City should sell Haleiwa parcel

Holding on to land in Hawaii is rarely a bad idea, but even here, the time does come when letting it go is the best option.

That would appear to be the case in Haleiwa, where city officials are taking a serious look at a remnant piece of land originally mapped as part of a regional park that never came to fruition. In the past year, the city has floated plans to sell the 3.5-acre lot as part of a drive to take underutilized parcels off the books and reduce city debt.

That would appear to be the right decision here, whatever the final disposition of the land. City officials should make a deal with one of the abutting landowners and follow through on a previously stated intention to impose a key condition of the sale. The buyer should provide a parking lot of 25-30 stalls that the public could use while they’re visiting.

The sale likely would enable one of two outcomes, both of which would be acceptable, depending on which is the best deal for the taxpayer:

» Construction of a proposed 80-room "boutique" hotel in the area now occupied by Jameson’s by the Sea restaurant. The developer, D. G. "Andy" Anderson, hopes to build an inn roughly based on the design of the turn-of-the-century Haleiwa Hotel that once stood nearer the town center.

» Kamehameha Schools may want the land to enable greater access to the historic Loko Ea Fishpond by accommodating school buses that drop off students there.

The sale of the land has been controversial in the community, particularly if it leads to the development of the small hotel. Anderson, a longtime political figure in the islands, encountered some neighborhood friction as developer of the Sunset Beach Colony gated community near the surf spot known as Velzyland, a project that led to the eviction of about 100 people there.

But viewed in isolation from all that, the idea itself deserves careful examination. It would be good to have visitor accommodations in the area other than the numerous unlicensed vacation rentals, especially a project that, judging by preliminary designs, would reflect the community’s historic character.

Anderson has noted a complication of park development: the land’s poor drainage, and the difficulty of expanding sewage capacity through a septic tank so close to the shoreline. He wants instead to build a sewage treatment plant that will handle the needs of the hotel as well as the small passive park that would be built at one end of the parcel.

Likewise, increasing student tours to the fishpond would make it an educational asset. The City Council will have to approve both any land transfer and any request for development permits, so residents will have an adequate chance to hear the details and submit testimony.

Neighbors have rallied against the hotel project in particular, pointing out volunteer work by residents to keep the area clean so it can be used for parking. That kind of community effort is a commendable show of civic pride but it’s still not enabling the fullest use of the land.

A far better solution will be using proceeds from a sale to pay down some of the city’s debt, especially as some measure of public purpose likely will be maintained on the site. A buyer for the land surely can make better use of it than the city has, for all the decades it’s been in municipal hands.