Driving range plan
is not an easy shot

Some residents want time to
consider a taller ball-catching net

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By Pat Gee
Star-Bulletin

Waialae homeowners should have been given adequate time to study an environmental assessment of a taller driving range net at the country club, says Lester Leu, president of a neighboring homeowners association.

Because they weren't, city planners shouldn't have held a public hearing for a special management area permit for Waialae Country Club to replace the 40-foot-high net with a 60-foot one and a gate off Waiholo Street for a future maintenance pathway, said Leu of the Waialae Golf Course Association.

Yesterday's hearing at Waialae Elementary School was "violative of our due process right," he said, and the Department of Planning and Permitting has "two laws: one for the rich and powerful at Waialae Country Club and one for us."Hearings officer Eileen Mark told homeowners that no permit would be issued and no recommendation would be made to the City Council until the applicant met procedural requirements. Mark added that the Council, which would grant final approval, would also hold additional hearings.

The department initially granted a permit May 11 but withdrew its finding of no significant impact a few weeks later when the association complained that residents were not given copies of the environmental assessment in time to properly respond.

Country club officials want the taller net for safety reasons while neighbors oppose the unsightliness of the net.

She said the association had sufficient time to respond, as the first public hearing in August was continued to gather more information.

But Leu said the department was derelict in its promise to work with the country club's representative, Kauahikaua & Chun Architects, to get the answers to the association's questions and distribute copies of the environmental assessment.

The environmental assessment included letters from the applicant, dated March 12, allegedly responding to concerns that were sent to the residents, but they were never received by any association members, Leu said.

At the hearing, Dwight Kauahikaua declined to respond to Leu's inquiries about not receiving the letters.