Posted in the North Shore News “Real Estate Trends” by Richard D. Sterman (R) | October 10, 2024

Another home near Sunset Beach started to fall into the ocean and the rest of the house has now been bulldozed and hauled away.

Other homes along that same beach are in jeopardy of the same fate, therefore, both government and community groups are looking at this area and searching for solutions! State House Bill #2248 dealing with this issue has passed and Governor Green signed it into law on July 6th.  It appropriates $1 million to study that area’s sand erosion problem and is looking for actual “Solutions”.

This will be the first step in, hopefully, finding ways to save our beaches and preserve our shorelines (including our houses, backyards, trees, etc.).

One U.H. geologist, Chip Fletcher, says there won’t be any beaches left within a hundred years…therefore he recommends “Managed Retreat”.  Many others say, there are solutions… including Sand Replenishment (as they do in Waikiki) and Random Rock Revetments (as they are now doing to save the highways on the Windward side).

I am strongly in favor of solutions that preserve our shorelines using methods that help in maintaining our sandy beaches and protecting our dunes and shoreline homes.

If our sand dunes are allowed to go – all our houses go as well all the way to the highway!  At that point we know what the State will do… they will protect the highway with Random Rock Revetments which are known to be the best solution.

Why not let the owners install and pay for these protective solutions… and do it NOW … instead of waiting till the ocean is lapping at our only way of getting in and out of the North Shore?

Many of us are concerned and we created a Non-Profit Group called “Shoreline Preservation Coalition.” We helped in formulating that State Bill and we have our own engineers that will be involved and giving input into this study.  We plan to find ‘solutions’ to this obvious and dangerous erosion problem!

If you would like to join this group, contribute or just stay informed, please email me directly:  Richard@Sterman.com

Richard Sterman has been serving North Shore’s real estate needs for over 45 years. He is the owner and Principal Broker of Sterman Realty, the largest full-service real estate office on this side of Oahu. You can contact Richard by emailing Richard@Sterman.com, going to www.Sterman.com or by calling (808) 638-8600.

Posted on the North Shore News “Real Estate Trends” by Richard D. Sterman (R) | July 18, 2024

In the early 90’s many of us feared that the Joe Leong By-Pass Road would cause visitors to “By-Pass” our little town and we would become a ‘Ghost Town’.  A few concerned residents and I created a Surf Museum to put Haleiwa on the map… and it did.  The North Shore Surf & Cultural Museum was created to help the local community and thanks to the North Shore Marketplace that gave us free rent, our Surf & Cultural Museum was able to stay in business for over a dozen years!

Now – the success of Haleiwa Town as a visitor destination is apparent… which leads us to have a new fear:  WE may be the ones that will be “By-Passing” (or not driving to) Haleiwa Town because it’s either just too crowded or our favorite Mom & Pop shops are no longer there.

So:  “Will Success Kill Haleiwa Town?”

There’s a point where ‘success’ begets ‘higher rents’ and ‘higher rents’ beget an ‘exodus of local businesses’ and an ‘exodus of local businesses’ can kill the culture of a town.

It’s my feeling that the local businesses are what make Historic Haleiwa Town what it is.  Take that away and you’re left with only tourists entering and residents not feeling the love any longer.

If our local businesses no longer benefit from those dollars, then our local economy will surely suffer in the midst of all that success!

The reason I’m writing this now is to wake up our community … just a bit.  The newest shopping center is owned by Bishop Estate and their lease rents are already the highest.  The land under the other 2 Shopping Centers is also owned by Bishop Estate and those Land-Leases have either gone up or about to go up… substantially.

The higher the land-lease rents, the higher the local businesses will have to pay for their individual rents and if the Mom & Pops of Haleiwa can’t afford that rent, they will close their doors and probably close them forever.

RESULTS:  Goodbye to our local businesses, goodbye to our local economy and, eventually, goodbye to the wonderful “character” of our Historic Haleiwa Town.

I called Bishop Estate for their thoughts and they sent me this statement:  “(We are) committed to enhancing the Haleʻiwa community’s well-being and preserving the region’s rich cultural heritage. Our lease agreements are fair.”

If Bishop Estate wants to enhance our ‘well-being’ and preserve our ‘cultural heritage’… then help us keep our vibrant local businesses alive!  Please, simply consider NOT raising your rents so high (even if it seems ‘fair’ to you) because many of us feel it will force most of our “Mom & Pop” businesses OUT of business.

Bishop Estate owns nearly 90% of all the commercial land in our little town… that’s what this article is about… please Bishop Estate, make a little less profit on our Historic Haleiwa Town to help keep our ‘character’ and ‘economy’ and ‘businesses’ local and vibrant!

I’m glad this got your attention – because it’s actually more like Billions – however – you might not have kept reading if that was the headline (too outrageous, right!)?

The Truth:  By the time you read this, 2 ordinances will already have gone into effect and destroyed over $10 Billion in value for nearly 4,600 properties on Oahu.  Ordinances 23-3 & 23-4 have now caused the City to designate 99.9% of all oceanfront homes “Legal/Non-Conforming!”

It’s too late for that, however, millions more in real estate value may be in jeopardy!  Yep – the City is at it again… and this time it’s called Bill 64 (the old Bill 10) and, if passed, it can do the following to Ag-1 & Ag-2 Lands (most of which are in our neighborhoods):

• If you live in a home on Ag-1 or Ag-2 Land, you might be asked to leave… unless 51% of your land is “dedicated” to some sort of active “Ag Production”.  
• This could mean that your “Right to live in your own home” might be up to the City’s Department of Permitting & Planning!
• You will be prohibited from keeping horses (or even chickens) on your land if it’s under 3 Acres.
• You will, all of a sudden, be restricted on the number of Beehives you may have on your lot.
• If you do any kind of Pet Boarding or even a small Animal Rescue Shelter – you might be shut down.
• There’s more – but this Bill is now 288 pages long and a lot more in it will be devastating to many if they do not get involved NOW!

Call your City Council person, go on the honolulu.GOV website and plug in BILL064(23) and find out for yourself!  Public hearings are coming up soon!
Let’s not let this one slip through and hurt even more North Shore residents!

Richard Sterman has been serving North Shore’s real estate needs for over 45 years. He is the owner and Principal Broker of Sterman Realty, the largest full-service real estate office on the this side of the island. You can contact Richard by emailing Richard@Sterman.com, going to www.Sterman.com or by calling (808) 638-8600.

Aloha North Shore readers.  I know I have been writing a lot about Legislative and City Ordinances – and I’ll try to diversify in the near future – however, for now, there are still more:

• CITY ORDINANCE 23-3 “Shoreline Setbacks” set to go into effect July 1st:This Ordinance changes the Shoreline Setbacks for all Oahu beachfront properties from the current 40’ to a new setback of 60’ + 70x the Annual Sand-Loss (but no more than 130’ Setback) making just about every oceanfront home on O’ahu “Legal Non-Conforming”.    I’m afraid this is going to be a rude awakening for many oceanfront owners in the near future.  For more info and how to get involved, please email me (richard@sterman.com) as we now have a non-profit advocacy group called Shoreline Preservation Coalition (SPC) that you can join.
• STATE HB2248 “Action Plan for Beach Management”:  This House Bill is moving forward and, if passed, will fund a study to find actual “Solutions” to our sand-erosion issues.  Denise Antolini and I co-authored an article on this a few NSN issues ago (“Finding Common Ground” – pgs. 12 & 13 of the March 13th NSN) and we were both advocates of this Bill.  My opinion is that we can’t just let more houses fall into the ocean… we have to come up with viable and helpful “Solutions” and this Bill may be the start to that goal.
  AND 
• STATE BILL 64 “AG LAND USE ORDINANCE”:  This House Bill (the old “Bill 10”) has popped up again to change the Land Use Ordinance for Ag Lands… including restrictions on Agri-Businesses, Land Use Permitting, minimum % of land dedication to Crops/Livestock, changes to Destination Events and Animal Raising.  There is time to testify on this one and/or to call your State Representatives.

Richard Sterman has been serving North Shore’s real estate needs for over 45 years. He is the owner and Principal Broker of Sterman Realty, the largest full-service real estate office on the this side of the island. You can contact Richard by emailing Richard@Sterman.com, going to www.Sterman.com or by calling (808) 638-8600.