Over the past couple of weeks, the Kahala Hotel and Resort has stopped prepositioning its beach chairs on the sand fronting the hotel.
It was formerly their standard practice to move all their beach chairs onto the sand first thing in the morning. By about 6:30 a.m., there would be several rows of chairs on the beach, including some with fold-up canopies, others without, along with small tables to hold drinks or other supplies.
This was standard practice, although it appeared to be specifically prohibited by terms of the hotel’s revocable permit for recreational use of the area fronting the hotel.
The chairs were moved back off the sand and onto the grass after the hotel withdrew its pending application for a permanent easement to replace the revocable permit. The prepositioning of chairs had become an issue for critics of the easement application.
Here’s the way the chairs used to be laid out in the morning.
![[text]](http://ilind.net/images_2017/kahala%20hotel/kahala_hotel-7.jpg)
But here’s what it looked like this week. There were no chairs set out on the sand. All were back on the grass in front of the low rise wing of the hotel.
This photo is taken from the far end of the hotel, over towards the golf course looking back towards the main part of the hotel. It’s the opposite view of the earlier photos. But you can see that the beach has been cleared.
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Wow. Had no idea how intrusive all that stuff was. Of course the whole area is still feels intimidating those not staying there.
and so it should remain. thank you for your vigilance on this issue. i shared it with the other person i know in that neighborhood. one for the people!!
I see a future episode of “Midsomer Murders” out of this entire issue …….
Excellent post to a local issue that deserves more scrutiny and attention. Ko’olina has this same issue and it is worse now than ever at one particular cove. Blanketing a beach with lounge chairs that the public is not allowed to use, severely limiting parking, and regulating the activities that are allowed on the beach (banning tents and maybe also coolers?) effectively restricts public beach access and public recreation. Public beaches are something Hawaii needs to celebrate and stand behind.
Nice to see it get dialed back.
Far too often local fishermen and others are being made to feel unwelcome on the shorelines where they, and their predecessors, had accessed for decades.
In Hawaii, shoreline and ocean resources are for everyone. Not just a privileged few.
I suppose it is only fair that getting the updated photo involved a trip off of the public beach and onto the hotel property? Heh.
Actually not. The beach is only part of the public property used by the hotel. A photo posted earlier showed a sign just a few feet in front of the downstairs restaurant which marked the beginning of hotel property.
So even though the hotel moved this stuff off of the sand it is all still on public property? Not much of a public “win,” then.
Mahalo Ian for the followup. I’m sure your focus on this issue is one of the reasons they withdrew their application. Did you ever get any answers to your questions: How many weddings does it conduct? How often? Are there limits to the number of weddings in a day? How many people generally take part in the average ceremony? How many beach chair rentals? How many tents are set up on public property? I would still be interested in know those answers.