Pagoda dispute enters endgame

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

When Wayne Kotomori began his fight to save the pagoda at Honolulu Memorial Park more than a year ago, his father, Noboru, was right by his side.

Wayne Kotomori says he is not happy about the situation at Honolulu Memorial Park, the owners of which plan to tear down the park's pagoda if a bankruptcy plan is approved. Kotomori says the park's owners should repair the pagoda so it can continue to be used as a burial place. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

The two attended every hearing in bankruptcy court in an attempt to protect their investment and provide a voice for the cemetery's hundreds of plot and niche owners.

Then just weeks ago, on Dec. 5, the 86-year-old Noboru was hit by a car and killed while crossing Liliha Street.

His cremated remains are in an urn at his son's home, waiting for the Honolulu Memorial court case to be settled.

"With this bankruptcy and the status of the cemetery in doubt, I'm not about to inter my dad there," Kotomori said. "We are not going to do anything until the status of the cemetery is resolved in the creditors' favor."

The fight is reaching a critical juncture as the bankruptcy proceeding enters its final stages.

Kotomori and others like him will meet tomorrow night to plan their strategy to save the three-story Japanese pagoda that is at the heart of a disagreement pitting cemetery owners against hundreds of people who own niches — burial places in essence — at the deteriorating structure.

The Nu'uanu cemetery's owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and through their attorney, Jerrold K. Guben, have proposed a plan to reorganize the business. They want to tear down the pagoda — it has been deemed unsafe — spending about $200,000 on the project rather then the estimated $1 million needed to repair it. They say the cemetery was underfinanced from the beginning and has been losing money for years.

For them it is a business decision, but for the families who bought into the cemetery as a final resting place for their loved ones, it is a deeply personal situation steeped in culture, tradition and religion.

Noboru Kotomori

The niche owners say the pagoda's damage was small when it was first discovered in 1978 and that neglect is the cause of the building's deterioration.

Kotomori is trying to convince niche owners to block the bankruptcy petition in hopes that the court will force the cemetery owners to spend the money to repair the pagoda.

State law requires private cemeteries to be maintained in perpetuity, but cemetery owners say the plan put in place to pay for repairs was inadequate, and the money has run out.

The owners' bankruptcy plan would also dissolve Honolulu Memorial Park Inc. along with the Honolulu Memorial Association, which was formed to handle the perpetual care of the facility, and turn all assets and debts over to a nonprofit corporation called Kyoto Gardens.

A ballot on whether to accept the plan has been sent to all pagoda niche holders, according to Kotomori's attorney, David Farmer. The deadline to vote is Feb. 11. A court hearing to announce the results is set for Feb. 18.

Only the pagoda niche holders and company officers are eligible to vote because they are directly affected by the plan, according to the court. A simple majority is needed to decide the issue.

The pagoda contains more than 1,700 niches, but fewer than 100 people are interred in the landmark.

Herbert "Monty" Richards Jr., whose father founded the cemetery in 1958 and turned it over to his children in 1973, said the business has been a financial drain for many years and there is no money to repair the pagoda, which was built in 1966 as a replica of the Sanju Pagoda in Nara, Japan.

Richards, president and board chairman of Kahua Ranch on the Big Island, said cemetery officers have spent more than $750,000 of their own money to keep the cemetery solvent.

"The only reason we kept it going was for my father and his memory," Richards said. "It has got to the point where we can't hack it anymore and if anyone wants it, wonderful, here it is. We are ready to gift the stock, to take it from a profit corporation to a nonprofit. We get zero."

Kotomori said the pagoda roof began leaking in 1978, and the company simply put up a plastic tarp and buckets on the floor to collect water rather than make the necessary repairs.

The pagoda was inspected by architects in 1986 and by engineers in 1997. Both times, the experts said it could be repaired, but the company refused to do the work, Kotomori said.

"Their excuse of not enough money to fix a small leak back then, I don't buy that," Kotomori said. "If they had taken care of the small leak then, it would not be a problem today. That is why we are in this mess."

Richards said the problem occurred when a rusting steel reinforcing bar caused concrete in the structure to break away as the rebar expanded.

Richards said that if the plan is rejected, the bankruptcy will likely go from Chapter 11 reorganization, to Chapter 7 asset liquidation and a buyer will be sought for the company.

Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris is not interested in how the pagoda fell into disrepair, Kotomori said. The court is focused on where the company is going now.

"Wayne feels everybody is being impaired because of the special significance of the pagoda and the whole ambience, the environment that folks bought into," attorney Farmer said. "It is run down, and tearing down the pagoda is 'dancing on the grave of his father.' "

Richards said the association does have about $1 million in assets, but that money cannot be used for repairs.

According to state law, only the earnings of money collected by the association can be used to pay for repairs and maintenance, leaving the principal intact. With investments yielding low returns in recent years, earnings have been inadequate, he said.

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.