ANAHOLA — Amid the colorful million dollar homes dotting the shoreline of ‘Aliomanu Road sits a sad heap of rubble that was once a modest, one-story residence. Owned by a Kaua‘i family since the 1930s, the Anahola house has been
ANAHOLA — Amid the colorful million dollar homes dotting the shoreline of ‘Aliomanu Road sits a sad heap of rubble that was once a modest, one-story residence.
Owned by a Kaua‘i family since the 1930s, the Anahola house has been crumbling into the ocean for years due to erosion that reportedly began after the construction of a neighboring seawall which was built nearly 30 years ago in order to protect adjacent properties.
Rotten wood, rusted nails and rubbish are being washed out to sea at unprecedented rates now that the former house has completely collapsed. It has been over a week since its final demise due to high surf battering the shoreline and there has yet to be any action taken to resolve a situation that is now deemed a public health and safety concern.
“It’s unacceptable that the government found no solution for dealing with this damaged structure whose eminent collapse last week is a threat to our coastal resources,” said Rayne Regush, an executive committee member of the Sierra Club’s Kaua‘i Group. “This beach has been eroding for many years and it demonstrates a lack of accountability and enforcement of environmental protection laws.”
Regush added that she would like to learn from the government’s legal counsel as to why they felt their “hands were tied.”
Pictures of the dilapidated home, taken by Karen Tilley of Kaua‘i Eden Adventures, were forwarded to state and county officials as early as last Wednesday, but the only sign of progress so far has been yellow caution tape placed around the shambles.
Apparently, complication abounds over who is required to take care of the situation.
Dolan Eversole, coastal geologist for the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant program and adviser for DLNR, said the house has been “on the verge of collapse for quite some time.”
While DLNR is currently working on coordinating with the county and family in regards to the collapse, he believes it’s fair to say that the landowners still technically own the home. However, it’s the ownership of the eroded land that remains questionable; part of a pending legal battle which started many years ago.
“Up until today we hadn’t been able to get in touch with the landowner,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “State and county were coordinating actions to clean up debris as a public health and safety issue.”
Eversole also confirmed that the owner would be attempting to clean up the debris.
“The owners can clean up the debris, but half of the house is still going to be left hanging,” he said, attempting to explain the legalities behind who is responsible for fixing the mess.
Community members said troubles began as early as 1981 when Albert Morgan Sr. and neighbors built a seawall in front of their properties to protect their homes against erosion. Whether Morgan had permission from the county is unclear as approval was made for a revetment to be built.
A concrete-and-rock wall was constructed and is speculated to be the major cause of erosion to the north end of South ‘Aliomanu Road, reducing part of the road to only one lane leading up to the property.
“The first problem is seawalls which benefit neighboring property owners,” said Caren Diamond, a North Shore resident and community activist.
She believes the situation on Kaua‘i is going to be a “re-occurring” problem due to the ongoing modifications to the island’s shorelines.
“When you see constructions that are at risk for failure, it behooves everyone to remove them,” she added.
County spokeswoman Mary Daubert said Anne Noguchi, Monica Enoka, Robert Noguchi Jr., Gertrude DeBusca and Leonard Lizama are the property owners. They could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Attorney Allen Kam, of McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP in Honolulu, who is representing the owners, said he is “not authorized to comment on anything” at this time.
Daubert stated in an e-mail Wednesday that “the lead agency” who is currently supposed to be taking action is the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. She further clarified that any additional information should “come directly from them.”
“We have had numerous conversations with DLNR officials both on Kaua‘i and O‘ahu over the past two days, however we have not been informed of their intended course of action,” she said. “The county has offered assistance relative to any issues involving the Special Management Area.”
It was also unclear at press time what actions the county has taken regarding the issue over the past few years.
Messages left for a DLNR spokesperson were unreturned by press time.
County Planning Director Ian Costa did not return calls seeking comment by press time.
Donald Fujimoto, county engineer, sent a press release late Wednesday afternoon stating that road crews would be doing “repair work” on South ‘Aliomanu Road from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today.
“The project is a temporary measure that involves using heavy equipment to replace the sand bags along the roadway to protect the eroded shoreline,” the release states.
Fujimoto could not be reached for further comment.
• Coco Zickos, business writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com
