Supporting North Shore First Responder Center Over a Tourist Mall
The purpose of this campaign is to prevent the overdevelopment at Shark's Cove on Oahu's North Shore and to protect this Marine Life Conservation District across the street from polluted runoff, litter and overuse of this protected area.
Surfrider Foundation Oʻahu Chapter, as part of the Save Sharks Cove Alliance, is asking the City and County of Honolulu to purchase the Hanapohaku lands at Sharks Cove and, in place of the proposed mall, build a North Shore First Responder Center.
In January 2019, the Save Sharks Cove Alliance (SSCA) (of which Surfrider Foundation Oʻahu Chapter joined in 2019) filed a public interest lawsuit against the City and County of Honolulu and the current developer – Hanapohaku LLC – with two primary goals:
1. to ensure that proper planning, permitting, and enforcement processes that protect the integrity and character of the community and the environment are transparent, robust, and fully followed;
2. to ensure that adequate environmental review and monitoring is properly completed and mitigation is fully in place prior to any development to avoid adverse significant and cumulative impacts on the community, culture, and environment.
The SSCA believes that the new development designed by Hanapohaku doesn't adhere to the above goals and poses a threat to water quality and character of the community. The potential impacts on Sharks Cove, the Pūpūkea Beach Park, and the Pūpūkea Marine Life Conservation District MLCD, and the community include: overuse of protected areas, litter, polluted surface and subsurface runoff, freshwater or ocean contamination, traffic congestion, risky pedestrian crossings of the highway, noise, and odors. While we did reach a settlement agreement with Hanapohaku, there are still concerns about future plans for this parcel. Surfrider Foundation is therefore strongly supporting the purchase of the land by the County and development of a North Shore First Responder Center.