House panel OKs 2 bills on parking in Kakaako

A long-running dispute over reserved parking along privately owned roads in Kakaako has literally spilled from the streets — as well as from a state courthouse and a city advisory panel — into the state Legislature.

Lawmakers have taken up two bills that aim to deal head-on with the problem, which has expanded in recent years with landowners restricting parking on streets they claim to own in the urban Honolulu area. The issue has become more urgent as new residential high-rises are being built on what was once a largely neglected industrial neighborhood.

The House Committee on Water and Land advanced the bills this month, and so far they have drawn strong support mainly from a handful of residents and business owners in Kakaako while street owners keep silent.

The city endorsed one of the bills after a private-road owner painted reserved parking spaces recently on a portion of Waimanu Street where city signs prohibit parking.

Lawrence Newman, a resident in the Pacifica Honolulu condominium tower, which borders this stretch of Waimanu Street claimed by Kakaako Land Co., urged passage of both bills.

“It will enhance the ongoing development in Kakaako and better ensure that it successfully achieves its goal of being a safe and ‘walkable’ community,” he said in written testimony.

The two bills take different approaches to the situation, though some stakeholders have raised concerns with both.

House Bill 2092 would prohibit parking on all privately owned streets in Kakaako and would affect Kakaako Land as well as other property owners, including Kamehameha Schools and Howard Hughes Corp, which also own private roads in the area.

The other measure, House Bill 2604, would give the state ownership of at least eight thoroughfares claimed by Kakaako Land: portions of Ward Avenue and Queen, Cooke, Cummins, Clayton, Ilaniwai, Kawaiahao and Waimanu streets.

Aaron Mun, another Pacifica resident, said in written testimony that Kakaako Land painted parking stalls for reserved use on part of Waimanu Street in December for vehicles including large taxi vans and reduced visibility and safe use of the street.

“Driving down the two-way street is an accident waiting to happen as these ‘stalls’ have forced motorists to drive dangerously close to the center of the street in the face of oncoming traffic,” Mun said. “The recently painted parking stalls on Waimanu Street have placed the health and safety of the general public at jeopardy.”

Other Pacifica residents testified that the reserved parking makes it dangerous to exit the tower’s parking garage, blocks handicapped access to the tower and makes it more difficult to turn onto Ward Avenue from Waimanu Street.

The city Department of Transportation Services supports the bill to prohibit parking on private streets in the area. Michael Formby, the agency’s director, said in written testimony that the bill would enhance pedestrian safety.

Eliminating parking, however, would negatively affect some small-business owners in Kakaako, including some who pay Kakaako Land for parking and some who contend that unimproved shoulder areas of certain streets fronting their businesses should be for the free use of their customers.

Michael Macdonald, vice president of the food brokerage firm Macdonald & Porter Inc. on Queen Street, said HB 2092 could potentially harm his and other companies.

“Our business along with all of the others in the immediate area rely on the availability of parking on the shoulders of the roadway for our business operations,” he said in written testimony.

Still, Macdonald called HB 2092 a step in the right direction to address the problem of restricted parking that has spread over the last six years, largely around streets that Kakaako Land claims to own, though other Kakaako street owners, such as Kamehameha Schools, also restrict parking on the typically unimproved road shoulders.

Kakaako Land, a firm led by brothers Calvert and Cedric Chun, said it bought portions of eight streets in 1985 from the sole remaining heir of the man who subdivided a large section of Kakaako more than 100 years ago, Charles S. Desky.

City officials and the Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency that regulates development in Kakaako, have recognized the Chuns as owners of certain streets over many years.

But complaints from area businesses began flying when the brothers started restricting what had been freely used shoulder areas of the streets around 2010 by putting up reserved-parking signs, charging $100 or more a month per stall and towing cars parked without their approval.

Several Kakaako business owners filed a lawsuit against Kakaako Land in state court in 2014, alleging that the Chuns don’t own the streets in question. A trial is scheduled for October.

The City Council attempted to help by forming an advisory panel last year to examine the road ownership and recommend solutions and actions, but little was accomplished.

Four months ago area business owners demonstrated with signs to express their frustration about the parking situation and their concern over whether the Chuns would maintain the roads.

The city generally maintains privately owned roads as long as the roads provide unrestricted public use. But over the last year or so, the city notified the Chuns that maintenance had become the Chuns’ responsibility because of the restricted parking.

During the rally, participants urged state and city leaders to take action.

Rep. Scott Saiki, the House majority leader and representative for Kakaako, introduced the two bills as public safety measures and because he believes the Chuns have made false street ownership claims.

“I do not believe their claim, and it is unfortunate that private businesses and state and city government are expending significant resources to fight them,” Saiki said in a statement. “We need to put a stop to persons who have concocted fake ownership of roads to the detriment of the general public just so that they can make a profit.”

Rep. Ryan Yamane, chairman of the Water and Land Committee, said the bills merited further discussion. The House Judiciary Committee would be the next arena for debate, though a hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Rep. Calvin Say, a Water and Land Committee member and former House Speaker, was part of the unanimous vote to pass the parking prohibition bill but expressed reservations, saying, “It’s private property. It’s not public property we’re addressing.”

Say voted against advancing the other bill that would give the state ownership of the streets claimed by Kakaako Land because the state Department of Land and Natural Resources opposes the bill out of concern that the property could come with liabilities such as environmental contamination.

Two other bills introduced at the Legislature this year would potentially alter Kakaako street ownership: House Bill 2048 and Senate Bill 2281, which would let HCDA “accept” ownership of any Kakaako roads where ownership is disputed. The House version passed an initial committee hearing Feb. 1, while the Senate version has not been scheduled for an initial hearing.