Senate panel advances HCDA board pick

A state Senate committee Tuesday unanimously approved adding a new member to a state board overseeing development in Kakaako, following public criticism of a nomination process by the City Council in March.

The Senate Committee on Housing endorsed Phillip Hasha to serve on the board of the Hawaii Community Development Authority in a 4-0 vote.

Hasha, CEO and principal of Kakaako-based commercial real estate firm The Redmont Group LLC, will be the small-business representative on the board if the full Senate concurs in a vote by Friday, and would replace Steve Scott, owner of Kakaako-based slipper maker Scott Hawaii.

The makeup of HCDA’s nine-member board long has been an issue of contention, with some concerned citizens viewing the board as being stacked by past governors with Cabinet members and those with construction industry ties. In 2014 the Legislature terminated the entire board and mandated a new selection process that reduced the number of outright picks by a governor.

As part of the new process, the City Council in March was to propose three people each for two board positions held by Scott and Jason Okuhama because their terms were expiring June 30. Okuhama was among three nominees submitted to Gov. David Ige for his seat, which is reserved for a resident of Kakaako. But Scott didn’t make the cut for the seat reserved for a Kakaako business owner.

On the eve of the Council vote on three nominee selections for each seat, there were just two nominees for the resident seat and four for the business seat.

Councilman Trevor Ozawa nominated Hasha for either seat, according to Ozawa senior adviser Francis Choe, because Hasha lives and works in Kakaako. But Councilwoman Kymberly Pine, who was in charge of taking nominations as chairwoman of the Zoning and Housing Committee, believed Hasha was nominated for the business owner seat, so she recommended a new name be added to the resident seat, and the Council voted 5-4 to do that and leave Scott off the list for the business owner seat.

After the vote, two Council members said the process wasn’t clear to them, and two others said they were disappointed. Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga told Scott supporters after the vote that development interests prevailed.

On Tuesday, Hasha said he is not a real estate developer and that his business does architecture, construction management, property management, valuation and other commercial real estate work. He also owns Brue Bar coffee shop and a shared workspace business called KouWork in the same 814 Ilaniwai St. building housing Redmont.

Hasha, who moved to Hawaii five years ago, said he considers himself a small- business advocate and looks forward to helping make Kakaako a better place to live and work. “It’s really just a wonderful place,” he told the Senate committee led by Sen. Will Espero.

Other committee members endorsing Hasha were Sens. Breene Harimoto, Clarence Nishihara and Josh Green.

Public testimony was split on Hasha’s nomination, with nine people expressing support and four expressing opposition.

The committee also voted to approve Okuhama to HCDA’s Kakaako board. Three other people were approved for HCDA boards covering other areas: Donna Ann Camvel and Jo-Ann Leong for Heeia, and Maeda Timson for Kalaeloa.