City sets third hearing in Waialae Country Club net dispute

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

The city has decided to give the public more time to comment on the Waialae Country Club's plans for a maintenance gate and a 60-foot-high net around its driving range after residents criticized the project and accused the club of trying to circumvent laws governing environmental reviews.

City Department of Planning and Permitting hearing officer Eileen Mark told a group of 30 residents at a hearing yesterday morning that she would hold yet another public hearing on the country club's proposal before the department makes a decision. It will be the third public hearing before the country club's plans even get to the City Council, which would have to approve the plan.

The problem is that all 144 residents belonging to the Waialae Golf Course Community Association — a group of homes clustered around the golf course — did not receive written responses from the country club acknowledging their concerns prior to the club printing its final environmental assessments, as is required by law .

Because the issue was brought to the city's attention, the permitting department withdrew its finding, issued just a month ago, that the project didn't pose any significant impact to the environment.

"Simply put, the Waialae Country Club intended to obtain its permits in secret," said Lester Leu, president of the Waialae Golf Course Community Association. "The Waialae Country Club's application is tainted. The process is stained. Waialae Country Club's contemptuous and willful behavior shows that there is one law for the powerful and rich and another for us citizens."

The country club, which had a representative at the meeting, refused to talk about the allegations.

Mark said the city was unsure if there was a willful violation of the laws governing environmental reviews. She said the city's corporation counsel is reviewing residents' concerns.

The country club wants to build a 60-foot-high safety net around a driving range — 20 feet higher than the net there now — add a gate off Waiholo Street and a cart path near the seventh and eighth holes.

Resident Ira Helfer said the poles needed to support the net will be visible from the freeway and Kalaniana'ole Highway, from Wai'alae Iki Ridge and 'Ainakoa Ridge.

The area's view plane is protected, according to the East Honolulu development plan approved two years ago.

"Our community is directly affected by these changes," Helfer said. "No one has received any communication from the Waialae Country Club. That's illustrative of the arrogance of the country club and its agents."