City, State Must Work Together to Save Ka Iwi Coast
The City and County of Honolulu, one could argue, has not been well served by its Corporation Counsel in the matter of contested zoning for East Honolulu. Consider this:
The eight “pending” (we use the word advisedly) lawsuits filed by Bishop Estate and Kaiser concern three areas: Queen’s Beach, Golf Course 2/1A, and Golf Course 5 and 6.
As a result of the settlement proposed by the Corporation Counsel, Kaiser will be able to build a golf course at Queen’s Beach. Without the settlement, Kaiser would probably be able to put the land to some economic use — maybe a golf course, but then again, perhaps a private nature park (a la Waimea Falls) or other low-impact, eco-tourist destination.
As a result of the settlement, Kaiser will be able to build a 150-unit hotel, a business park, and 45 houses at Golf Course 2/1A. Without the settlement, again, it might be able to put the land to some economic use, but not necessarily develop it to this extent.
As a result of the settlement, the City and County of Honolulu will take title to Golf Course 5 and 6. Without the settlement, Kaiser would probably be able to build about 200 houses on the 30 acres — and the city could stop it only through condemnation at fair-market value.
As a result of the settlement, traffic will be substantially aggravated on Kalanianaole Highway over the next 20 years, and the city and state alone will bear the costs of any road improvements needed to accommodate the increase. This surely will mean that the reprieve given long-suffering East Honolulu commuters with the recent completion of five years of traffic improvements to the highway will be short-lived.
As a result of the settlement, houses will be built on steep slopes at high elevations above Mau`uwai Valley, Kamilonui Valley, and Queen’s Rise, potentially exposing the city to future lawsuits if the building sites should become vulnerable to subsidence.
Worst of all, as a result of the settlement, the city will be handing developers and landowners from one end of O`ahu to the other an engraved invitation to sue over any grievance, perceived or real, in the expectation that they, too, might be able to circumvent the host of environmental and planning laws that the city appears willing to suspend in this case.
All in all, if this is the best that the Corporation Counsel can do, the city would appear to be far better off taking its chances with the courts.
Price of Paradise
In December, researchers at the University of Hawai`i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources reported that O`ahu residents would pay $21 million a year to keep 15,000 acres of central O`ahu undeveloped. That breaks down to about $81 a household, and it does not include any value of the open area to the tourist industry.
If open space is worth that much in Central O`ahu, it should be worth at least that in East O`ahu, where recreational use is far greater and public pressure for keeping the area undeveloped has been building for more than two decades.
The idea to save the area from development has won important political support. In his State of the State address, Governor Ben Cayetano indicated he favors developing the area along the lines proposed in the Ka Iwi State Park draft environmental impact statement. Mayor Jeremy Harris has said off the record that he opposes the settlement package, although he has stopped short of promising a veto of any of the required ordinances. At the City Council, meanwhile, Councilmember John Henry Felix has introduced a bill calling for condemnation of Golf Course 5 and 6.
Public support for keeping the area open is as great as it ever was. The Sandy Beach coalition has emerged anew, this time as the Ka Iwi Park Action Council, and is undertaking once more a petition drive to get the land placed beyond the reach of developers.
The bargain struck by the Corporation Counsel’s office is no bargain at all. There are many more opportunities for shaping the future of East O`ahu than the counsel’s office has dreamed of, and while they may not be without cost to the taxpayer, neither will they set the awful precedent that is entailed in the Bishop Estate and Kaiser settlement package.
For nearly a quarter of a century, the future of East O`ahu has been haunted by the specter of development. The time is at hand for the Legislature, working in concert with the City Council, to lift that cloud once and for all.
Hawai`i County SMA Cuts
For nearly as many years as the counties in this state have received federal funds for administering their coastal zone management programs, the counties have been using those funds as a subsidy for other county programs.
What Mayor Steve Yamashiro is proposing on the Big Island makes this farce virtually complete. By eliminating all but the narrowest coastal band from the county’s Special Management Area, he may think to have eliminated “redundant” regulations. We think rather he has only given the state and federal governments an excellent reason to impose a proportional cut in the roughly $200,000 that the county gets in SMA funds.
Volume 6, Number 8 February 1996
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