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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Kona project to pursue appeal

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — An order by Kona Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra to halt almost all construction at the Hokuli'a development in Kona will remain in effect for now.

Ibarra on Monday rejected requests by developer 1250 Oceanside Partners that he suspend the ruling pending an appeal to the Hawai'i Supreme Court or that he delay the date the ruling is to take effect.

Hokuli'a officials estimate that the partnership has spent more than $300 million on the luxury housing and golf project. Without a court stay, about 150 company employees will lose their jobs Oct. 24.

The company indirectly employed another 240 people through contractors or subcontractors, and Ibarra's ruling forced most of them off the job last month.

Lyle Anderson, chairman of project general partner Red Hill 1250 Inc., said the company is disappointed Ibarra that did not agree to a 30-day delay in the effective date. "As we appeal what we view as a clearly incorrect land-use decision, we will continue to seek constructive solutions which would bring the controversy to an end and allow our project, with all of its community benefits, to proceed," he said in a statement issued yesterday.

Ibarra last month ordered a halt to almost all construction at the 1,550-acre Hokuli'a development, ruling that the developer didn't have the government approvals it needs to proceed.

Ibarra allowed work to continue on the golf course, shoreline park and bypass road being built near the Hokuli'a site, but ordered all other work halted while Oceanside seeks state Land Use Commission approval.

The developer won approval from the Hawai'i County Council in 1994 and 1996 to rezone the property to allow for 1-acre agriculturally zoned lots, but Ibarra ruled that LUC approval also is required — a process that could take years.

The project was challenged by the Protect Keopuka 'Ohana, a group of Hawaiian cultural practitioners and descendants of Hawaiians buried at the site. Also joining in the suit were a farmer, some small-business owners and environmentalists.

In Monday's ruling, Ibarra found 1250 Oceanside did not demonstrate the developer is likely to have his September ruling overturned on appeal or that a stay would be in the public interest.

He also ruled that the partnership had not shown it would be "irreparably injured" by the ruling that stopped work on the site.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.