Photo: Instagram / @kevin_makana_emery
The state of Hawaii is suing a North Shore homeowner after parts of their beachfront house fell into the ocean earlier this week. Video of the destruction first started making the rounds on social media Tuesday showing the waves near Sunset Beach carry away sections of the house. Now, the attorney general has filed an injunction and is pursuing a temporary restraining order to gain access inside the property. From there, their first order of business appears to be removing any other part of the house and property that is in danger of further erosion damage
When reports of the property’s destruction first reached the DLNR’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, officers were sent to the house just off of Ke Nui Road. Once there, they realized that portions of the property had been built on state land.
“On September 24, 2024, large pieces of cement, wood, glass, electrical components, rebar, geotextile fabric, and other unidentified solid materials cover the State land spanning between the property boundary line and the ocean,” the complaint reads. “… An unknown quantity of solid material from the dwelling on Subject Property 2 entered the ocean and were taken away from the location due to the ocean’s natural processes.”
The complaint also points out that the homeowner had previously been cited for building “unauthorized erosion control measures” on the beach. Coincidentally, the state and the homeowner, Josh VanEmmerik, have had more than one faceoff before this. In 2022, VanEmmerik used concrete to create a barrier under his home. The state fined him $15,000 a day until he removed it because he had poured the concrete on public land. In late 2023, the state handed over a $77,000 fine when he placed polypropylene sandbags on top of older erosion control structures. He then poured concrete over the bags and placed rocks on the beach.
“Private landowners take a risk when they allow structures to be so close to the shoreline,” said Deputy Attorney General Danica Swenson. “The people of Hawaii are now confronted with the consequences of property owners’ failures to take heed of the ocean’s warning signs of erosion.”
