David Y. Ige

HONOLULU — The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association are planning a public information meeting on the proposed project to repair/replace the existing Royal Hawaiian groin.

The meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at the Waikīkī Community Center (WCC), 310 Paoakalani Avenue, Honolulu. This public information meeting will provide the latest updates on the proposed project for the Royal Hawaiian groin and its scope and timeframe.  State project managers and project engineers will be at the meeting to answer questions and obtain community feedback on the project approach. (*Note:  Parking is very limited at the WCC please consider alternative transportation or street parking.  Additional metered parking is also available at the Honolulu zoo parking lot.)

The existing Royal Hawaiian groin, located between the Waikiki Sheraton and the Royal Hawaiian hotels, is in an extremely deteriorated condition. Its failure could result in the destabilization of over 1,700 feet of sandy shoreline located to the east of the groin.

The objective of the proposed project is to maintain the current beach so that it can provide its intended recreational and aesthetic benefits, facilitate lateral access along the shore, and provide a first line of defense to the backshore in the event of storm wave attack. The project would be designed so as to maintain the approximate beach width of the 2012 Waikiki beach maintenance shoreline nourishment project.  No enlargement of the beach is proposed at this time.

Four options for a new groin are proposed:
1) a new 180-foot-long rock L or T-head groin,
2) a new 280-foot-long rock L or T-head groin,
3) adaptive re-use of the existing groin as the core of a new 160-foot-long rock L-head groin, and
4) a new160-foot-long vertical concrete wall groin.

Selection of the preferred option will be made at a later date by the Board of Land and Natural Resources, following coordination and review of the Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA). Expected environmental impacts of the four options are relatively similar.  The expected timeframe for construction is dependent on regulatory approvals but could be sometime in late 2017.

The Draft Environmental Assessment document is available for public review and comment at the Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC):
https://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Oahu/2010s/2016-01-23-OA-5B-DEA-Royal-Hawaiian-Groin-Replacement.pdf.

The DLNR will accept written comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment until March 7, 2016.

Additional project information is available at:
HTTP://DLNR.HAWAII.GOV/OCCL/ROYAL-HAWAIIAN-GROIN/

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Images of the current groin and visualization of the four options are available at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/33zp2h323dba49c/AAA4iC-GvS6aB1BaK6fqUcZaa?dl=0

Photos by Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

Media Contact:
Deborah Ward
DLNR Communications specialist
Phone: (808) 587-0320