Deadline set for cemetery turnover plan

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

A federal bankruptcy judge has given Honolulu Memorial Park until Sept. 2 to finish a plan that would turn over the cemetery to a nonprofit corporation of plot and niche holders, giving them a chance to save the park's historic pagoda.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris on Tuesday set the deadline upon completion of a proposed restructuring plan filed in court Friday.

Once the final plan is filed, the judge would dismiss the Chapter 11 case filed by the Richards family, majority shareholders of the Nu'uanu cemetery, according to court documents.

The plan averts the park's closure and liquidation of assets, attorney Jerrold Guben said yesterday.

The Nu'uanu Avenue cemetery was founded in 1958. The Richards brothers — Manning, James and Montgomery, owners of a 90 percent interest in the park — filed for Chapter 11 protection two years ago. At the time, the owners asserted that the cemetery was bankrupt and estimated that it would take $1 million to repair the 37-year-old pagoda, a replica of the Sanju Pagoda in Nara, Japan.

Under the plan, The Friends of Honolulu Memorial Park, the nonprofit corporation of the park's plot and niche owners, would acquire full stock ownership of the park and elect a new board of directors.

A second nonprofit formed by the Richards brothers — Kyoto Gardens Park — would serve as a fund-raising entity to bring in revenues for park maintenance and restoration of the pagoda.

According to the proposed plan, the Friends and the fund-raising arm may merge later, with the money to be used exclusively for the perpetual care and maintenance of the park.

Wayne Kotomori, one of the plot and niche owners who led the initial push to save the pagoda, declined comment yesterday on the proposed plan. Christian Porter, attorney for the Friends, was unavailable for comment.

The proposal gives the plot and niche holders a voice in the future of the pagoda and cemetery operations, Guben said.

Support for the plan is not unanimous.

Jimmy Nishimoto and some other plot and niche holders said yesterday that there has not been enough disclosure on how the cemetery became insolvent in the first place.

"What about the possibility of liability (for the plot and niche holders)?" he said. "We want to know: What happened? Where's the money?"

But others involved in the development of the proposed plan, including City Councilman Rod Tam, expressed satisfaction with the progress.

Tam said the fund-raising effort would reach out to federal and state granting agencies as well as private foundations.

"Not all the details have been laid out," he said. "But now there's a partnership, relationship between the current owners, the Richards family, and the Friends. We've opened the doors and talked story."

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.