Haw. Rev. Stat. § 205A-42 – Determination of the shoreline.

(a) The board of land and natural resources shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 prescribing procedures for determining a shoreline and appeals of shoreline determinations that are consistent with subsection (b); provided that no determination of a shoreline shall be valid for a period longer than twelve months, except where the shoreline is fixed by artificial structures that have been approved by appropriate government agencies and for which engineering drawings exist to locate the interface between the shoreline and the structure.
(b) The chairperson of the board of land and natural resources shall cause a public notice to be published in the periodic bulletin published by the office of planning and sustainable development. All comments to the application for shoreline certification shall be submitted in writing to the state land surveyor no later than fifteen calendar days from the date of the public notice of the application. Notice of application for certification shall be identified by tax map key number, and where applicable, street address and nearest town.

[L 1986, c 258, pt of §1; gen ch 1993; am L 1995, c 102, §1;am L 2021, c 152, §16 and c 153, §9]

Law Journals and Reviews

Coastline Non-Conformism. 42 UH L. Rev. 149 (2019).

Case Notes

The board of land and natural resources must consider historical evidence in making its shoreline determination. 132 H. 9, 319 P.3d 1017 (2014).

The board of land and natural resources' ultimate shoreline determination was invalid because the agency made errors of law in its amended decision, including, among other things, positing a multi-variable approach to shoreline certifications and disregarding a person's testimony. 132 H. 9, 319 P.3d 1017 (2014).

The contention that "the ultimate determination of the upper reaches of the wash of the waves at high tide ... is [solely] one for experts and those qualified under the law" is wrong as a matter of law. 132 H. 9, 319 P.3d 1017 (2014).

The issuance of an amended decision by the board of land and natural resources rendered moot any appeal from the original administrative agency decision because the original administrative agency decision was no longer effective. 132 H. 9, 319 P.3d 1017 (2014).