Clawing Back: Hawaiʻi County is arguing that the federal government should give it the land in Kealakehe that was purchased as part of a fraudulent housing scheme, $938,428 in cash forfeited by former housing employee Alan Rudo, and 45 affordable housing credits. Those assets were among the goods seized by the government following Rudo’s entry of a guilty plea last July.
In a petition filed with the federal court on October 20, the county claims that the land was purchased with housing credits awarded to the company that Rudo organized with three other defendants in the fraud. The cash was realized when the defendants sold off around half of the Kealakehe property. The housing credits are what remained of the total awarded to Rudo and Co.
Attached to the filing was an affidavit from housing administrator Susan Kunz. In it, Kunz states that she “personally learned of Rudo and his co-conspirators fraudulent scheme … when the news of the fraudulent housing scheme was made public in July 2022.
In addition, Honuaʻula, LLC, the company that sought to build on the Kealakehe property, has filed with the court a petition asking the court to protect its leasehold interest in the land, where it has said it intends to build 112 affordable units. According to the petition, the principals of Honuaʻula had no idea that anything was amiss until July 13, when the government filed a lis pendens on the property.
The petition states that the 55-year lease was entered into in July 2020. However, it was not recorded at the Bureau of Conveyances until June 23 of this year. Under lease terms, Honuaʻula is to pay $8,000 a month to landowner West View Developments, one of several companies Rudo was involved in.
Rudo is to be sentenced for his involvement next May. Jury selection for the three other defendants – attorneys Paul Sulla Jr. and Gary Zamber, and sometime Puna resident Rajesh Budhabhatti – is now set for April.
Another Housing Project: The same three individuals that are the principals of Honuaʻula are now proposing to build a 104-unit complex in Hilo. The three – Carlo Mireles of Kealakekua, Aaron Hultgren of Texas, and Bruce Beard of Washington state – have organized now into a Texas company called Hualalai Court, LLC.
Last month, the Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation approved a $25 million loan to the company. Total project cost is estimated at more than $55 million.
The project has yet to come before the county’s Windward Planning Commission or the County Council.
For details on the schemes to defraud the county housing agency, as well as information on the Hualalai LLC principals, see the June and August issues of Environment Hawaiʻi.
Camping in Court: Should campgrounds be allowed on highly productive land in the state Agricultural land use district? That is the question that will be argued before the state Supreme Court early this month.
The issue arises from a 2016 Land Use Commission decision that determined the only legal means for camping to be allowed on A or B rated lands was by means of a boundary amendment – not by means of a county-issued special permit.
The Hoʻomoana Foundation, which had wanted to use 22 acres of B-rated land on Maui as a camp for tourists as well as homeless people, appealed the decision in 2nd Circuit Court. Judge Rhonda Loo overturned the LUC ruling, prompting neighboring homeowners and the LUC to appeal.
In May, the Intermediate Court of Appeals issued its opinion, which upheld – reluctantly, it seems – the lower court finding. That decision will now be reviewed by the state high court.
Arguments will be heard when the court meets on December 6 at 9 a.m. in the Lahainaluna High School. The court hearing will be broadcast live on the @hawaiicourts YouTube channel.
For more details on this dispute, see “Farm Dwellings, Overnight Camps at Issue in 2 Court Cases the LUC Votes to Appeal” in the July 2022 edition of Environment Hawaiʻi.
Leave a Reply