The private beach at Iroquois Point Island Club may soon be open to the public.

The scenic beach has been closed to nonresidents since the Navy leased the property to a private real estate company four years ago. The property managers said yesterday they are considering changing their prohibition on public beach access.

"We are committed to finding a way to make Iroquois Point accessible to the public," said a statement yesterday from the property managers, the Hawai'i Division of Hunt Development and Ford Island Housing LLC.

The Iroquois Point Island Club had refused access to its beach, saying the land belongs to the Navy and is exempt from the state and county beach access rules. The Navy leased Iroquois Point to private developers for 65 years.

After seeing a story in The Advertiser this week, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, and state Sen. Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), pressed Hunt Development's Hawai'i Division, the Iroquois Point managing partner, to meet with military, state and county officials about ending the no public access policy.

State law requires all beaches remain accessible to the public, and counties must make sure the public can reach the beach where private property dominates.

State and city officials said because the property is owned by the Navy, state and city laws don't apply.

RESTRICTED ACCESS

The civilian rental project was formerly the Pu'uloa Naval Housing complex. About 1,100 of the 1,463 single-family and townhomes have been rented. About 60 percent of the renters are military families, Iroquois Point Island Club officials said.

While the landlord feels it is simply maintaining the same restricted access policy that existed prior to the lease, 'Ewa Beach residents and military veterans say the restriction is more onerous than under military rule.

Abercrombie said he was outraged when he learned of the restricted access.

"It's been made clear (to Hunt) that negotiations will take place right away with the state and the city and county to provide both lateral access and mauka-makai access," Abercrombie said.

In Hawai'i, "everybody, including the military, has to provide access," Abercrombie said, noting that the military negotiated beach access for the public at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i as well as Bellows in Waimanalo.

Given that there are no military installations currently in the subdivision, he said, there are no military reasons to restrict access, Abercrombie said it was wrong for the military to have allowed the new landlord to restrict access.

"The military doesn't have anything to do with it anymore," Abercrombie said. "They don't get to give stuff away. Do we have a military governor out there? Martial law ended in the 1940s. This is Hawai'i. The public is going to have access to the beach."

Espero said Hunt officials have agreed to meet with other interested parties later this month. "They said they're willing to look at access on a limited basis."

Espero said he agrees with Abercrombie that there's no reason to limit access now that the military is not using the subdivision.

"It's one of the best stretches of beaches in Hawai'i, it should be open to the public, and we should have access," Espero said.

Both state and city officials will be asked to attend the meeting, Espero said.

TALKS CONTINUE

Steve Colon, Hunt Hawai'i division president, said he has spoken to military and government officials about public access at the beach in the past and have agreed to talk to them some more.

"All of our policies are still evolving; we're learning as we go," Colon said. "The access has been an issue; it's something that we've been talking about for a while. We continue to talk about it, and we're talking to the Navy about it."

Hunt is the managing partner of Ford Island Housing. The other partner in the venture is Fluor Hawaii LLC, which signed the 65-year lease for the subdivision in June 2003.

Hunt officials, in a written statement yesterday, said they have maintained restricted access at the beach at the request of residents and the Navy.

"Residents complained to the Navy that the gate was unmanned," the statement said. Upon being informed of the complaints, Ford Island Housing "promptly hired security service to man the entry gate, keeping in place for the time being the Navy access policy until it could determine what kind of new, less restrictive policy made sense."

ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED

When the company asked the Navy what its position was, it was told "while the decision on public access was (Ford Island Housing's), it would be a concern to the Navy if (the company) was to relax the security posture. It appears the Navy has since softened on this position since then, however, which (the company) is pleased about," the statement said.

The statement said, "Ford Island Housing has been working on finding a viable way to allow for greater public access."

Meanwhile, Navy spokeswoman Terri Kojima said yesterday the decision about access to the area was up to Ford Island Housing. "The Navy no longer controls the leased areas," she said in a written response to the question.

"We don't have an issue should Ford Island Housing decide to allow public access at Iroquois Point housing area, which continues to be the shoreline," Kojima said. "From the shoreline, the Navy is then responsible for managing the Pearl Harbor Naval Defensive Sea Area, which includes both the waters of Pearl Harbor and its approaches."

Kojima said the Navy has not imposed a requirement that Ford Island Housing put up or maintain a gate at the entrance to the subdivision. "Being a good neighbor is important to the Navy and we are open to discussions with Ford Island Housing on how to best balance the desires of the community and the operational security within adjacent areas that are managed by the Navy."

Hunt officials said several issues need to be resolved "before we can safely and responsibly open up Iroquois Point to the public."

"Other issues include determining who will pay overall maintenance costs," the Hunt statement said. "Equally important are the liability issues, as all roads within Iroquois Point are owned by the federal government are being leased to Ford Island Housing. We have to pay for any repairs to the roads and infrastructure, even though we are paying property taxes. Additional visitors would logically impose additional costs."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.