UH regents to vote on Maui astronomy plan

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

A controversial plan to purchase land and develop an astronomy research center on Maui for the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy was approved at a UH Board of Regents committee meeting yesterday and faces its final hurdle today before the full board.

One regent has resigned over the issue, and the $8.6 million proposal didn't progress yesterday without facing some tough questioning and a warning from a newly appointed regent that future proposals could get equally contentious.

Michael Maberry, assistant director for the Institute for Astronomy, told the Committee on Finance and Facilities that the agency is currently operating out of an 80-year-old, two-story farm house on Maui, and that a new facility is needed in order for the institute to maintain its competitive edge in attracting research grants.

He said the Kulamalu site under consideration is ideal for the new facility, and has the added benefit of possibly attracting and accommodating the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope — a high priority, $80 million to $100 million project recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. Hawai'i is one of seven sites being considered for that project, he said.

The proposed location, according to Maberry, "is the only subdivision in the Upcountry area in the community plan, zoned commercial, with water, utilities and a communications infrastructure that is available at this time for construction."

Maberry said that although other sites on Maui are available, it could take years to acquire zone changes of water development rights. Of all the sites considered, he said the one owned by former board member and Maui developer, Everett Dowling, was easily the most desirable.

Ted Hong, who was appointed by Gov. Linda Lingle, said, "I disagree with a lot of the conclusions," and asked if the alternative Maui sites had been considered before or after the controversy surrounding the resignation of Dowling.

Dowling, an appointee of former Gov. Ben Cayetano, resigned from the board earlier this month during a conflict-of-interest dispute.

Hong and another Lingle board appointee, Kitty Lagareta, were critical of the fact that Dowling's company, Kulamalu Science LLC, owns the land being considered for the research center. Neither Hong or Lagareta were placated by the fact that the state Ethics Commission had ruled that there was no conflict so long as Dowling recused himself from discussing the project with the board.

Lagareta told Maberry and the committee yesterday that she never had a problem with the proposed site or the project, but that she objected to a sitting regent being so closely involved in the deal. That issue had been resolved to her satisfaction with Dowling's resignation, she said.

But she added that this project was initially presented as something the board must accept or face the prospect of forfeiting a potential $100 million bonanza to the state.

If, she said, "that is the way we are presented with proposals and ideas in the future, I suspect they will get just as gnarly as this one did."