KĀ‘ANAPALI — After a powerful storm in March caused damage to the shoreline, a West Maui resort put together plans to install a temporary 360-foot “erosion protection skirt.”

But those plans for the Hyatt Regency Maui now are on hold after community members raised concerns that the project would alter access to nearby popular Hanaka‘ō‘ō Beach Park on the north end of Lahaina town.

“We are hopeful that this entire coastline will reinflate with time, but in the meantime we have safety concerns with public access use of this beachwalk,” explained Chris Conger, vice president of Sea Engineering, which is handling the erosion work for the resort.

But community members worry that the project, which includes installing a single layer of geotextile fabric fastened on the sand, will increase sand loss on the beach and impede access to local canoe clubs.

They also are concerned that the short-term fix may end up being permanent, saying Hyatt put in similar temporary erosion measures more than a decade ago that were never removed.

“I don’t trust when they say it’s going to be temporary,” said Tiare Lawrence, who grew up surfing and paddling in the nearby waters.

On Friday, Lawrence and longtime shoreline access advocate Kai Nishiki met with Conger, coastal experts, and state and county officials, including Board of Land and Natural Resources Acting Chair Ryan Kanaka‘ole, to visit the project site and discuss possible solutions.

“I’m not going to make a decision in this room,” Kanaka‘ole said in a Hyatt boardroom after a visit to the site. “I want to discuss internally with the folks here, and I want to get as much information as possible.”

Last month, Kanaka‘ole granted the Hyatt an emergency permit for temporary erosion control methods. They included the erosion protection skirt and “minor sand pushing to create a stable slope” and prevent undermining of the beachwalk, according to the resort’s application.

Conger told the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative that heavy rain and flooding during the first Kona low storm on the weekend of March 13 caused the stream that empties into the beach to cut a new channel through the sand. Elevated water levels, a south swell and super-saturated sand from days of raining created “a massive reduction in beach sand volume.”

The beach dropped by about 4 feet and undermined the concrete walkway fronting the resort, exposing root balls and utility lines.

“The whole beach deflated,” Conger said Friday along a section of the ocean still brown with sediment and sand. “In the years that we’ve been studying this area, we haven’t seen an event this significant.”

In a letter approving the Hyatt’s request, Kanaka‘ole said the department “has been cautious about issuing emergency authorizations to address shoreline erosion,” especially because they bypass public comment and environmental review. But he also noted how historic the Kona storms were and that the impacts “exceeded the long-term erosion that has been observed along this shoreline.”

“We also recognize that shorelines are dynamic environments, and that the shoreline in this area should naturally reinflate over the coming months,” Kanaka‘ole said. “As such, we are comfortable issuing a temporary, six-month authorization for the placement of the erosion control skirt.”

The temporary structures would have to be removed no later than Sept. 20. 

When Nishiki, the executive director of the Maui Nui Resiliency Hub, found out about the permit earlier this month, she said she reached out to the Hyatt to see if they would reconsider. But the hotel was already scheduled to start work on April 6.

That day, Nishiki and Lawrence held a dune restoration educational event at the beach in hopes of halting the project so community members could have input. Nishiki said they agreed to a 10-day pause during which the Hyatt could still move some sand.

Conger said they pushed some sand up the beach, cut back exposed utility lines and cleaned up some trees in preparation for the erosion skirt.

“It’s a negligible impact,” Conger said. “The function of an erosion protection skirt isn’t to stop wholescale changes along the coastline. It’s to prevent the small nibbling of waves at the base of an erosion skirt. … Once the beach is reinflated then you can take it out.”

Both Nishiki and Lawrence said they would be OK with moving sand but not with an erosion skirt, which Lawrence described as “a plastic seawall” that would harden the shoreline and increase erosion.

“There is a broader concern that emergency permitting pathways are being used to advance significant shoreline interventions during a time when communities are focused on disaster response and recovery,” Nishiki said in an email asking other community groups for support on Tuesday.

But public opposition isn’t the only thing keeping the project in limbo. Collette Cardoza, environmental planning supervisor with the Maui County Department of Planning, said that the project also needs a special management area permit because part of the work would veer into county jurisdiction as well. State jurisdiction covers nearshore waters and everything up to the debris line on shore, which would have allowed for sand pushing but not the section of the erosion skirt that would have to be fastened higher up on the beach.

If the Hyatt had gone forward with the full project, “we could have sent our enforcement out there and we could have put a notice of warning on the property,” Cardoza said.

After the storm, the Hyatt also installed temporary wooden walls blocking the beach access path from its parking lot and at the end of the walkway fronting the resort. Cardoza said those structures were not authorized and need to be removed because they are no longer necessary for safety purposes and are cutting off beach access.

“It’s gotta go. It should be out right now, immediately,” Cardoza told Conger, who said he would pass the message along to the Hyatt.

Hyatt representatives could not be reached for comment by Friday evening and an attorney for the Hyatt at the site visit on Friday said he was not authorized to comment.

Conger said after the site visit that they would be discussing next steps and “definitely” planned to get a special management area permit from the county. His team wants to keep pushing sand as needed, but Kanaka‘ole said they would need to ask to amend the emergency permit, which only allows for “minor sand pushing,” not routine work.

Community members are especially protective of Hanaka‘ō‘ō Beach and the nearby shoreline because the area serves as an important gathering place — home to three West Maui canoe clubhouses, the site of state paddling championships, and a popular place for surfing, fishing and cultural practices.

“Really, that is the last place for locals to gather in West Maui where they don’t feel pushed out by tourism,” Nishiki said.

There, coastal erosion isn’t new. Lawrence said Kā‘anapali has been a dynamic beach for as long as she can remember: “One day you can lose 50 feet and the next day you can gain another 100 feet.”

“You gotta let the same come and go where it wants to go, and the reality is the hotels need to accept the fact that erosion is a natural process,” Lawrence said. “If we’re going to have beaches for future generations to enjoy, then the hotels need to accept the fact that managed retreat is the most viable long-term option.”

The Hyatt has tried to stave off erosion over the years. In July 2015, the Department of Land and Natural Resources granted the Hyatt temporary authorization to put in 200 feet of erosion protection skirt for six months to prevent the collapse of the beachwalk, according to Kanaka‘ole’s letter. The department approved two more six-month extensions in January and July 2016. 

In September 2016, the department gave emergency authorization to replace the temporary structure with new materials and extend it by another 100 feet. The extended structure was originally slated to last a year but was also granted multiple extensions. 

In January 2022, the department again granted emergency authorization to replace the temporary structure with new materials that would remain in place for two years. This project also got an extension through July 2027. 

Conger said having the new erosion control measures in place for the long term is “not the goal.” He pointed out that the area where the erosion skirt was installed over a decade ago is “a pinch point where the beach is chronically narrow.” The area where they now want to put in another erosion skirt is more open and fluctuates in size more often. He acknowledged that the beach would naturally recover but that the undermined walkway poses a risk now.

Putting in erosion control measures could prove a “win-win” preserving critical access while still allowing the beach to recover, he said.

Tara Owens, coastal processes and hazards specialist with the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant program, said while the erosion skirt is more permeable than a standard seawall made of concrete or rocks, there’s no telling whether the beach would be able to handle six months without negative effects.

“The concern is that it will limit the natural recovery of the beach, which is what we always hope to achieve if we can,” Owens said.

Standard seawalls are known to lead to beach loss because the energy of the waves bouncing off the hard structure carries the sand away, Owens said. They also exacerbate erosion farther down the beach because the waves wrap around the end of the seawall and hit unprotected areas.

Owens said Maui faced a similar dilemma after a big storm in 1980. Many seawalls on the island were permitted right after the storm, but eventually the beaches recovered and there was no need for a permanent structure. However, now those seawalls remain and are contributing to beach loss.

“So you want to avoid that outcome if you have at least some breathing room to stop and wait to see how the beach does,” Owens said. “My feeling is that we do have that opportunity in this case.”

Both Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin and State Sen. Angus McKelvey, whose district includes West Maui, raised concerns about the project and urged the department to reconsider the permit.

Multiple community groups also have expressed opposition to the project, including Lahaina Strong, the Lahaina Community Land Trust and the Kahana Canoe Club, which has a clubhouse at Hanaka‘ō‘ō Beach Park.

The Kahana Canoe Club said it has had to relocate several times over its 50-year history due to changes that have included erosion and reduced access related to development and shoreline armoring. Now, the club is worried the Hyatt’s temporary erosion measures will become long-term shoreline hardening that could once again impact the beach they call home. 

“The club recognizes the challenges posed by recent storm events and the importance of ensuring safety,” it said in a letter to the department. “At the same time, decisions made along this shoreline have lasting impacts on cultural practices, ocean access and the character of the coast.”