Group fights A coalition of religious, cultural, educational and small-landowner organizations joined forces yesterday in hopes of defeating three mandatory leasehold conversion measures up for City Council approval next week.
leasehold proposals
A coalition wants to defeat 3 measures
before the CouncilBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.comUltimately, the group wants to abolish the law that allows the city to use its eminent-domain powers to force a landowner to sell the leased fee interest to condominium owners who want to buy the land under their homes.
The Council is expected to take a final vote on Dec. 4 on leasehold conversion applications from condominium lessees at the Kahala Beach, Admiral Thomas and Camelot.
Representatives of groups opposing the conversions include Kamehameha Schools, which owns the fee under Kahala Beach; First United Methodist Church, which owns the fee beneath the Admiral Thomas on Kinau Street; Kekuku family estate, owner of the Camelot land in Makiki; the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; members of the Tongan community; Small Landowners Association; Hawaiian Civic Clubs; and other native Hawaiian organizations.
"Land in Hawaiian is 'aina' ... that which feeds," said Vicky Holt Takamine, president of Ilioulaokalani.
The coalition is planning to present an open letter asking the Council to defer action until the next Council takes office in January.
"I hope the next City Council will at least look at the data, really look at the impact," Takamine said.
But supporters of the resolutions said lessees applying for the leasehold conversion are doing so in accordance with the law.
"Why should these people not be allowed to proceed through the law when there's a valid law and they've met the qualifications?" said Michael Pang, principal broker of Monarch Properties, whose company has assisted a number of the condominium owners through the process, including those at the Camelot.
But opponents of the measures said that the landowners' work of educating children and helping the needy could be compromised if the Council approves the conversions.
Gene Grippin, a member of the First United Methodist Church, which operates a preschool and food bank program, said that the original intent of eminent domain, or condemnation, is to take from a few for the benefit of many. "This isn't what's happening," he said of the resolutions.
Takamine said that if the measures pass, the city should expect legal challenges similar to the one Kamehameha Schools filed that led to a state Supreme Court decision earlier this year.
That decision upheld the 1991 leasehold conversion act but also said that more eligible owner-occupants in a condo project had to petition for the condemnation before the city could process the application.
James Mee, attorney for the First United Methodist Church, said the church is also looking at whether the city is violating the First Amendment by taking church land. "The constitutionality of the law is so bent out of shape," Mee said.
But Pang said that the law has been proved in both the state and federal courts.
City & County of Honolulu
