Lanai residents want their prized south shore beach park back.

Hulopoe Bay offers excellent conditions for snorkeling and swimming in summer, as well as tide pools. A pod of spinner dolphins can often be seen jumping in the bay. Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2021

Crowds of tourists at Lanai’s only beach park have led the Hulopoe Beach Park Council to seek solutions, such as charging a park entry fee to non-residents, establishing an online reservation system for non-residents or limiting access to residents only.

A draft proposal by the Hulopoe Beach Park Council lists other methods of reducing non-resident access to the beach park, which includes picnic tables, barbecue grills, restrooms and showers.

Solutions under consideration include requiring non-residents who gain access to the park to wear wristbands and directing non-residents without a reservation to access Hulopoe Bay from a different public access point.

The issue is set to be discussed at a public hearing on Oct. 21.

Guests of the Four Seasons Resort Lanai, which fronts the crescent-shaped Hulopoe Bay, would not be affected, the proposal says, since they access the beach from the resort and not the beach park.

The beach park is owned by Pulama Lanai, Larry Ellison’s management company.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

Brittany Lyte was a general assignment reporter for Civil Beat who specialized in watchdog reporting, narrative storytelling and coverage of neighbor island and social issues. Prior to joining the Honolulu newsroom in March 2018, Brittany lived on the north shore of Kauaʻi, where she juggled a freelance...