HONOLULU -- The company that owns the Sheraton Waikiki wants to restore a long-eroded beach in front of the hotel.

The application for this project is not in yet, but it is already generating controversy.

The hotel owners would have to conduct an environmental assessment and could need a more in-depth environmental impact statement for the sand replenishment project, state officials said.

At midday, there is no beach in front of the Sheraton Waikiki. Waves crash against a seawall.

That is where the resort's owners want to spend millions of dollars installing three T-shaped groins. Part of the plan would include restoring the former "Gray's Beach."

Tourists KITV spoke with had mixed reactions.

"I think it's good for people like me, especially if you're staying in the hotel here then you've got your own piece of beach and the more sand the better. I mean that's what Waikiki's all about to me," Australian visitor Trevor Tingate said.

"But do you really need it? You go 100 yards that way or 100 yards that way and you've got some superb beaches, and they don't look overcrowded to me," London visitor Bill Hipgrave said.

Surfers get concerned every time there is a beach replenishment project. They are worried that changes on shore to the beach will affect the waves they like to catch offshore.

"That will change Waikiki drastically," Waikiki Beach Boy Gil Hisatake said.

Hisatake has been surfing at Waikiki since the late 1950s.

"I can guarantee it's going to affect the surf over here. Remember now. No surf in Waikiki means the tourists don't go out and ride canoes or rent a board or take surfing lessons or whatever," he said.

"The public would always retain a 75-foot public access, which would be a huge expansion of the beach in that area, if it is approved," Department of Land and Natural Resources Chairwoman Laura Thielen said.

Thielen said the project will need at least a half dozen approvals from city, state and federal agencies, with many public hearings.

"If all those concerns can be met, and we can have a beach nourishment project that increases the public beach, then we would be very supportive of that," Thielen said.

Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts, which owns the Sheraton, released a written statement saying the "input of all stake holders is essential.

The company's consultant has said that a surf spot called Populars will not be affected by the sand and groin project.