Maui beach-home owner files suit

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

A homeowner caught up in a controversy over the development of a high-profile property on Maui's north shore is suing the county for denying him the right to move into his beachfront house.

Dennis P. Holland filed suit in federal court Wednesday, claiming his civil rights were violated when county officials suspended the building permits on his nearly completed home next to Baldwin Beach Park and denied him a certificate of occupancy.

The controversy over construction of the home — part of the three-house Montana Beach condominium project on a 5.7-acre property known as the Old Lime Kiln site — erupted last summer after critics accused the county of violating coastal-zone management laws in allowing the development.

The dispute drew the attention of the Maui County Council and Mayor James "Kimo" Apana, who pledged to change how the county carries out regulatory oversight of shoreline development.

In August, county officials issued a stop-work order on construction of the beachfront development and rescinded coastal-zone permit exemptions authorizing the project.

The action followed a legal opinion from a county attorney indicating that granting such exemptions for single-family residences that are part of a condominium project is contrary to state law.

The owners of the three homes, including Holland, a retired businessman from Michigan, appealed the decision, but the issue has been stalled by an intervention challenge that still faces a contested-case hearing.

According to the suit, Holland did everything he was asked by county officials, and his house was 99 percent completed when the county pulled the plug.