Pier owners get a reprieve
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — Homeowners on Kane'ohe Bay will have more time to legalize their piers, and the state pier appraiser will have more leeway in establishing a lease rent for special cases, under recommendations approved by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.
Extenuating circumstances made it difficult to finalize the lease process by the July 13 deadline under the Kane'ohe Bay Piers Amnesty Program, said Gilbert Coloma-Agaran, land board chairman.
"The purpose of any amnesty program is to bring people into compliance," Coloma-Agaran said. "We're making sure that people take advantage of the opportunity, and it became obvious to the staff that it was difficult because the surveyors weren't able to get to the various parcels until later this summer."
The staff also discovered special circumstances that made it hard to determine lease rent in a number of cases that involved such things as retaining walls, walls attached to piers and piers not attached to an owner's property but to a right-of-way.
Lease rent is to be based on a formula using 50 percent of the appraised value of adjoining property multiplied by the square footage of the pier. Most least rents will range between $3,500 and $10,000.
The recommendations adopted last week allow the pier appraiser to use other data to determine lease rent.
The amnesty program is designed to legalize an estimated 200 piers in Kane'ohe Bay and collect a lease rent for them.
The state takes on the major cost of obtaining the pier permits and an environmental assessment, which could run to $30,000 each, officials have said. Piers without permits will be removed at the owners' expense.
Pier owners now have until June 30, 2004, to complete the process for a 55-year lease from the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Of the 160 pier owners who agreed to join the program, only 20 have submitted the required maps and surveys, Coloma-Agaran said.
Pier owners called the July 13 deadline unrealistic and were happy to receive the extension.
"Nobody has been able to meet the deadline date," said owner Frank Barton.
Barton had received his survey just three days before, and said he needed a few more items before he could turn the information over to the land department.
The extension also gives him time to try to convince the state to lower his lease rent, which is about three times higher than a neighbor's for the same size pier, Barton said. He believes it is unfair to base the rent on city appraisal of abutting land — a complaint echoed by other pier owners.
Coloma-Agaran said home owners could challenge the lease rent by hiring their own appraisers, which Barton said he could not afford. But he will pursue other avenues, such as asking the city to reassess his property.
It is not that he is unwilling to pay rent, Barton said. "I just want it to be fair and reasonable for everyone."
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
