Judge declines to dismiss
Irwin Park-Aloha Tower
land dispute case

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Star-Bulletin staff

A suit over the legality of restrictions on the use of land under Irwin Memorial Park will proceed, following a Land Court ruling yesterday.

Preservation societies, the William G. Irwin Charitable Foundation, Irwin's heirs and the city had called on Land Court Judge Gary W. B. Chang to dismiss the case, but he declined.

The state's Aloha Tower Development Corp. has sought to build a parking lot on the site, which fronts Aloha Tower Marketplace.

A point of contention is a 1952 waiver, discovered in 1999, that the state argues would nullify a 1930 deed by Helene Irwin Fagan restricting use of the land to a memorial park in honor of her father, William G. Irwin, a Honolulu businessman and philanthropist.

Aloha Tower Development Corp. has asked the Land Court to establish the validity of the alleged waiver.

But John Hoshibata, who represents a coalition of five of community-based preservation societies, said after the hearing that the 1952 letter concerned a Maui land deal that never took place, therefore nullifying the waiver.

Further, he argued a conflict of interest exists because the property is on the state Register of Historic Places, and should fall under the protection of the state Historic Preservation Division and the Hawaii Historic Places Review Board, both under the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. He requested the state appoint an attorney to represent its interest to preserve the use of the park.

Under the judge's direction, attorneys for Aloha Tower Development Corp. will have the state as landowner and the state DLNR become parties to the case.