Honolulu’s City Council is right to be concerned about sea level rise and climate change, along with their effects on Waikiki’s shoreline hotels.

Climate change is already disrupting and deteriorating conditions along Hawaii’s shorelines, with encroaching ocean waters, receding beaches and unprecedented weather patterns. It’s basic common sense to inquire — and require assurance — as to whether Waikiki’s alluring, ocean-facing hotels are built to remain sturdy while surrounding conditions change, both above and below ground.

To that end, Resolution 207, introduced by Council Chair Tommy Waters, seeks to amend the city’s Land Use Ordinance to require a structural inspection for hotels built on a shoreline lot in the Waikiki Special District within three years of the bill’s adoption, and again every fourth year. That resolution, or a measure that gets the city to a similar threshold of informed supervision, deserves support.

The proposed resolution has drawn resistance from some hotel owners within the special district, who protest that they already inspect their own properties and are on top of the issue. However, if hotel owners already undertake regular inspections of their properties’ structural integrity and analyze this information through the lens of climate change and its stressors, it should be simple enough to provide the information sought.

Hoteliers, who hold a financial stake in these shorefront jewels, should share the city’s concern for the future security of these properties. Cooperating with the city to share information about the stability of these structures will not only serve to reassure potential visitors; it will also help Honolulu’s government make judicious decisions about its own necessary actions — for example, beach replenishment or other means of protecting Waikiki, Oahu’s primary tourist zone and an essential part of the island’s economy.

The city also is taking other action to be informed, and prepared, for the impacts of climate change and sea level rise on Waikiki. In August, Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) initiated a pilot project, “Adapt Waikiki 2050,” to study effects on the beachfront, committing nearly $400,000 to the effort. Three engineering and construction management firms have been retained.

The city’s study, planned for completion by late 2025, will present “a unified outlook for city infrastructure, in light of anticipated impacts,” including stresses already being observed during king tides and storms bringing heavy rain. It will serve as a resource for “coordinating long-range infrastructure adaptation,” DPP says.

So, Resolution 207’s requirement that shoreline hotels undergo regular structural inspections complements “Adapt Waikiki 2050.” And rather than the three-year window for structural inspections or information-sharing, as the resolution now proposes, the Council should explore whether two years is feasible, to align with the DPP study. Information provided by hotels would naturally figure into city planning and decisionmaking.

Resolution 207 requires owners of shoreline hotels to conduct structural inspections — and if problems are discovered, would allow DPP to set a timeline for repairs, with penalties if hotels do not comply. That’s proper: The city should require any work necessary to keep Waikiki’s structures safe and stable.

If, however, the inspections requirement “duplicates existing practices for hotel owners,” as Sean Dee, Outrigger Hospitality Group’s executive vice president, has responded, it seems feasible that the city measure could be reasonably adapted to make use of hotels’ own assessments, if they properly address the areas of concern.

In this new age of shifting seas and sands, coastline hotel owners should be prepared to provide reliable information on their properties’ structural integrity to the city, as a matter of safety and policy. But such legislation should be mindfully crafted, to avoid unnecessary and duplicative expense.