There's an offer on the table for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees to bring resolution to the dilemma of whether to allow residential development makai of Ala Moana Boulevard in an area known as Kakaʻako Makai or Hakuone. This comes after a bill that died during the legislative session would have brought OHA a step closer to developing housing.
The new proposal from Hawaiʻi House Speaker Scott Saiki of Oʻahu would pay OHA $100 million for an easement over their nine parcels of land, thereby restricting residential development and preserving the area's open spaces. He's represented the Kakaʻako-Ala Moana district for nearly three decades.
"My feeling is that the public wants to minimize that kind of development. It's important for us to maintain places like Kakaʻako Makai that give the public access to the ocean, to the surf, to park space, and I believe that we can work with OHA to develop a plan to do that," he said.
OHA accepted the Kakaʻako land from the state in 2012 as part of a settlement for ceded lands revenue with the idea it would have to lobby the Legislature to get the zoning changed.
"(The proposal) would allow OHA to use those parcels in ways that are currently authorized by law and that's basically commercial development up to 200 feet," Saiki said. "It would also retain the right to transfer, to exchange, to sell any of their parcels at Kakaʻako Makai if they want to do that."
"The second part of the bill would appropriate $100,000 to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to complete an inventory of public land in Hawaiʻi, which is important for OHA because OHA has always felt that the public land inventory in Hawaiʻi is not complete," Saiki said.
Thirdly, it would increase the annual public land trust revenue payments to OHA from $21.5 million to $25 million, and then adjust it every year thereafter using the consumer price index. The offer also includes $65 million to repair the wharf.
A legislative vehicle for the offer could be Senate Bill 1235 if amended by a committee in the House where the bill has not yet received a hearing, according to Saiki. The offer still needs Senate buy-in.
OHA said it will hold off on comments until trustees meet Thursday to discuss the offer.
"The legislative session calendar is basically the time clock right now. We are running out of time because the deadline for our committees to hear bills and to move those out is tomorrow. So if we receive a late response from OHA that accepts this proposal, then we'll have to find a way, procedurally, to see how we can accommodate this," Saiki told The Conversation on Wednesday.
"Depending upon the timing of OHA's response and the agreement of both the Senate and the House, we may need to trigger a special session. But again, it's just a matter of timing."
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 5, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
