City development fight heads to Supreme Court
After four years of appeals, the Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi will decide the fate of a Waikīkī development project.
A four-year-old fight between the city and a hui of environmental groups over a 2010 variance granted to Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts for a 26-story hotel and condo tower in Waikīkī is expected to be taken up by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court later this year.
The proposed tower would be located on the small, oceanfront lot between the historic Moana Hotel and the city-owned Kūhiō Beach Park on Kalākaua Avenue. The tower would exceed the Waikīkī Special District beachfront height and setback laws, established in 1976, by 74.3 percent, according to a press release sent out by the hui.
“We are glad the Supreme Court has decided to hear the case,” said Linda Paul, attorney for the hui, in the press release. “It’s a case that asks an important and fundamental question: Does the Mayor—or his agents—have unlimited power to grant exemptions of any magnitude from any ordinance?”
The hui includes Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, the Surfrider Foundation, KAHEA—the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance and the Ka Iwi Coalition, making up the appellants, while both the City of Honolulu and Kyo-ya will stand as the appellees.
In December of 2010, the hui formed to appeal the original variance decision, made by then city Department of Planning and Permitting Director, Henry Eng, to the city Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), then chaired by David Minkin. Mufi Hannemann, who will announce his candidacy for Governor of Hawaiʻi later today, was mayor at the time.
It took more than two entire years before the ZBA made up its mind to side with the city in February of 2013. The hui then appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the ZBA’s ruling in October of 2013. The hui filed another appeal with the Intermediate Court of Appeals and requested a transfer of the case to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court in April of this year. In May, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case.
Editor’s note: Ikaika Hussey, publisher of the Hawaii Independent, is the president of the board for KAHEA—the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance.