Posted on: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Lease-to-fee projects advance

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lease-to-fee conversions of three condominium projects will move forward without opposition from Mayor Jeremy Harris, despite protesters' efforts to convince him to veto resolutions initiating the condemnation process.

A dozen demonstrators representing landowners waited at Harris' office for two hours Monday to ask him to veto the resolutions that would initiate mandatory leasehold conversions at the Kahala Beach, Admiral Thomas and Camelot condominium projects.

Harris did not appear, however, and yesterday City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa issued a written response stating, "Under the current law, the city is required to move forward with the filing of lease-to-fee condemnation once applicants and the project have been determined to meet the criteria for condemnation."

The applications were approved 5 to 4 at the Dec. 4 City Council meeting, following more than nine hours of heated testimony, primarily from Kamehameha Schools and the First United Methodist Church, which own the land under Kahala Beach and Admiral Thomas, respectively.

According to the city's mandatory leasehold conversion law, the city can initiate the condemnation process when a minimum of 25 qualified owner-occupants, or more than 50 percent of qualified owners, petition to purchase the fee interest in their condominium project.

Arakawa said, "These three projects have all been determined to have met those criteria. Therefore the mayor will allow the lease-to-fee to proceed without his signature."