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By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Owner Steven K. Baker points out parts of his
Niu Valley home which haven't been finished yet.

Law stalls
luxury home
Land is his, but
can he build on it?

He got permits to build the
Niu Valley home on new land
created as the shoreline shifted

---

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

Steven K. Baker never thought he would be breaking the law by finishing the corner of his Niu Valley home.

But he learned in September that even if he's allowed to finish the house, which has a gaping hole in the bedroom, he may be left without a separate dining pavilion and swimming pool, even though the city has already issued the building permits for both.

The problem is that Baker's plans extend into accreted land -- coastal land that gradually accumulates as the shoreline moves outward. Although the owner of the abutting property can lay claim to the land, state law has prohibited any development on accreted land without a conservation district use application and firm evidence that the structures will not affect the future beach.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources will decide at a meeting tomorrow whether Baker can file an after-the-fact application and complete his bedroom. It will take longer to decide the status of the open-air dining room and pool.

"We think we've tried to bend over backwards to satisfy the requirements once they were made known to us," Baker said.

While construction has continued on the Hawaiiana-Balinese style home, Baker said he has complied with a stop-work order issued by the state and has put plans for the additional structures on hold.

Baker, a director of telephone companies, and his fiancee live in Hawaii part time but have a permanent residence in Hong Kong. They would like to make the Niu Valley house their primary home within the next three years.

Sam Lemmo, the Land Division's senior staff planner, said there is language in the law that would allow Baker to complete his home.

"They have to convince us fairly definitively that they won't affect the future course of the beach," Lemmo said. "They've done a pretty good job so far." Analysis from two coastal engineering firms shows that the area has been steadily accreting for 50 years, he said.

The decision is a hard one, since the state adopted the accretion laws to prevent erosion caused by seawalls, as has occurred at Lanikai Beach in Kailua, Lemmo said.

But with the house set back 60 feet from the shoreline, the accreted land issue was not caught by the planners or the city permitting office, and Baker was issued valid permits and began building, believing everything was OK.

City officials were not available for comment.

"We are in a very difficult situation," Lemmo said. "It's a multimillion-dollar structure on a piece of accreted land. The problem is that they didn't do anything wrong, really.

"If there was the suggestion that this was willful, they'd be out of there," he added.

Lemmo has included among his recommendations to the Land Board that if there were strong evidence that Baker's home won't affect the beach, he should be able complete the bedroom, but with a deed restriction that no seawall will be constructed to protect the property should the beach begin to erode.

Baker said he wasn't thrilled with that stipulation but would trust the findings of coastal engineers that the land wouldn't erode to the degree that it would threaten his home.

Although he wasn't inclined to speculate much on the possibility of being unable to complete his plans, Baker did say that "a substantial foundation and two-story structure was already built. It would be extremely expensive to demolish that, and, given the design, which is of multiple buildings, it would be impossible to create the same Balinese feel."

The separate dining pavilion, called a bale, is an important part of the home's aesthetics and also its only dining area. "The dining room is pretty critical, and we would have to set a table up in the lanai area or try to construct a smaller bale closer to the house ... which would detract significantly from the theme of the house," he said.

Baker hopes for at least interim relief at the meeting tomorrow. "We are putting a substantial share of our wealth into the home and we love Hawaii and want to move here permanently," he said.