaped, luxury hotel and condo structure right next to the historic Moana Banyan Tree Court and the Kuhio Beach Park (the only public park on Waikiki beach).
Such a proposal is not allowed by the many laws passed over the years to protect Oahu’s shorelines, especially Waikiki Beach. Despite these protections, the City approved Kyo-ya’s proposal.
Allowing this construction project is such a bad idea, in so many ways:
- it will increase the pressure to use this beach while undermining the overall experience of the beach;
- it will mean a taller skyline and even more seawalls;
- it will make suffering sea level rise that much more painful;
- it will create housing for the absurdly wealthy while adding to the construction waste landfilled in Native Hawaiian communities;
- it won’t create any longterm jobs, but it will make it even harder to fish, dive, and surf in this area; and
- it will weaken the overall efficacy of the laws we established to protect our best interests because the City felt like exempting the hotel from the no-build zone on Waikiki.
That’s why we are appealing the decision to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Learn more about this issue:
“Coalition fights to keep Waikiki developer Kyo-Ya from bending the rules,” The Hawaii Independent, Jan. 6, 2011.
Appeal filed to the Zoning Board of Appeals, Dec. 28, 2010.
