After years of public meetings, draft rules with numerous amendments and jurisdictional disputes, surf schools wanting to operate at Kahalu‘u Beach Park will find out on Nov. 17 if they are awarded one of four coveted spots determined by a lottery.
The DLNR, Hawaii County and other stakeholders have been discussing since at least 2015 the issue of regulating commercial surf instruction at Kahalu‘u Bay, though the issue comes up in West Hawaii Today archives as early as 2004-05.
Initially, Hawaii County was to take the lead in limiting access to Kahalu‘u Bay ocean waters and enforcing those limitations. The county proposed — and the DLNR accepted — a limit of four permits for commercial surf schools for the beach park and bay.
Amendments to Hawaii Administrative Rules were drafted and adopted in 2016 to allow for four commercial surf instruction operators to receive permits for activities at Kahalu‘u.
Moving forward with its Kahalu‘u Beach Park Commercial Surfing Instruction Program, the county selected nonprofit The Kohala Center in 2017 to manage the program. In spring 2018, bids were solicited, however, no permits were awarded and operators were left in the dark until the county said it was not the permitting authority and the state confirmed it was handling permits.
The state then took the lead on permitting commercial surf schools at Kahalu‘u Bay in 2019.
In November 2022 the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved amended rules for commercial surfing instruction at Kahalu‘u Bay.
Under the new rules, permitted commercial operators in Zone A (north end) of the bay are limited to four at any one time and no more than four students, regardless of the number of a company’s instructors in the water. Zone A is the only part of Kahalu‘u Bay where commercial surf instruction is allowed.
The lottery next month will be conducted to determine four applicants eligible to receive a Kahalu‘u Bay ocean waters commercial use permit. After the maximum number of permits is reached, the lottery will continue and remaining participants will be placed on a waitlist in the order of lottery selection, in case another applicant drops out.
Tifany Stegehuis runs Hawaii Lifeguard Surf Instructors, a family owned business that has been teaching at Kahalu‘u since 1999. Even though she knew the new rules were adopted, getting the email about the upcoming lottery was unsettling.
“It’s a huge punch in the gut for us,” she said. “It just got blasted out last Monday.”
She would have liked to see tighter qualifications for lottery eligibility.
“The state likes to do a blanket, very vague open ended deal,” she said.
There are about 10 surf schools operating out of Kahalu‘u, and Stegehuis believes most have applied for a spot in the lottery, however since previous surf instruction experience at Kahalu‘u is not a requisite, the number is likely to be much higher. She noted applicants do not need to live or have previously taught surfing in Hawaii.
“It’s an open door, come one come all,” she said.
Stegehuis had hoped there would be some type of grandfather clause in the permit process.
“The business was here before any of this came up. Now we just have to wait and see,” she said.
DOBOR will host the lottery at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, at the Old Kona Airport Events Pavilion.
All interested applicants must complete a qualifications questionnaire, submit the questionnaire to the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation by Nov. 3, and be “pre-approved” to participate in the lottery.
To qualify, the school must have a GET license, certificate of compliance from the Department of Taxation, be in good standing with DCCA and have liability insurance and documentation proving at least five years experience providing surfing instruction.
For lottery information visit: dlnr.hawaii.gov/dobor/commercial-use-permit-lotteries/
For questions, please contact the DOBOR Hawai‘i District Office at 808-327-3690.
