With two state Supreme Court victories under her belt, long-time environmental advocate Caren Diamond will join the county Public Access, Open Space, Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission. “Access is one of the things that we’re losing — by the minute,”
With two state Supreme Court victories under her belt, long-time environmental advocate Caren Diamond will join the county Public Access, Open Space, Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission.
“Access is one of the things that we’re losing — by the minute,” she told County Council members during an interview yesterday morning at the Historic County Building. “I’ve been quite passionate about protecting our coastal resources the past eight years.”
Council approved the appointment during its regular meeting that evening.
Councilman Jay Furfaro stressed to Diamond the importance he sees in the young commission establishing a close working relationship with the county Planning Department.
Diamond said she would utilize her past experience in collaborating with various agencies to develop a rapport with the department in a way that puts the public’s view in a better balance with the voice of developers.
After the department “lost faith” to continue its fight to uphold a decision it made regarding a Wainiha coastal region, Diamond said, she and attorney Harold Bronstein picked up the ball and ran with it on their own funds and time.
The state’s highest court ruled in Brescia v. Kaua‘i Planning Commission that the county had properly protected the area with the permit it issued and subsequent decision to deny the landowner a setback variance.
The council is considering a shoreline access bill that would require 40-foot minimum setbacks and be based on the present coastal erosion rate applied for 70 years.
The Maui formula, by comparison, is 25 feet plus 50 times the annual erosion rate of the property, with a minimum setback of 25 feet.
The proposed bill was a concern to Furfaro as being “too strong too soon.” The councilman said he wants historical photographs as documentation of shoreline setback levels.
“I’m asking for Kaua‘i to be leaders, not followers,” Diamond said.
Kauai’s proposed bill relies on standards set forth in the Hawaii Coastal Hazard Mitigation Guidebook, which multiple government agencies and science experts developed after Maui’s law was in place.
“You have to set houses back if you want to preserve the beach,” she told The Garden Island yesterday evening. “That’s the choice — preserve public beaches or private property.”
In another case she took to the Supreme Court, Diamond v. State of Hawai‘i, the justices reaffirmed that the highest wash of the waves marks the line of public beach access. Everything from that point down to the sea is in the public right of way.
Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho praised Diamond’s “tenacity.”
“I’m honored to recommend you serve on this commission,” she said.
Councilman Tim Bynum voiced concern on the overall balance of the commission, questioning Diamond’s committment to fight for the protection of mauka access rights important to hunters.
“I’m an avid hiker,” she said. “I will work just as hard in that respect.”
The commission’s first task, Furfaro said, will be rallying its eight members to select a ninth to serve.
The next priority, Council Chair Bill “Kaipo” Asing said, is to take inventory of all existing mauka and makai right-of-ways and gather supporting legal documents.
“I’d like to establish the accesses that have been historically part of Kaua‘i forever and are in danger of being lost,” Diamond said in an interview. “I’d like to see it opened up and kept in perpetuity for the people.”
The Open Space Fund — created from an annual appropriation of 0.5 percent of Kaua‘i’s real property taxes — has steadily grown since voters approved it in 2002.
Now at just over $1.2 million, the fund has enough money for the council to purchase easements or pursue other relatively inexpensive projects.
Council controls the fund’s “purse strings,” Furfaro said.
The commission meets at 1 p.m. today at the Lihu‘e Civic Center, Mo‘ikeha Building Meeting Room 2A-2B.
For more information, visit www.kauai.gov/openspace.
•Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
