Resilience has been a common theme in Hawaii’s state and local policymaking ever since climate change became a government focal point in recent years.
The Honolulu City Council’s move to strengthen Oahu’s resilience in the face of sea-level rise, a looming crisis here, is a long-overdue part of that effort. The proposal at hand, to enlarge shoreline setback for coastal buildings, must be enacted.
This change in regulation, if Bill 41 passes as it should, would apply to new construction, requiring that buildings be set back at least 60 feet from the shorelines, an increase from the current 40 feet. Depending on the size and location of the property, the setback line could be up to 130 feet from the shoreline.
Zones of wider setback would be locations with more significant annual coastal erosion rates, as shown on the Hawaii Shoreline Study map, viewable online (808ne.ws/erosionmap). The calculation is to multiply the erosion rate by 70 and then add that to the new 60-feet minimum.
The exception would be Honolulu’s primary urban center, extending from Pearl Harbor through Waialae Beach Park in Kahala. In that zone, the setback required would simply increase to 60 feet. City officials have said that shorelines in much of that area already has been hardened and is less vulnerable to erosion.
However, Chip Fletcher, who directs the Climate Resilience Collaborative at the University of Hawaii, has raised a valid point about that exclusion.
In testimony submitted to the Council Committee on Zoning and Planning, Fletcher said the development pattern in the Kahala and Diamond Head sections of the primary urban center actually more closely mirrors that of neighboring East Honolulu, where the wider setback area would apply. It then does make more sense to treat those easternmost parts of the primary urban center in the same way, as susceptible to more coastal erosion.
The official testimony submitted on the bill has been light, and it would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2024. Already, though, there are deep feelings about the impact of this rule on shoreline property owners, necessary as the change is to meet current sea-level changes.
That much is already evident in homeowners’ push to erect their own barriers along the beach — structures that can be problematic by simply redirecting the erosion elsewhere.
Bill 41 would be the county’s response to a 2020 state law that seeks to strengthen Hawaii’s coastal zone management policy and to reduce residential exposure to coastal hazards. And under a 2021 law, sellers with property in a sea-level-rise exposure area must disclose that fact to a buyer.
These laws, in addition to Bill 41, complicate homeowners’ property values and potential sales. City officials will have to deal with the inevitable pushback.
One strategy within the Council’s grasp would be to enact Bill 10, which would establish “transfer of development rights.” This provision would incentivize moving out of the shoreline area by making existing development rights transferable to another location.
Council member Esther Kia‘aina rightly pointed out the need for further discussion of ways to mitigate the impact. Despite the recent congressional passage of climate-change funding, there’s still work to be done at the federal level, too.
For example, a new report from Duke University’s Resilience Roadmap Project identifies the need for the Biden administration to develop a national resilience plan that could streamline local governments’ access to federal mitigation programs.
That is the longer-term challenge to be met. The more immediate question of “What should the Council do?” already has an answer: Pass Bill 41.
