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Queen Street heartburn
Kakaako companies fret that
a state plan to improve the area
will reduce parking and
hurt business
Small business owners along Queen Street in Kakaako are seeing red over a $15.6 million state plan for road and utility improvements in the area that will decrease customer parking and saddle landowners with some of the project's cost.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority, which oversees Kakaako development, yesterday voted to green light the project during a public hearing that left business owners angry, fearful for the future of their companies and contemplating legal action.
"Losing parking is going to kill me, and on top of that I have to pay for it? It's ridiculous," said Joseph Meccariello, owner of Worldwide Furnishings.
The project will revamp a two-block, light-industrial stretch of Queen Street between Kamakee Street and Ward Avenue with new paving, curbing, drainage systems, streetlights and traffic signals. Sewer and water systems also are in for an upgrade and electrical and phone lines will be put underground.
The gritty two-lane street, now lined with auto shops and assorted home-furnishing businesses, also will be transformed into a four-lane thoroughfare. One lane on each side will be marked for metered parallel parking, replacing the current unauthorized perpendicular parking along the shoulder.
The plan, known as Improvement District 11, is the latest in a series of Kakaako upgrade projects carried out over the years as part of the HCDA's vision for a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere that lures in more foot traffic -- and more patrons for local businesses.
Previous projects included the Auahi Street improvements that led to the development of the Ward Entertainment Center and Ward Village Shops.
But Queen Street merchants, some of whom have owned and operated their business in the area for up to 60 years, say the state's plan actually undercuts them while failing to provide the large-scale parking needed to handle any increased traffic.
"We agree that the street needs some work but we've got to have the parking. Period. Without it, I'm out of business," said Cliff Garcia, owner of Tropical Lamp & Shade, a 60-year-old family enterprise.
"The state should have put up a parking structure or something before starting any of this," said Garcia, who is being told he will need to pay $90,000 toward the project.
The cost of the Queen Street project is to be split three ways, with the state shouldering 69 percent, business owners 19 percent and public utilities 12 percent. The HCDA said local landowners are being required to contribute because they will benefit most from the upgrades.
Landowners, whose individual shares of the cost are assessed based on the size of their properties, complain that the assessments amount to an unfair tax that ignores the property taxes that some have paid for years while receiving no infrastructure improvements in return.
The assessments range from $63,000 for a 5,000-square-foot property to $167,150 for a 40,000-square-foot parcel. Landowners have up to 20 years to repay the HCDA. Twenty-five landowners have been assessed already, with another 10 assessments coming later.
Emotions ran high at yesterday's hearing.
"Why are you trying to run us out of business?" Neal Tamura, owner of Ray's Transmission Service Center LLC, asked the HCDA board. "If that's what you're trying to do, then say so, be upfront about it."
The agency's board members admitted that the plan leaves merchants short of parking options but defended the plan as being in the long-range interest of Kakaako.
"Being a small business doesn't mean you need to stay a small business," said board member Ted Liu, who is also director of the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism.
"This is about enlarging the pie for everyone."
But not all members agreed.
Board member Paul Kimura, whose City Fender & Body Service Ltd. is located just down Queen Street from the project area, voted against the plan.
"I just can't see going ahead with this without giving the businesses what they need first," he said.
Kimura said an improvement district project on Queen Street between Cooke Street and the downtown area completed in 1988 crippled some businesses.
The landowners' cost burden has been reduced up to 58 percent from an original formula after they objected strenuously during an initial April hearing on the project, but businesses said concerns over parking have not been addressed.
HCDA Executive Director Dan Dinell said the authority needed to move fast so that it could award the project by February or risk losing some state funds. The plan requires approval by Gov. Linda Lingle.
Dinell said the state also is open to buying land in the area at market value that could be used for parking, and promised to work with businesses on finding parking options.
Some landowners may take legal action. Bev Harbin, a member of the Kakaako Improvement Association, said she is organizing an effort by some landowners to pool their resources to hire an attorney and possibly seek a court injunction against the plan.
