The recent cancellation of plans to construct a new marina on the Ewa Beach coastline of Oahu by Haseko, Inc., the developer of the Ocean Pointe and Hoakalei Resort communities, continues to draw a negative response from both recreational boaters and those who purchased homes with the promise of a nearby 1,400-slip marina.
Similar to communities found up and down the Mainland’s West Coast, the developer’s original plan contained residential housing, potential commercial interests, as well as water-oriented recreational opportunities, which were all related to an active boating environment. The potential revenue that would be generated by the creation of the new marina and planned community was estimated in the mid-1990s to be some $2 billion.
One of the biggest hurdles for Haseko, was not obtaining a dredging permit, as was reported by some, but rather receiving a permit to cut an access channel from the marina dredging site, through the shoreline, to the open ocean. This was due in part to a concern as to whether Native Hawaiian gathering rights could be affected if the shoreline was breached at that location. Eventually, gathering rights were closely studied during the public and contested case hearings and the issue was resolved in favor of the development.
There were also accusations and allegations being made early on that the marina site was full of religious shrines and burial sites. Those concerns were overruled when both the state Historic Preservation Division’s archaeologists and the Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist revisited a number of sites and determined the allegations that had been made couldn’t be substantiated.
In fact, the assessment of most anyone who visited that area of Ewa Beach in the mid-1990s was that it was a junk-strewn tangle of cane and hou bushes, along a rocky shoreline, guarded by World War II concrete pillboxes, and had very little redeeming value.
The area is now substantially changed after Haseko excavated a huge marina-like hole in the ground that is separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of land. This, the company claims, will become a recreational lagoon for residents rather than a functional marina with a channel to the sea.
This major change in plans becomes something of a disappointment to Hawaii’s recreational boaters, but it may prompt a court challenge by those homebuyers who purchased houses in the development because they were told they would have access to a nearby marina.
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