Posted on: Thursday, October 14, 2004

Leasehold-to-fee moratorium dropped

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

After triggering sharp criticism from both sides of the dispute over Honolulu's condominium leasehold conversion law, the City Council yesterday junked a proposed moratorium on new conversions.

Dozens of people who support or oppose the law packed City Hall to demand a straightforward vote to keep or repeal it. A moratorium would leave the volatile issue unresolved, they said.

Councilman Romy Cachola, who sponsored the moratorium bill, said he had hoped to broker a compromise.

"To policy-makers like us, we're not just looking at black and white," Cachola said. "We're looking for gray, for a way to satisfy both sides."

But many landowners and lessees angrily accused the council of stalling for time to wiggle out of a tight political jam. The council has been considering for months whether to repeal the law, and a decision is due soon.

The council voted unanimously to kill the moratorium on its introductory reading — a rare fate for any piece of legislation.

The 1991 conversion law, known as Chapter 38, lets the city force landowners to sell to qualified condominium owners the fee interest in the land under their units.

The law is popular with many people who want full ownership of the condos they live in, but is staunchly opposed by some landowners, including charitable trusts that benefit Hawaiian children.

Opposing the moratorium was virtually the only thing the two sides have managed to agree on. A six-member task force representing landowners and lessees reached no consensus after six months of meetings meant to find ways to make the law more fair to each side.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.