'Aina Haina church arrival worries residents
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
'AINA HAINA — The recent purchase of the Maunalua Bay Tennis Club by a church congregation is stirring up the touchy issue of whether this upscale neighborhood along Kalaniana'ole Highway is becoming a virtual strip mall of wedding businesses.
Weddings already are conducted at three places along a two-block oceanfront area that includes the tennis club.
News that Grace Chapel would move its congregation into the tennis club property drew a loud, angry crowd to a recent neighborhood board meeting. Residents complained about the traffic and noise related to weddings at existing businesses and said they wanted a promise from the church that it would not rent out its facilities for commercial weddings.
"I know of no other community that has so many wedding businesses so close together," said Gregg Kashiwa, who has lived in the area since 1949. "It seems like our neighborhood is being taken over by businesses. It doesn't seem like a residential neighborhood anymore."
The church purchased the 2.1-acre property in May for about $5 million, said Don Clegg, a former city land-use director who is now a consultant hired by the church to help process city permits.
Clegg said Grace Chapel would perform weddings for congregation and community members, and does not plan to start a wedding business. But there are no legal restrictions on the church's ability to offer wedding services to others.
Weddings and honeymoons are a huge business in Hawai'i, valued at $1.1 billion a year, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. There were more than 16,000 weddings of non-Hawai'i residents in 2000, the most current statistics available.
That doesn't even include weddings for Japanese couples. The annual report of Watabe Wedding Corp., Japan's largest organizer of overseas weddings, said 25,916 Japanese couples were wed in the Islands last year.
Residents say that stretch limousines sometimes stack up on Kalaniana'ole Highway and they can hear the strains of organ music from ceremonies held at Calvary-by-the-Sea Lutheran Church, the historic Bayer Estate and the home of John Henry Felix, a Honolulu city councilman who rents out his house for weddings.
Kashiwa said there have been weddings every hour at Calvary on some days.
The church pastor did not return phone calls, and other church members declined to comment.
Felix said he would not comment because he is appealing a city ruling banning him from operating a business from his home. He has said he receives $300 to $500 for each ceremony and has an average of one wedding a day.
The Bayer Estate averages one wedding a day, said Susan Mirikitani, the estate's executive director.
No one is quite sure how the short strip of highway through 'Aina Haina became a mini- mecca for weddings. The neighborhood board has fielded complaints over the years about traffic and noise, but hard feelings intensified in 1999 when Felix decided to go into the business and began battling with the city over whether he needed a license.
Although city law does not permit running a commercial wedding service out of a residence, many private homes are rented for photo shoots and catered functions, said Susan O'Donnell, owner of Aloha Wedding Planners Inc. More often, weddings are held at hotels, private estates or commercial businesses set up to handle large groups, such as Queen Emma Summer Palace, Senator Fong's Gardens or Olomana Gardens, O'Donnell said.
Once Grace Chapel is established, no permits are needed to perform weddings as a business, Kashiwa said. That's what worries neighbors.
"We're concerned about the continued use of residential property on Kalaniana'ole Highway for nonresidential use," said Anson Rego, an attorney who lives in 'Aina Haina who spoke at the community meeting.
"We asked them to restrict their city permit applications so it doesn't include commercial weddings and reception services, and (Grace Chapel) refused because they want to leave their options open."
The church needs two permits to transform the tennis club into a church: a special management area use permit and a conditional use permit, Clegg said. It is up to the director of city Planning and Permitting to decide whether the applications require a public hearing and City Council approval, said Lorrie Chee, department deputy director.
Grace Chapel plans to add 1,000 square feet to the two-story clubhouse before moving from its Young Street location, where it has been since the late 1960s, Clegg said.
The church has about 80 members, Clegg said. The congregation's main interest was to find a facility with more room and adequate parking, he said, not to start a large-scale wedding business.
"I was shocked and disappointed by the residents' comments and questions of the church," he said.
The tennis club purchase pre-empted the city's interest in acquiring the building as a senior center. The city had paid $30,000 to architect Bill Chang for a feasibility study, which is not finished and is now moot.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadveritser.com or 395-8831.
Correction: Aloha Wedding Planners Inc. is a commercial wedding service. Its name was incorrect in a previous version of this story.
