Church, Navy square off over use of land
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Proposed redevelopment on federal land near Pearl Harbor has pitted a long-time local church near Moanalua Shopping Center against the U.S. Navy.
"Our church is under immediate threat," said John M. Derby, executive secretary of the Hawai'i Conference Foundation, which oversees property for Moanalua Community Church and other members of the Hawai'i Conference of the United Church of Christ. "They are moving ahead, ready to select developers."
The Navy plans to build an office building near the church, and to lease the surrounding property to the developer. In exchange for constructing the office building, the developer would gain control over the surrounding property, collecting rent and managing leases for whichever businesses and properties the developer brings in or allows to remain there. Construction could begin as early as the end of this year.
At least part of the church's property, deemed historic by the Hawai'i Register of Historic Places in August, will remain intact, Navy officials said. Whether the congregation will remain will be up to the developer.
Moanalua Community Church is an A-frame building with a triangular stained-glass window that sits on 3 1/2 acres of federal land among a hodgepodge of fast-food restaurants, auto repair shops and other businesses.
It was built in 1958, almost 17 years after the congregation, which includes a number of military families, began meeting in a nearby Quonset hut after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
For the past 22 years, the church has operated without a lease.
"The lease expired Jan. 1, 1982," said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for Navy Region Hawai'i. "We've tried repeatedly to negotiate a fair market lease with the church, and we've been unable to do that.
"The Navy is not anti-church," he said "We are very sympathetic to the situation this congregation is in. This church has been an integral part of this community for many years. But, they've also paid no rent for more than two decades."
Federal laws require a fair market price for leases on federal property, Davis said, including leases with churches.
"We have to follow the law," he said. "Otherwise, it isn't fair to the taxpayers and to hundreds of other churches."
If the developer decides that the church and its preschool should remain a part of the area, the church will have to negotiate lease arrangements with a new landlord, Davis said.
Derby agreed that the church had not paid rent beyond a token amount — maybe a dollar a year, since 1982. He said the Navy, in the past, had talked about a five-year, cancelable contract, but had never officially presented the church with a new lease.
"They've sent us a sample language," he said, "But we've never had a lease offer from them."
Davis said Navy records show otherwise.
Goldrino Balatico, Moanalua Community Church's moderator, a church leader, said the church started operating on federal land at the invitation of the Navy during World War II.
"They invited all the denominations to put up churches in the Pearl Harbor area," he said, "to fill the needs of the military families."
That was when the population of the naval base was extremely high, he said.
"I guess they think they can serve their people in the two chapels on base now," he said. "They don't need us anymore."
Two Samoan churches were displaced when the Navy built its new Exchange, Balatico said. One of the Samoan congregations now meets at Moanalua Community Church.
Davis said the development does not spell the death of the church.
"It is not a foregone conclusion that the church will go away, but the church must bid competitively," he said. "There are no special deals. Not for anybody — Jack-in-the-Boxes or churches."
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
