Hotelowners want
to end the room
cap for Waikiki

By Gordon Y. K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Hoteliers are urging the City Council to eliminate a 32,800-unit hotel room cap for the Waikiki Special Design District.

Members of the Council Planning Committee yesterday discussed a status report on the cap, which was first imposed in 1981 in an effort to redirect new hotel construction to Ko Olina and Kuilima and to ensure careful growth of Waikiki.

Melvin Kaneshige, senior vice president of Outrigger Enterprises, said abolishment of the cap is necessary to maintain Waikiki's economic viability.

.The cap, he said, "seems to establish a regulatory chokehold over redevelopment in Waikiki" when it needs more first-class hotels for convention center clientele.

Existing land use controls such as the Waikiki Special District ordinance already regulate density of hotel rooms and impose other requirements on open space, setbacks and design, Kaneshige said.

Murray Towill, executive director of the Hawaii Hotel Association, said: "We do not believe it is good public policy to be retaining an arbitrary, numeric cap,"