Neighbors in a Mokuleia community are demanding that the city reject giving after-the-fact approval for a series of illegally constructed sea walls along state coastal property which is blocking a designated public right of way to the shoreline.

Two adjoining property owners on Hoomana Place in Mokuleia — Grand View Apartments Inc. and Fred and Holly Clark — want a shoreline setback variance from the city for the sea walls, which were constructed in late 2013 and early 2014 without any approvals from the state or city.

Kathy Sokugawa, acting director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting, has 45 calendar days to make a decision.

Several areas residents, as well state Sen. Gil Riviere (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua), told DPP officials at a public hearing Friday that the illegal shoreline structures had been allowed to stay up long enough while public access was being blocked.

State law requires the government to protect the public’s right to access the shoreline and lays out penalties for private property owners who hinder the access.

But Peter Young, a representative for the applicants, said the neighbors should take up the access matter with the city.

“The public access is under the control of the city,” Young said. “I believe it’s their decision to have that access open or not.”

In August 2015, however, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources fined the owners $31,000 for failing to obtain state approvals for the series of walls. As part of the decision, the board ordered the landowners to come up with a remediation plan to reopen the beach right of way and to obtain approvals from the city to carry through with the plan.

City Parks and Recreation officials did not respond Friday to a request for comment.

At issue is what adds up to a 130-foot-long sea wall consisting of a cemented boulder revetment topped with concrete rubble masonry, between 9 and 12 feet tall.

The sea wall is blocking a 10-foot-wide public access path that separates the Grand View and Clark properties and previously allowed the public to get from Hoomana Place to the beach. The alley is formally known as Public Beach Right of Way 255A. The city later installed a locked gate blocking the front of the access way.

Kelly LaPorte said Grand View Apartments, which originally owned both properties on either side of the right of way, began modifying one of the existing sea walls and excavating portions of the public path, making it more susceptible to erosion, despite not obtaining permits for such work.

The unauthorized work led to increased depletion of sand from the public beach, LaPorte said. In January 2014, the following month, there was a storm that led to what the landowner described as “an emergency,” he said. The landowner then “over a period of several days, if not several weeks, brought truckload after truckload after truckload of boulders and just dumped them on the beach” despite no authority to do so, he said.

Later, bulldozers were brought in to reinforce the sea walls — again without obtaining any permits, LaPorte said.

Emergency responders were blocked from accessing the beach through the right of way to look for survivors following the crash of two Marine helicopters in April 2016, he said.

“No one can access the beach because of this,” LaPorte said. “I’m very concerned about what our public institutions have failed to do in terms of protecting the public’s right of access not just to the sea, but also laterally along the sea.”

Area resident Patricia Weaver said while she feels for the landowners’ desire to protect their lands, those with property along the shoreline are asking too much of government by expecting it to remedy problems the landowner or nature have caused.

“When does it stop? When does the state take a stand and say, ‘The taxpayers don’t have to pay for this,’” Weaver said. “You made the decision to live by the ocean, you have to live with the ocean.’”

But Young, the representative for the applicants, said the issue of public access and his clients’ request for approval of the sea walls are two separate issues.

“As I understand, this process is about whether a variance should be issued for the sea walls on the property; it is not about the public access,” said Young, a former state Land Board chairman. He noted that all requests for sea wall variances in recent years to the Kaena Point side of the properties have been granted “because of the erosion that’s been going on on their properties.”

The walls had to be constructed because the original walls were about to collapse, Young said after the meeting.

“I sympathize with the people about their concerns for public access, but that’s not what this decision is about,” he said. “I would encourage them to deal with the Department of Parks and Recreation, who has control of that public access point. That is not the applicants’ responsibility.”

The applicants have acknowledged their violations and dealt with them through the state Land Board, Young said.