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The politics of "smart"

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  • The politics of "smart"

    State officials are trying to convince all County Councils to establish more scientific criteria when defining "shoreline". Using the model Maui is using, they believe this could spare potential builders and homeowners of beachfront developments the agony of losing their assets to the forces of nature.

    "...Maui has already set an example, according to Eversole. "They've gone away from a standard 40-foot setback and they're actually looking at the rate of erosion when they calculate how far from the shoreline you need to set yourself," he said.

    One way used in Maui to find the local erosion rate is through plotting the changes in a beach's shoreline over the years with aerial photographs and then using a formula to estimate the size of the erosion hazard zone.

    The quicker the erosion rate, the larger the hazard zone.

    The state hasn't always had its current approach to looking at the shoreline. Last summer groups, including the Sierra Club, filed a lawsuit to invalidate the Board of Land and Natural Resources' definition of shoreline, which they said gave preference to the vegetation line.
    The lawsuit was dropped after the board agreed to amend its rules.

    Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter, who along with Conger and others in the department yesterday, said that he was pleased with the changes in the way the state certifies the shoreline..."

    Miulang
    Last edited by Miulang; March 10, 2006, 08:19 AM.
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: The politics of "smart"

    I attended many of the meetings in Maui 2-3 years ago when the new shoreline laws were being drafted.

    If your house is destroyed by "ocean effects", and falls under the new setback law(165 ft, i think), it will be nearly impossible to rebuild. Many properties, especially on the Lower Honoapiilani Road, are less than 165 wide from shore to road. So essentially this is a condemnation (taking) without compensation. The same thing happened on a larger scale in the Outer Banks of N. Carolina. Some spots were over 5 miles wide just 100 years ago. Now the widest point is about 2 miles. If you wonder what happened to all those property owners, the simple, and painful, answer is nothing. You can't own the ocean, even if it WAS your land underneath.

    This affects many "old-school" Hawaiian families on Maui as well as many "nouveau-riche" millionaire malahinis. It was fascinating to see those two groups aligned and fighting together on the same battle.

    I am FOR larger setbacks on Big Island. 165 feet on Maui will seem like nothing in 40 years when ocean levels have risen 10 or more inches.

    People argue this and that about global warming. But measuring the ocean levels' rise is irrefutable science.
    FutureNewsNetwork.com
    Energy answers are already here.

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    • #3
      Re: The politics of "smart"

      Originally posted by timkona
      I attended many of the meetings in Maui 2-3 years ago when the new shoreline laws were being drafted.

      If your house is destroyed by "ocean effects", and falls under the new setback law(165 ft, i think), it will be nearly impossible to rebuild. Many properties, especially on the Lower Honoapiilani Road, are less than 165 wide from shore to road. So essentially this is a condemnation (taking) without compensation. The same thing happened on a larger scale in the Outer Banks of N. Carolina. Some spots were over 5 miles wide just 100 years ago. Now the widest point is about 2 miles. If you wonder what happened to all those property owners, the simple, and painful, answer is nothing. You can't own the ocean, even if it WAS your land underneath.

      This affects many "old-school" Hawaiian families on Maui as well as many "nouveau-riche" millionaire malahinis. It was fascinating to see those two groups aligned and fighting together on the same battle.

      I am FOR larger setbacks on Big Island. 165 feet on Maui will seem like nothing in 40 years when ocean levels have risen 10 or more inches.

      People argue this and that about global warming. But measuring the ocean levels' rise is irrefutable science.
      Which is why, to me, it just doesn't make sense to build much more in Hawai'i. What's now at the ocean's edge all over the 'aina will be underwater one day...the ancients (the kanaka maoli, the Native Americans, most aboriginal peoples) believe that people do not own the earth but are stewards of the earth. When you think about it that way, it makes you realize that humans need to be in harmony with nature and then nature will provide. If we continue to believe we are masters of our environment, invariably there will be something that will have nature reclaim the earth. Could be a man made catastrophe or a natural one, but like the cockroach, the earth will figure out a way to protect itself.

      Miulang
      "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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      • #4
        Re: The politics of "smart"

        Could be a man made catastrophe or a natural one, but like the cockroach, the earth will figure out a way to protect itself.

        Save the Earth rings hollow. Perhaps it should be Save the Humans. Now THAT hits home.
        FutureNewsNetwork.com
        Energy answers are already here.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: The politics of "smart"

          Originally posted by timkona
          Could be a man made catastrophe or a natural one, but like the cockroach, the earth will figure out a way to protect itself.

          Save the Earth rings hollow. Perhaps it should be Save the Humans. Now THAT hits home.
          If that's the case, we seem to be doing a very bad job of it, with all the wars, the natural disasters, the famines...

          Miulang
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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