Council tees off Windward Councilman Steve Holmes wants the city to take over the Luana Hills Country Club in Maunawili Valley.
on plan to purchase
Luana golf course
Holmes' proposal is facing
stiff opposition from
his colleaguesBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinAnd while Holmes may have Mayor Jeremy Harris on his side, he faces a fight from Council colleagues who believe the project could become a financial boondoggle for the city. They note that one analysis estimates it will cost the city $1.6 million annually.
Holmes' Budget Committee will discuss the Luana Hills plan, and a host of other capital improvements sought by Council members, at its meeting next Wednesday.
The city, in a recent supplemental budget request, already has set aside $4.2 million to purchase roughly 900 acres surrounding the 18-hole golf course.
Holmes, however, said he wants approval for up to $9 million more to purchase the remaining 190 acres so the properties together can create a contiguous green belt known as the Windward Regional Park.
Holmes said his main concern is that at some point, owner HRT Ltd. will seek rezoning to develop homes in the acreage.
"I don't play golf, I'm not particularly looking to add to the city's golf inventory, but I want to keep the integrity of the vision in place and to do that I have to have access through that area," Holmes said. "And I also do not wish to have inappropriate development going through that property."
A deed restriction on the golf course lands runs through 2006, after which time the developer could choose to rezone for housing, he said.
Officials for HRT, a subsidiary of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, could not be reached for comment.
The nonprofit organization purchased the 1,084-acre site last December from Japan-based Pan Pacific Development Inc.
The golf course takeover has the endorsement of the Kailua vision team and the Harris administration.
But at least several of Holmes' colleagues are opposed to the purchase of the golf course.
A study conducted by the Office of Council Services, the research arm of the Council, shows the city would lose up to $1.6 million annually.
Councilman John Henry Felix, who asked for the income/loss analysis, said the study estimated $1.8 million in annual operating expenses and an additional $900,000 in debt service but only about $1 million in revenues.
"It would be a folly to proceed with this condemnation and we should take a couple of steps back first," Felix said. He said from all his discussions with Weinberg representatives he has concluded "they have no plans for rezoning applications" but is interested in keeping the valley in its pristine state.
"It's going to be a blackhole for the city," Councilman Gary Okino said. Okino said that logistically, the course does not fit the traditional model of a municipal course because it is steep and in an area where it rains frequently.
"And because there is a long distance between holes, it takes longer to play," he said.
The city likely won't be able to generate the same amount of revenues either, Okino said, because it would be charging lower, municipal rates.
Okino said he doubts a developer would be able to win residential zoning for the parcel from any city council.
Holmes said the Council analysis was faulty.
City Managing Director Ben Lee said the mayor supports purchasing the golf course and the surrounding areas "as part of a community master plan for a nature park. We are against condominium development on preservation land."
Lee said he doubts that the foundation would purchase a golf course that is losing money unless it is seeking to recoup its investment some other way.
City & County of Honolulu