Deal by city, estate saves Ka Iwi coast
By Suzanne Roig and Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writers
The city has acquired the last piece of land needed to preserve the scenic shoreline from Hanauma Bay to Makapu'u in a settlement with Kamehameha Schools valued at $60 million to $70 million.
In a related development, the city announced it reached agreement to sell 20 acres of land in Pearl City to retail giant Wal-Mart for what would be its third store on O'ahu.
In a 9-0 vote yesterday, the City Council approved a settlement with landowner Kamehameha Schools that will give the city title to 32 acres of property across from Sandy Beach known as Golf Courses 5 and 6. The trust will drop its lawsuit over the land and in return receive $5.4 million, as well as the proceeds from the sale of several parcels of city land in Pearl City, including one to Wal-Mart. Part of the proceeds will also go to developer Maunalua Associates.
With the settlement, the city lays claim to the entire 600 acres along the south shore and completes a fight to preserve the Ka Iwi shoreline begun in the 1980s, when the community learned what industrialist Henry J. Kaiser had planned for the area: hotels, golf courses and condominiums.
Last year the state bought Queen's Beach and adjoining land, the largest single piece of land needed to protect the integrity of the Ka Iwi coastline. That deal, worth $12.8 million, also was made with Kamehameha Schools.
The 32 acres across from Sandy Beach that the city secured yesterday was the final piece of the puzzle.
The $60 million to $70 million that Kamehameha Schools will receive for the land is far less than the estimated $120 million the city thought it might have to pay after the courts ruled last year that it had violated the developer's right to due process by changing zoning on the land. A trial to determine how much money the city was to pay in damages was scheduled to begin Tuesday.
"The terms of the agreement have already been approved by Maunalua Associates and Kamehameha Schools," said City Councilman Romy Cachola. "This means we won't have to raise property taxes to pay for the damages. We did not give away the store. It's a good deal for us to approve."
Kamehameha Schools Chief Executive Officer Hamilton McCubbin also was pleased.
"This settlement reflects an acknowledgment that the action taken by the City Council in 1989 was unconstitutional, and it provides a fair value to Kamehameha Schools in compensating for the taking," McCubbin said.
Mayor Jeremy Harris said the settlement turns over excess city property in exchange for the land across from Sandy Beach. The city purchased 109 acres in Manana in 1992 for $109 million.
The settlement calls for the city to proceed with the sale of 20 acres of that land in Manana, Pearl City, to Wal-Mart and give the money to Kamehameha Schools. The city also will turn over to Kamehameha Schools and Maunalua Associates the proceeds from the sale of 26 more acres there, as well as pay $5.4 million in cash.
If the sale of the city land is not completed by December 2003, the parties will return to court. Once everything is settled, Maunalua Associates and Kamehameha Schools will drop all lawsuits against the city and give the city the deed to the land known as Golf Course 5 & 6, a bermed property across from Sandy Beach.
Under terms of the settlement revealed yesterday, Wal-Mart, through real estate executive Andy Friedlander of Colliers Monroe Friedlander, offered Jan. 14 to buy the Manana land from the city for $18 million plus $500,000 in commission. The land is at the corner of Acacia Road and Kuala Street, behind the Pearl Highlands Shopping Center.
Jon-Eric Greene, senior vice president with Colliers Monroe Friedlander, said the firm would continue working with the city on the sale of the property to Wal-Mart. The price has been settled, Greene said, but details have not been decided.
The Kamehameha Schools litigation arose after the city changed the zoning on the parcels across from Sandy Beach in 1989 in response to public outcry to preserve the area. The change prevented Kamehameha Schools and Maunalua Associates from building homes on the property.
City Councilman John Henry Felix praised the settlement in light of the court's decision, but was concerned the city might not meet all deadlines of the settlement. He said the terms are doable.
"It's about time," said David Matthews, a co-founder of the Ka Iwi Action Coalition and the Save Sandy Beach Coalition, both formed to preserve the coastline from development. "They should have done this 10 years ago."
