When developer Kyo-Ya first announced plans to tear down the Moana Surfrider's Diamond Head Tower and replace it with a tower three times higher, community members thought the City Council wouldn't allow it. After all, the proposed structure violated Waikiki's zoning laws and encroached on its public beaches. But in a curious decision, the City Council voted unanimously to grant their requests. Subsequently, Kyo-Ya went to the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) to obtain a variance from Waikikiƒs Special District zoning laws. Once again, it was assumed that the agency would be forced to deny their request for a variance. But Kyo-Ya, owned by Cerberus, a powerful and wealthy hedge fund company, has friends in high places. Kyo-Ya claimed the zoning laws afforded them "hardships," so the DPP granted them their variance.
Concerned community members, unwilling to be strong-armed by greedy developers, took matters into their own hands. This past January a coalition of environmental groups and concerned citizens filed an appeal against the DPP's decision to allow Kyo-Ya Hotels to build their proposed 26-story hotel/condo tower and swimming pool on Waikiki Beach. Refuting the "hardships" claimed by the developers, representatives from Hawaii's Thousand Friends, the Surfrider Foundation, KAHEA and the Ka Iwi/Sandy Beach Coalition, along with preservation advocate Michelle Spalding Matson, submitted their case to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The coalition is in opposition to Kyo-Ya Resort & Hotels' request for a variance that would allow for a 60-foot encroachment into the 100-foot shoreline setback zone required by Waikiki Special District law, which would literally devour part of Kuhio Beachpark. The non-profit organizations represent many members and beach users who will be dramatically affected by the towering development and fear the precedent it could set for existing zoning laws and future developments as other hotels try to claim the same right to encroach into the coastal height setback.
"Thirty five years ago, the city was clear when it adopted the Waikiki Special District guidelines as lawÐno more towers on the beach," says Hawaii's Thousand Friends spokesperson Donna Wong. "With a lot of foresight, the city of Honolulu envisioned a generous Waikiki shoreline with reasonable building setbacks from the public beach. But now Kyo-Ya is claiming as a hardship that they should be allowed to violate the existing height and shoreline setback requirements because the State made a dubious and impossible promise to widen the beach by 180 feet way back in 1965. Yet no past sand replenishment projects or upcoming ones can guarantee widening the shoreline that much; so their argument is based on a phantom condition."
"Kyo-Ya claims that they are denied 'reasonable use of the land or building' due to the current zoning conditions and the narrowness of the property, yet they knew these facts when they purchased the property, which could be completely renovated without the need for a variance," explains Ka Iwi/Sandy Beach Coalition spokesperson Gary Weller.
Building so close to the beach is not in the long-term best interest of Hawai'i's people, visitors or Waikiki itself. Given the impacts of hurricanes, tsunamis and sea level rise, disregarding the established shoreline setback seems foolish. While other high-end hotels like the Halekulani have done an impressive job of abiding by the requirements, this kind of variance allows Kyo-Ya to disregard the existing laws. The Zoning Board of Appeals will hear the coalition's case on April 21. The challenge, of course, is that the coalition of environmental non-profits will be facing a powerful corporation with deep pockets and high-paid lawyers. Arm your slingshot David.