(Video by Craig T. Kojima / [email protected]) CRAIG T. KOJIMA / [email protected] Beachgoers at the Kahala Hotel & Resort stroll on a public access area. The state has restricted the hotel’s use of public areas around its property. CRAIG T. KOJIMA / [email protected] The Kahala Hotel & Resort’s new permit allows it to keep 40 items in the public area, including cabanas, showers, trash cans, canoes, beach chairs and storage. A decision by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources could mean that the Kahala Hotel &Resort can now legally use more of the public lands adjacent to its property for commercial purposes. The board agreed Friday to allow the hotel’s owner, Resorttrust Hawaii LLC, to renew and amend its revocable permit, which expires at year’s end. The new permit allows the property to keep 40 items in the public area, including cabanas, showers, trash cans, hammocks, canoes, beach chairs and storage. The board also approved allowing the resort to overflow its restaurant seating into the public space 14 days a year. The board required the Kahala Hotel to allocate two 20-foot buffers around its hotel seating to allow the public to traverse from mauka to makai. The board clarified that the resort isn’t allowed to hold weddings or offer surf lessons or boating in the permitted area. But the board said Resorttrust won’t be able to act on the new terms of its permit until it gets city approval. Once that happens the state will raise the revocable… [Read full story]
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