Posted on: Thursday, October 10, 2002

Condo bill placed on hold

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Peter Minor testifies against Bill 53, the City Council bill clarifying condo conversion requirements under the 10-year-old leasehold-to-fee ordinance. Council members yesterday deferred the bill indefinitely. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

A City Council committee yesterday effectively killed a controversial measure aimed at clarifying the city's 1992 condominium leasehold conversion ordinance and a council member later announced he would go further and introduce a measure to repeal the ordinance.

The action by the Executive Matters Committee was cheered by dozens of Native Hawaiians and others who opposed Bill 53, which would have addressed issues raised by a Hawai'i Supreme Court decision earlier this year.

In essence, Bill 53 would have made it easier for owners of leasehold condominiums to purchase the property under their buildings through a forced sale of the land.

Haunani Apoliona, chairwoman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, thanked the council for deferring the matter. "The legacy of the land is something that does not translate into dollars," she said.

But Vicky Holt Takamine, a well-known kumu hula and founder of the Native Hawaiian rights group '?lio 'Ula o Kalani Coalition, warned that the fight was not over. "We're happy that they're going to defer the bill," she said, but added that the Hawaiians would push for a repeal of the 10-year-old condo leasehold conversion law entirely.

John DeSoto, a staunch opponent of the leasehold conversion ordinance, said yesterday that he would use the momentum from the Bill 53 opposition to eliminate the ordinance so "we don't have to worry about this coming back as a poltergeist."

Takamine said she was not optimistic that DeSoto could get the law repealed, but said she was encouraged by the number of people who rallied behind the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust, which opposed Bill 53.

"I think we're getting better organized than we were before and I think we're more focused," she said. "This is one of the examples."

Bill 53 was introduced to address a May 30 ruling by the Hawai'i Supreme Court that said the city interpreted the leasehold-to-fee conversion ordinance incorrectly. The city administration believed that it would take 50 percent of the owner-occupants of a condominium or 25 owner-occupants to force the sale of the land.

Thecourt, however, said the ordinance provided that it would take at least half of all owners of the condo units to force the sale, making it impossible for all but 37 condominium complexes on O'ahu to qualify for conversion.

Executive Matters Committee Chairman John Henry Felix assured opponents of Bill 53 that he would recommend an indefinite deferral of the bill, which would effectively kill it, but they chose to remain and testify against the measure.

The deferral came after Councilman Gary Okino, the swing vote on the issue, decided to oppose the bill. Okino, who over the past week attempted to introduce two compromise measures, said yesterday that he changed his vote because that he believed that the Supreme Court's interpretation of the ordinance was the original intent of the law.

"As far as this bill is concerned, that's the only option we have — to deep-six it at this point," he said.

The Queen Lili'uokalani Trust opposed Bill 53 out of concern that the trustees would have to sell a fee interest to the land under its 142-unit Foster Towers complex because of the petition of eight owner-occupants. The trust, which benefits orphans and destitute children, generates 14 percent of its income from lease rent from lands formerly held by Queen Lili'uokalani.

During yesterday's hearing, more than three-quarters of the 121 who signed up to testify opposed the legislation.

Robert Clark, an advocate of condo leasehold conversion, said: "There's no way around the fact that (the 1992 condo leasehold conversion ordinance) has had all its teeth taken out."

He accused council members of cowardice in responding to the emotional appeals. "I don't believe that the emotion that has been built up today has anything to do with the situation," he said.

Retired Circuit Judge Patrick Yim, a trustee for the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust, said he was guardedly optimistic but would remain vigilant. "Today they had two choices," he said, noting that the committee chose to defer the bill. "If they had killed it, I'd be exuberant."

DeSoto's Bill 82, which seeks a repeal, will go before the full council for a hearing on Wednesday.

DeSoto's bill stipulates that the proposed legislation will not affect any condemnation proceeding authorized by the council if the ordinance is repealed.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.