Posted on: Monday, April 15, 2002

Ruling hasn't stopped Kona lot sales

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

The developer of a South Kona luxury subdivision project will keep selling lots despite legal questions raised in a recent court ruling.

John De Fries, president of 1250 Oceanside Partners, developer of the 1,540-acre Hokuli'a project, said he believes that Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra's April 5 ruling did not mean to paint the entire project as an illegal development.

He said it merely questions the legality of a 15-acre proposed lodge site and the project's agricultural rules. He said the company is willing to do what is necessary to correct any problems.

De Fries said Hawai'i County is still processing requests for permits, and the project's development schedule will not be altered.

But Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. attorney Alan Murakami maintains that Hokuli'a is illegal under the judge's order, which indicated that approvals for the agriculturally zoned project should have come through the state Land Use Commission.

The only reason the judge did not stop the project was out of concern for the developer's vested rights, which it earned when the county approved the project, Murakami said.

The vested rights issue will be discussed in a subsequent phase of a trial that begins tomorrow. The trial opens with an issue regarding ownership of an ancient stepping stone trail and will continue over issues having to do with the disturbance of Native Hawaiian remains.

Meanwhile, Murakami and Robert D.S. Kim, another attorney involved in the lawsuit against Hokuli'a, have asked state Attorney General Earl Anzai to take action against the development in light of Ibarra's ruling.

In a letter to Anzai, the attorneys said Hawai'i County has a conflict of interest in acting as the enforcement authority because it signed a development agreement with Hokuli'a. The agreement, in part, calls for the developer to construct a highway.

De Fries said the attorneys fighting the development may have caused irreparable damage to the project by publicly describing it as illegal.

"If it was, the judge wouldn't have hesitated to stop it,'' he said.

Instead, the ruling allowed the company to continue to develop the site, De Fries said.

Plans call for more than 700 luxury residential lots, a golf course, lodge, clubhouse, pavilion, tennis courts and other amenities. Lot prices range from $750,000 to $2.6 million. To date, 180 lots have been sold in the 261-lot first phase.