Tag Archives: Hawaii Reserves

City subverts public planning process

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Honolulu city planning officials yesterday announced they have brushed aside the long, community-based, participatory planning process for the Koolauloa Sustainable Communities Plan and made an administrative decision to incorporate a large “Envision Laie” development pushed by the develepment arm of the Mormon Church.

The city move followed after it allowed the planning process to go into limbo, failing to convene the community-based plan advisory committee, but entered into a secret planning process directly with Mormon representatives.

The city said it couldn’t support meetings of the official planning committee during this period because its consultant budget had already been spent.

In January 2009, Punaluu resident and community leader, Creighton Mattoon, complained:

The five-year review is now five years behind schedule. We are reviewing the 1999 Sustainable Communities Plan and we have not had a meeting of the full membership of the PAC for eight months.

Now we learn that city officials, while letting the official planning process languish, held a series of secret, private meetings with Mormon officials to negotiate the inclusion of their proposed project in the new plan.

According to the Star-Advertiser:

(Choon) James and other members of the area’s Planning Advisory Committee attended a meeting with Tanoue on Wednesday in which he said the proposal was moving forward after he had met with representatives from BYUH and Hawaii Reserves.

“I was quite taken back by how upfront he was in telling us that he had been meeting many, many hours and many days with Hawaii Reserves and the BYU-Hawaii campus outside of the PAC committee meetings,” James said. “That’s the role of the PAC. Why be so devious to meet outside the PAC committee? It subverts the public process.”

And according to a comment left on this site yesterday:

Tanouye also disclosed he had met ‘many many hours’ and ‘many days’ with Hawaii Reserves and the campus i.e. BYU-Hawaii o-u-t-s-i-d-e of the PAC Committee. This committee has not met for the past year. Tanouye also reported he met with two mayors – Hannemann and Caldwell and staff.

Now it appears to be a ‘rush’ to get this tied up before the new sheriff arrives. Whatever happens to the Sunshine law? It sounds more like a rush for campaign pay-back than anything else.

See also:

Controversy over Thursday’s meeting on the Koolauloa Sustainable Communities Plan
January 28th, 2009 ·

Complaint challenges neighborhood board vote in favor of 1,200 home Laie development
October 20th, 2009

Confrontation continues on disputed Laie propery

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A Christmas confrontation in Laie between the real estate arm of the Mormon church and a Hawaiian family trying to protect their kuleana land rights and burial sites ended with several arrests after police used pepper spray against four kupuna engaged in a nonviolent protest.

The group, accompanied by supporters, was expected to return to the disputed site early this morning and attempt to stay until Wednesday. An alerts about this morning’s action was sent overnight via Twitter.

Dawn Wasson, a spokesperson for the family, said she and others have fenced the property and intend to block access to the site for 24 hours in order to stop the church’s attempt to take title to the property through “adverse possession”.

The legal status of the family’s claim to the property is not clear. Wasson points points to original Royal land patents and genealogy to support the family’s claims, but Hawaii Reserves Inc., the Mormon’s real estate affiliate, reportedly says it has valid deeds to the area.

Wasson has long advocated the right of Kuleana landowners to reclaim their family properties.

Wasson explains more of the background in a short video posted on Maoliworld.com.

The pepper-spray incident is described in a short video on Maoliworld.com.

The confrontation is the latest chapter in a long-running conflict over what the family says are its kuleana land rights.

Here’s Wasson’s overnight tweet:

Laie Kuleana Occupation 12-29,30-09 24hour KU?E 4am -4more Info : KUPUNA Dawn Wasson 808-692-6901 808-852-8778

In an email, Wasson provided additional information:

We need people to come this morning 4 am, all day and take a stand with us until tomorrow morning. Where? Kamehameha Highway and Cackle Fresh Store, go mauka a quarter of a mile, you will see the camp. Last night we had an irate woman by the name of Roxie Apuakehau from the Mormon church attempt to stop the posting of our fence. She grabbed the poles and tried to shake and pull it out of the ground. Earlier we picketed in front of the Laie Shopping Center near Hawaii Reserves Incorporated (HRI) the Mormon real property management company after which we chanted “HRI get off our land.”

Complaint challenges neighborhood board vote in favor of 1,200 home Laie development

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The Koolauloa Neighborhood Board’s vote to support the “Envision Laie Development Plan” and a proposed 1,200 new homes is being challenged by two board members, who say violations of the sunshine law and glaring conflict of interests should nullify the vote.

Following sometimes heated public testimony at a special July 31 public hearing, members of Neighborhood Board 28 voted 7-4 in favor of the development.

But a complaint filed with the Neighborhood Commission argues the board violated the sunshine law by voting on the issue without hearing all public testimony or hearing responses to concerns raised, and without any opportunity for Neighborhood Board members to question the project’s sponsors.

The complaint also questions whether five board members employed by Mormon organizations behind the development should have recused themselves because of their conflicts.

Those filing the complaint were former board chair Dee Dee Letts and long-time Punaluu resident and community leader Creighton Mattoon.

Minutes of the special meeting confirm that public testimony was initially cut off after 50 minutes to keep to a previously announced schedule. But with 25 people who signed up to testify still waiting for the opportunity, the board extended the hearing for an additional ten minutes, for a total of 60 minutes of public testimony.

When the 10 minutes had expired, there were still 21 people signed up and still waiting to testify. They were told to submit their views in writing.

Then a motion was immediately made by board member Kela Miller to “accept and support” the Envision Laie Plan. It was later disclosed that Miller is employed by Hawaii Reserves, Inc., the real estate and development arm of the Mormon Church and sponsor of Envision Laie.

The motion was seconded by John Elkington, an employee of BYUH, another project sponsor.

Mattoon objected, according to the minutes, saying no action should be taken until all testimony had been heard. He also noted requirements for disclosure of conflicts of interest.

The board finally agreed to continue with testimony of all those who had put their names on a sign-up sheet.

When that testimony was completed, Miller and Elkington again offered their motion to support the plan.

Two other board members, Moana Kalua’u and Norman Kaluhiokalani, also disclosed that they are employed by BYUH. Kaluhiokalani, known as Coach K, is the cross country coach at the school. Another board member, Les Steward, is a recent past president of the BYU-Hawaii Alumni Association.

Of the five board members with direct ties to the project’s sponsors, only Kalua’a voted against the motion to support the project. The motion carried 7-4.

In their complaint, Mattoon and Letts assert that sunshine requirements were skirted when sufficient sign-up sheets were available, some who wanted to testify were unable to get onto the list, and then testimony was limited to those who had signed up. According to the complaint, the chair made no effort to solicit testimony from those who arrived late or could not sign up because “sign up sheets were not available.”

The Neighborhood Plan, which provides the rules of procedure to be followed by the neighborhood boards, requires disclosure of conflicts but does not prohibit voting on matters where a conflict may exist.

§2-11-310 Disclosure. (a) Any commissioner who knows he or she has a personal or private interest, direct or indirect, in any proposal before the commission shall disclose the interest either orally or in writing to the commission. The disclosure shall also be made a matter of public record before the commission takes any action on the proposal.
(b) A commissioner who makes any disclosure shall not be disqualified from participation in the discussion or vote on the matter. A commissioner may choose to be recused. A recused commissioner shall not participate in the discussion or vote. The recusal shall be recorded in the meeting minutes.

However, it also provides:

§2-13-105 Conflicts of interest. (a) No board member shall:

…(3)Engage in any business transaction or activity, or have a financial interest, direct or indirect, which is incompatible with the proper discharge of a member’s official duties or which may tend to impair the independence of judgment in the performance of the member’s official duties.

The complaint is pending before the Neighborhood Commission.