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A state board continues to wrestle with how to handle a largely built Kakaako condominium tower with glass walls that violate area development rules.
Board members of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the agency regulating development in Kakaako, deliberated in executive session for about 2.5 hours Wednesday without making a decision about the Symphony Honolulu tower.
Wednesday’s deliberations followed two public hearings with expert testimony in July and an Aug. 5 meeting where the board met in executive session for an hour without ruling.
On Wednesday, the board asked that glass experts representing tower developer OliverMcMillan and HCDA reappear to provide more specifics on the reflective attributes of glass. The continued hearing is scheduled for Sept. 2 at 1 p.m.
Board Chairman John Whalen said directors are struggling with how to remedy the situation after OliverMcMillan failed to disclose to HCDA that its choice of glass violated the rule. HCDA learned that Symphony Tower might be in violation of the glass rule through discussions on another tower, then asked OliverMcMillan whether its tower glass complied.
OliverMcMillan has said a consultant led it to believe that it couldn’t meet the glass rule without violating another rule that mandates a certain level of energy efficiency that OliverMcMillan regarded as more important.
The HCDA staff has said both rules can be met, and that a variety of building components — not just glass — contribute to energy efficiency.
HCDA’s rule specifies that at least 50 percent of light pass through glass into tower units. The rule was intended in part to regulate reflectivity of glass, though HCDA and OliverMcMillan experts agreed there is no direct correlation between light transmission and reflectivity.
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