Posted on: Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Project in Kona dealt setback
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Big Island Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra yesterday affirmed his ruling of almost a year ago that halted all work on a 1,550-acre luxury development and bypass road in Kealakekua.
Ibarra ruled on Sept. 12, 2003, that work must stop on the project, but delayed issuing a second amended final judgment in the suit to allow the developer of Hokuli'a and opponents of the project to try to settle the case.
A mediator declared an impasse in the settlement negotiations last month, clearing the way for Ibarra's final ruling.
John DeFries, chief operating officer for Hokuli'a, said Ibarra's decision was not unexpected. He said the developer will continue to comply with Ibarra's stop-work order.
DeFries said Ibarra has two more motions pending before him asking him to reconsider his ruling, including one filed by lawyers for the county and another filed by the developer. If Ibarra denies those motions after hearings next month, the developer will appeal the case to the state Supreme Court, DeFries said.
Robert Kim, a lawyer for critics of the development, said yesterday's ruling essentially affirms and restates Ibarra's earlier rulings and findings in the case, some of which date back to 2001.
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 with a golf course, clubhouse, members' lodge, pavilion and tennis courts.
The company has said it plans to sell about 750 residential lots for prices ranging from $650,000 to $2.5 million. It sold more than 190 of the lots before construction was halted, according to court testimony.
As a condition of the rezoning, the developer also agreed to build a bypass road from Keauhou to Napo'opo'o and create a 140-acre shoreline park.
The suit by Kona residents and Protect Keopuka 'Ohana, an organization of Native Hawaiian practitioners, was filed in 2000 over pollution to nearshore waters allegedly caused by grading for the project.
The suit was later expanded to include treatment of burials on the project site, treatment of a historical trail and a variety of other issues.
Ibarra ruled last September that the Hokuli'a project is not an allowable use of agricultural lands and found that the developer should have gone to the state Land Use Commission to have the property reclassified for urban development.
Ibarra ordered almost all work stopped until Oceanside either obtains a reclassification from the commission or obtains a "declaratory ruling" from the commission that the project is acceptable.
The ruling prompted layoffs among Hokuli'a's staff of about 180 as well as about 250 construction workers who were employed by contractors hired by the developer.The developer says it spent more than $300 million on the project before it was halted.
The ruling yesterday was the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the developer.
In 2002 Ibarra ordered 1250 Oceanside to restore a portion of an ancient Hawaiian trail called Alaloa that was destroyed during construction.
That same year, Ibarra ruled that the state and county failed in their duty to protect the ocean when two massive run-offs fouled the near-shore waters off the project two years earlier.
In yet another ruling that same year, Ibarra ordered the developer to take greater steps to protect ancient burials and Native Hawaiian cultural sites.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
