The Navy didn’t get everything it asked for. It doesn’t have a the power to kill subdivision proposals on the Kekaha plain, and its control over more than 5,000 acres of state agricultural lands won’t last forever, but will end when its lease for the Pacific Missile Range Facility ends in 2029.
On May 24, the Board of Land and Natural Resources amended the Navy’s request for a restrictive use easement over 5,371 acres of lands adjacent to PMRF. In addition to deleting the phrase “in perpetuity” and a clause requiring Navy consent to any subdivision of the property, the Land Board added provisions to prevent the Navy from abusing its power on matters requiring its consent. Any written request not responded to by the Navy within 30 days is automatically approved.
The board also approved the addition of 270 acres to the Navy’s existing PMRF lease. The addition serves the dual purpose of helping the Navy meet new setback requirements instituted since September 11, 2001, and allowing the Navy to fund the operation and maintenance of pumps that keep the Kekaha plain from flooding.
Under the new easement, use of the land is limited to:
Also, buildings or other ag-related structures can’t be higher than 30 feet tall, or produce excessive amounts of light (which can interfere with the Navy’s night vision exercises) or electromagnetic radiation. Prohibited structures that may give off electromagnetic radiation include generators, cellular communications towers, and television and radio towers. Frequencies in the government allocated bands and frequencies between 400 and 450 MHz are prohibited.
All construction plans must be reviewed and approved by the Navy. No petrochemicals or nuclear material can be stored within the easement area. Open fires, including crop burning, and overhead power line installation require Navy consent.
Access
Scores of Kaua’i residents attended the Land Board’s May meeting to protest the Navy’s lease and easement requests. Many others, some of them employees or contractors with the Navy, showed up in support.
In addition to the general anti-military resentment typical of hearings on any expansion of the armed forces’ presence in Hawai’i, many testifiers worried specifically that the easement would threaten their access to the coastline.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, PMRF began imposing greater restrictions on members of the public wanting access to the prime surfing and fishing spots fronting the base. One testifier mentioned the Navy’s arrest of a Vietnam veteran who entered the beach without permission.
PMRF, in addition to a few hundred acres near the base of the pali, occupies a long coastal strip from the Kokole Point near the county landfill to Barking Sands near Polihale State Park, and includes Major’s Bay.
“To get to the beach, individuals must obtain a base access pass which requires a certification of ‘no (felony) record’ from the Kaua’i Police Department and signing a 3-page Memorandum of Agreement stating that ‘PMRF access is a privilege, not a right,'” wrote Rayne Regush of Kealia in a letter to the Department of Land and Natural Resources. (And if you are not a Kaua`i resident, forget about any access. According to the Kaua`i Police Department, they can issue the no-felony certifications only to Kaua`i residents.)
Even with the pass, the public is allowed on only 20 to 25 percent of the beach, and only at certain times, says Kekaha resident Bruce Pleas.
Pleas is president of the West Kaua’i Access Committee, an ad hoc group focused on beach and mountain access issues. When the base initially closed the beach, he and other concerned residents met with Congressman Ed Case, who Pleas said told them, “we would have more clout if it was a committee. Today, there are about five to eight core people,” who Pleas says have “general support” from the community.
Before the Land Board granted the easement, the Navy had already shut the public out of “80 percent of the good fishing area,” Pleas says. “Gathering areas at Nohili point, we can’t get to.”
Gates have already been erected on the main road to Polihale beach, and Pleas expects more in nine months, which is when the Navy is expected to complete its surveying and subdivision process. With the restrictive use easement, Pleas says Kauaians will no longer be able to use old cane roads to reach Polihale, but will have to use a badly neglected state road.
Navy representatives have often said that the restrictive easement is intended only to keep the area in agriculture and protect it from incompatible development. In fact, the easement document does address access for the 275 acres that make up Parcels D and E of the “limited access easement” area (D and E are the parcels closest to the PMRF lease areas). The document states that no public trails or roads are allowed to be constructed and no one other than the ag tenants or employees and associates are allowed without the BLNR chairperson’s permission.
How these restrictions will affect coastal access remains to be seen. In any case, Pleas says, “people just want their beach access restored. They understand about [Pacific Missile Range Facility] operations and know that they can’t be there all the time, but the majority of the people, if there are no military operations, want it opened so they can go fish and camp and they’re willing to go through the process.”
— Teresa Dawson
Volume 15, Number 1 July 2004
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