What is an act? The question, posed in all seriousness, arose in the course of the state Land Use Commission’s deliberations relating to a 40-year-old planned residential development near Kailua-Kona, in West Hawaiʻi. The developer, RCFC Kaloko Heights and related … Continued
Above photo: Mark Meyer of RCFC (right) and the company’s attorney, William Yuen (left). Mark Meyer, a representative of RCFC Kaloko Heights, LLC, has told the Land Use Commission that the company will not be making use of the Hawaiʻi … Continued
Above photo: Acropora corals grow toward the sunlight to form beautiful, massive tables at Palmyra Atoll. CREDIT: JEFF MILISER/NOAA. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has begun the environmental scoping process for a proposal to establish a national marine sanctuary … Continued
ʻAina Leʻa Update: Last August, 38 acres of ʻAina Leʻa land were sold off at a foreclosure auction to a Canadian lender, Romspen Investment Corporation. The parcel is the site where several buildings that were to be part of an … Continued
Above photo: Interior of Aliʻiolani HaleCredit: King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center Over the last month, rulings from the state Supreme Court have changed the regulatory landscape for a variety of activities. The consequences of the decisions range from sea … Continued
Above photo: A papamu, or konane stone, near the Road to the Sea in the Kaloko Heights area. CREDIT: ASM AFFILIATES, 2018 More than 40 years ago, the state Land Use Commission approved a petition to place 213 acres of … Continued
When the Land Use Commission approved the redistricting of the land where the Kaloko Heights subdivision is now planned, it included, as its first condition, the requirement that 10 percent of the units be affordable. That fraction was included in … Continued
Above photo: A jelly, Crossota millsae, in deep waters off the Southeastern United States. Credit: NOAA. ‘Irreversible Damage:” The international conservation group Flora & Fauna has released a report on its research into the environmental effects of seabed mining. The negative impacts, … Continued
The Hawaiʻi County Office of Housing and Community Development sailed for years without any meaningful oversight of its handling of affordable housing credits. Internal controls were also sorely lacking. That came to an end last summer, following criminal charges against … Continued
Chapter 11 of the Hawaiʻi County Code was established to force developers of residential subdivisions or commercial zones to build or at least underwrite the construction of housing that is to be within reach of households earning up to 120 … Continued