Turtle Bay preserve worth effort

The state Senate has tabled a measure aimed at the preservation of Kawela Bay and other coastal areas of the Turtle Bay Resort expansion site. Rather than signifying the failure of conservation efforts, this latest twist should light a fire under both the state administration and Turtle Bay developer Replay Resorts to come to a timely negotiated settlement over the land.

That may ultimately be the best outcome, because there seems to be a convergence of political will and momentum to resolve this issue now. The legislation’s sponsor, state Sen. Clayton Hee, read an email from Replay on the Senate floor Tuesday in which the company indicated a desire to reach a deal between now and November. Nothing motivates quite like a deadline.

The legislation, Senate Bill 894, was recommitted to committee yesterday, but it could be revived next session if no deal is in the offing.

The bill originally was drafted to authorize using state funds to purchase Kawela Bay areas, either through negotiation or using the state’s powers of eminent domain. Not surprisingly, this idea horrified Replay and other representatives of Turtle Bay Resort, now owned by a consortium of lenders.

The Senate Ways and Means and Judiciary panels revised the bill and eliminated specific references to eminent domain. But project spokesmen have remained worried that the condemnation option still could be revived and that uncertainty about the fate of the property would put a cloud over the entire project.

The scale of the resort expansion plan, now in its third decade of controversy, has been reduced in the current iteration.

Replay executives point out that the project’s zoning entitlements would allow up to 2,500 new hotel units and 910 resort-residential units. The latest proposal comprises two new hotels with a total of 625 units, 590 resort-residential units, 160 community housing units and various other improvements.

That’s the proposed action, but the developers also have offered a "conservation partner alternative," with resort expansion limited to two hotels containing 440 units, 252 resort-residential units and 48 affordable housing units. This would enable most of the coastal areas in the Kawela and Kahuku sections to be preserved in open space.

Although the state administration would be representing the public interest in negotiations, the settlement should involve more than taxpayer funds. What’s needed is a range of partners that would help compensate the landowner for the loss of development privilege.

One route to an accord may be a conservation easement deal; Turtle Bay is already discussing a similar accord to preserve the agricultural use lands on the mauka side of the resort. An easement is essentially a pact in which the landowner voluntarily agrees to limit the use of a given parcel of land to specific purposes, in exchange for negotiated compensation.

Turtle Bay is working on the agricultural easement with the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit that also successfully arranged a deal for another ag preserve on the former Galbraith Estate lands north of Wahiawa.

Willingness to consider this approach is already evident. In his testimony before the Senate committees, Scott McCormack, Turtle Bay Resort’s real estate vice president, aired his vigorous opposition to the state condemnation process, adding that the company has initiated discussions with conservation groups toward the sale of portions of the land through negotiation with the owner.

The state should seize this gesture and come up with some funds to seed the financing of the deal. Lea Hong, who heads the Hawaii office of the public land trust, has said a principal funding source is necessary to get the ball rolling on fundraising in these deals.

But North Shore residents, many of whom have lobbied long and hard for preservation, should be part of a broad fundraising effort, starting now.

Negotiations also should begin immediately: Hammering out a deal is sure to be a complex process, requiring significant funding and a lot of effort. However, the ultimate result — the preservation of a priceless stretch of scenic coastland — would make all that effort worthwhile.