Victory for
p. 24 · Read in the full issue
Hawaii
Victory for Sandy Beach
By Ed Rampell
AFTER a long struggle involving a
petition drive, plebiscite, court
rulings, and charges of high level corruption, the Honolulu City Council has unanimously voted in favour of Bill 170, killing a proposed housing development across from Sandy Beach. The bill changes the land status designation of the property across the popular beach from residential to pre servation. This downzoning prevents Bedford Properties (formerly Kaiser De velopment Company) from building 171 luxury homes on 31 acres of land owned by the Bishop Estate. Thus, one of the last stretches of virgin coastline on con gested Oahu, where a view of Diamond Head unobstructed by high rises is as rare as a pure Hawaiian, will retain its unspoiled scenic beauty.
The battle to save Sandy Beach, a
favourite local body surfing and boogie
boarding site, crystallized and galvanized
opposition to Oahu’s overkill overde velopment. The City Council’s controver sial 1987 vote to allow the construction of housing across from the beach sparked a sort of Children’s Crusade of citizen surfers versus powerful landown ers and developers. Grassroots activists, called the Save Sandy Beach Initiative Coalition, rallied against the project, Through a last minute petitioning cam paign, the Sandy Beachers arranged for the public to vote on the issue via a pie biscite during the November 1988 gener
al elections. 164,000 Oahu voters cast their ballots against the development and in favour of the initiative to save Sandy Beach. They won by a 2 to 1 margin, winning in every voting precinct on the island.
But legal loopholes remained, and Sandy Beachers allege that behind the scenes power-plays and backroom deals transpired. On May 17, the Hawaii Sup reme Court upheld a March 31, 1988 Circuit Court ruling that county councils alone have the power to decide land sta tus zoning, not voter initiatives. This rendered the Sandy Beach referendum not legally binding and threw the rezon ing ball back into the Honolulu City Council’s court.
The Honolulu City Council action downzoning Sandy Beach caps Hawaii’s most popular protest movement in re cent times, but activists stress that their struggle is far from over. The develop ers may build yet another Oahu golf course at the East Oahu site. At the City Council meeting, Sandy Beachers and several councilmen announced that they will lobby the State Legislature to pass laws allowing direct democracy to deter mine development at Hawaii by legaliz ing land zoning by voters’ initiatives.
Other United States states permit these popular referendums to have the force of law, on zoning and other issues. Even Morgado says he will support changing the law in order to allow these plebis cites. And Councilman Neil Abercrombie said Hawaii where 72 private land owners own almost half the State needs “land reform”. In the meantime, the people have won a battle, if not the war, saving Sandy Beach and triumphing over private property and profits at Oahu. D
Sandy Beach: voted in favour of housing development.