Kahuku holdouts were not offered a ‘good deal’

I am the president of the Kahuku Plantation Residents Association and a main target of the vindictive developer Continental Pacific LLC.

I want to thank those who sided with Kahuku Village residents, especially given errors made against us in recent articles. I hope others read our response and change their minds.

Due to what we consider errors being constantly repeated, most people now think we were crazy not to accept a $150,000 offer for our land in Kahuku Village V. But that was not the real price, and we would not agree to abandon the 13 flood-area and other six residents who are our family. So we were not crazy, but have a local loyalty that we are very proud of no matter the cost to us personally.

The actual cost of offers to non-flood area residents was not $150,000, as the developer asserts, but a total of $350,000. Eleven residents are in this category, above market values for Kahuku.

The offer of $150,000 contained an "as is" requirement, which meant that we had no choice but to accept the land "as is" as of Dec. 31, 2012, with each member to pay for the rest of off-site and on-site improvement costs. According to a consulted architect and our research, the infrastructure costs would be at least $80,000 apiece.

Another cost was to replace cesspools — estimated at an extra $38,000. And another hidden cost would be the need to finish a required archaeological inventory survey, which was ordered on Nov. 20, 2012, and is only partly done. We expect the cost per resident would be about $45,000.

For our flood-area members, the developer’s dubious offer would have the same base cost: $350,000. But added to that would be cost of extra infrastructure on the vacant uncleared lots. Twelve flood-plain residents who would have to build new homes would pay between $650,000 and $725,000 total, well above Kahuku market values. Further, flood-area residents, who could never afford the purchase amount requiring them to build new homes, would have to give up title to their homes to Continental Pacific if they were then forced to rent because they could not afford to buy.

Also, there are members who do not live in the flood plain, but still have to tear down their houses and move to another area because the developer has plans to sell their lots for commercial use and ocean-view use. All six have an estimated rebuild cost of $320,000 on top of the $350,000 base cost — an unaffordable $670,000.

Thirty familiesare KPRA members. More than half would have to build new houses and buy their lots at a cost of close to $700,000 because they are in the aforementioned flood areas and commercial use/ocean view situations. These prices are not a "good deal," as the Star-Advertiser’s Saturday editorial claimed ("Kahuku holdouts missing fair deal," Our View).

Further, it has been reported that our group is suing Continental Pacific for $10 million ("Suit seeks to block evictions at Kahuku Village," Star-Advertiser, Nov. 6). Let’s be clear that we will get no money when the penalties are upheld by the jury in our case; not one penny of that suit will be awarded to our group. Our work is not for our personal financial benefit, but to stop the desecration of our cultural heritage as citizens of Hawaii. Our members have chosen to take their chances in court, as we feel our cause is just.

Our community is very special and this situation brings us huge sadness. We believe the Kahuku Village Association improperly sold our homes out from under us — e.g., KVA board member Jimmy Camit transferred his own home to himself for $1 (as did other board members) but then acted to block transfer of others’ homes. It will be proven in court that KVA did not own our homes, and had no legal right to pass them to Continental Pacific, taking advantage of locals in the state. Shame on them.