Beach barriers: Oceanfront property owners use vegetation--and deception--to thwart access [View all]

http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/2012/07/beach-barriers/ By Joan Conrow

Fisherman Lance Laney believed he was in the right, so stood his ground when three Kauai cops told him to leave, although by that time they really couldn’t make him, because he was standing on a public beach. But to get there, he had walked across a vacant blufftop parcel where billionaire Pierre Omidyar wants to develop an ultra-luxury “eco-resort” and 34 house lots overlooking Hanalei Bay.

It was not the first time Laney had used that route to reach a shoreline fishing spot, and he was certain it was a legal easement. So he kept on walking that day in early June when a security guard told him the pathway was private land. The guard called the cops, who threatened to arrest Laney for trespassing. Tempers cooled when one of the officers finally placed him: Laney, a longtime Hanalei contractor, is married to Public Utilities Commission Chair Hermina Morita, who championed access and shoreline protection issues during her tenure as a state representative. Laney says the cops informed him they’d been advised the easement was closed. “I told them, if you’re right, I won’t return,” he recalls. “But if you’re wrong, I’m going to keep coming back.”

Calling their bluff

Although he was new to searching public records, Laney tracked down county maps that showed a public easement across the land, and consulted an attorney. He made copies of the documents to carry with him, in case he is challenged again. “It’s just one piece of property after another that the developers buy up and close,” Laney says. “I’ve been here all my life. I’ve been watching this happen and I’ve never said a word, because I’ve been too busy with my business. But I did my homework on this one, and I’m going to exercise my right to use it.”

In an email to this reporter, Michelle Swartman, a Kauai representative for landowner Ohana Hanalei LLC, claimed that “the property has always been accessible” during the 18 months she’s been with the project. “[A]pedestrian access exists and an unlocked gate, for pedestrians only, is passable,” Swartman wrote, adding that the police were called on Laney because “we ha[d] not closed the loop with our security,” who have now been informed. Swartman added that she was trying to determine who left the citation on Laney’s car, noting, “We don’t have any parking policy. We have no rules.”


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Queen Lili'uokalani protected the public's ownership of our beaches, bless her forever.