Samsung Billionaire Allowed to Build New Seawall in Kahala
Coastal experts have warned that the city’s action could lead to greater beach erosion on Oahu.
As Sophie Cocke reported just聽last week, a South Korean billionaire has sought the city’s permission to build a wall to protect his beachfront property in Kahala.
On Tuesday, our media partner KITV reported that聽Samsung executive聽Lee Kun-hee got the OK from Honolulu’s聽Department of Planning and Permitting.
“The shoreline setback requirement is always in effect when someone wants to build in the shoreline setback,” said聽DPP聽Deputy Director Art Challacombe. “In most properties it’s 40-feet, but not all properties.”
What is left of Kahala Beach disappears at high tide.
Sophie Cocke/Civil Beat
As Cocke reported, critics say approval of Lee’s request from the聽city would signal聽“a destructive trend” when it comes to allowing聽seawalls and other structures that harden the shoreline.
Lee’s two properties were formerly owned by聽Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto, the guy that put up all those weird statues on one of his Kahala properties.
Kawamoto eventually sold his properties to Alexander & Baldwin.
