Mirikitani says he
never agreed to relative’s
wedding business

By Ian Y. Lind
Star-Bulletin

City Councilman Andy Mirikitani has asked the city's planning director to overturn a permit granted last year for a controversial wedding business planned by his brother's family.

In a Feb. 26 letter to Jan Sullivan, director of the Department of Planning and Permitting, Mirikitani said he is one of the fee-simple owners of the historic Bayer Estate in Aina Haina, but never consented to using it for what some neighbors charge is a commercial wedding mill.

"Without my signature or consent, the lease (for the wedding business) is void," Mirikitani said.

"I have consistently informed your department in writing of my opposition to commercial wedding operations in residential neighborhoods due to the impacts they cause for surrounding residential neighborhoods," the letter states.

The wedding business in the oceanfront residential area along Kalanianaole Highway was proposed by Susan M. Mirikitani, owner of the Bayer Estate LLC, which would operate the wedding facility, and backed by her husband, Castle & Cooke Vice President Richard Mirikitani, the councilman's brother.

The Department of Planning and Permitting approved a conditional use permit for the project in August 1998, and the Zoning Board of Appeals later rejected an appeal by opponents.

Commercial operations are generally prohibited in residential areas, but zoning regulations allow exemptions for historic buildings as a means of promoting historic preservation.

Real estate records show the Mirikitani brothers each own a 17 percent share of the fee-simple interest in the property, with the remainder held by a family trust that Richard Mirikitani controls as trustee.

Richard Mirikitani said the lease to his wife's company was executed by the authorized rental agent with "full power and authority to manage the property and execute leases on behalf of the landlord," according to a Jan. 18 letter to Sullivan.

But Andy Mirikitani maintains the lease is invalid because he was never informed or consulted about the business plans, and never gave his approval.

Gregg Kashiwa, a longtime neighbor who has led a group opposed to the wedding business, formally requested Sullivan reconsider the project as a result of Mirikitani's disclosure.

"It is well settled that one co-tenant has no power to lease the entire estate or any specific portion thereof unless he is duly authorized to do so by the other co-tenants," Kashiwa said in a letter to Sullivan. "Since Andy Mirikitani rejects this entire proposal, the lease is therefore void."

A decision by Sullivan is pending.