Posted on: Monday, August 9, 2004
Amnesty still offered for Kane'ohe pier owners
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — With less than a year to complete lease agreements, Kane'ohe Bay pier owners are being urged to turn in their paperwork and finish the process before the amnesty period ends next June.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser But the law creating the program sunsets June 30 and if residents haven't obtained a lease with the state by then they will have to pay for the expensive process themselves, said Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Young addressed about 50 bay residents at a community meeting Friday but held out little hope that the department would change the way it is handling the program. Still, Young said he wants to help people through the process and that if their circumstance is unique the department would consider it.
June was the deadline to sign up for the program, but Young said residents should still submit their request because the department wants to complete the program.
Some 147 lease applications have been approved but only nine have been executed, he said.
Residents don't object to paying a lease rent for the piers but some balked at the formula used to calculate the rent. Young insisted that the formula will not change.
In addition, during the lease process many residents discovered that they are encroaching on state land and must now clear that problem before they can settle their leases. Despite these extenuating circumstances Young strongly recommends that people sign up for the program.
"I understand the deadline was June 30 but I would encourage you to get the paperwork in now," Young said during the meeting at Rev. Benjamin Parker Elementary School.
The encroachment issue is slowing the process and could result in additional cost to homeowners, many of whom said the encroachment existed before they purchased their homes.
Frank Barton, a pier owner, asked that the encroachment issue be handled separately and that all bay homes be surveyed for encroachment but Young told him that both issues have to be handled at the same time and that the department doesn't routinely survey for encroachments.
David Stoutemyer, a pier owner, said he is willing to pay a lease but that when he tried to get the required insurance it was going to cost 13 times the cost of the lease. He asked that the state provide the insurance and take the premiums out of the lease rent.
Residents called for more time and requested an extension of the program, but that would require action by the state Legislature. Sen. Melodie Aduja, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku), said she will submit a bill to extend the program but Young cautioned residents about pinning all their hopes on the bill passing.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
The Kane'ohe Bay Amnesty Program, initiated in 1998, is designed to legalize an estimated 200 piers in the bay and collect a rent from owners. The state is bearing the brunt of the financial burden of processing the leases, which include a conservation district permit application estimated to cost between $10,000 and $30,000.
The state is trying to settle the issue of the many illegal piers in Kane'ohe Bay by offering leases to those owners. But encroachment issues and other lease terms have discouraged some dock owners from taking advantage of the program.
