Grading for homes in Nuuanu generates violations

Grading and other groundwork for a future subdivision in Nuuanu has generated three notices of violation this month that some neighbors say have come far too late.

The groundwork for as many as 18 future custom homes around the planned Dowsett Estates subdivision is nearly complete, and the city’s notices of violation will do little to ease concerns over drainage, cracks to existing homes and the risk of landslides, said John Harrison, former president of the Nuuanu Valley Association and former director of the University of Hawaii’s environmental center.

"The community has lost a lot of faith in their government’s ability to look out for their interests," Harrison said. "This project has already caused minor problems. Sooner or later it’s going to cause some massive problems."

Laumaka LLC paid $6.2 million to buy the property in 2005, and ultimately envisions a subdivision in Nuuanu at the base of the Koolau Mountains, but the company from the beginning has run into staunch opposition from residents citing public safety and other concerns.

City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard said she has received about a dozen complaints about work surrounding the planned subdivision, which has now received seven notices of violation for ongoing work preparing the subdivision’s infrastructure.

"As a result of my inquiries I began to see a disturbing trend materialize about how this project was being managed," Gabbard wrote in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "While multiple (notices of violation) for construction projects are not an uncommon occurrence during the entire project process, in this case, all the NOV’s were issued during one project phase — the grading phase. … Based on the number and nature of these violations, I have serious questions and reservations about the management of this project."

The city’s Department of Planning and Permitting has an inspector at the project site every day, Director David Tanoue said.

"The Department of Planning and Permitting is aware of the concerns expressed by the neighbors of the project," Tanoue said in an email. "The developer has submitted revised plans to correct the violations which are currently being reviewed by the department. Other than these violations, the department has determined that the work being performed is within the scope of the building plans. We will continue to monitor the work to ensure the health and safety of all the residents in the area."

But neighbors such as Abidin Kaya say that since the work began, cracks have appeared in his house, and he has continued concerns about the impact of the project.

In January 2010 Kaya, a soils engineer, bought the three-bedroom, three-bathroom house on Kaha­walu Drive that was once owned by former Gov. John Wai­hee. Then in September and October 2011, dozens of cracks began appearing on his lanai and interior and exterior walls after grading and other soil work commenced behind his house — and a retaining wall suddenly appeared 60 feet behind Kaya’s back lanai.

"Even if you wanted to, how could you sell this house with all of these cracks?" Kaya said Monday. "Cannot sell this house. Who’s going to buy this house?"

Laumaka LLC owns a 45-acre parcel above Kaya’s home and plans to turn it into nine lots, each capable of holding two homes.

The developer won in 2006 a court battle waged by the Nuuanu Valley Association when a state judge denied a request to temporarily bar planning officials from approving the hillside subdivision.

Officials from Laumakadid not respond to requests for comment Monday.

The company is the third developer to try to turn the hillside into a subdivision that offers a picturesque view of the ocean, said Harrison, former head of the Nuuanu Valley Association.

"There have been proposals going back decades," Harrison said. "It’s been in the works for a long time."

Residents say development in the area is of particular concern after the neighborhood saw a boulder tumble down from a mountainside and crash into a home in 2002, killing 26-year-old Dara Rei Oni­shi as she slept.

Two years later another boulder came loose and narrowly missed a woman standing in her backyard.

Kaya said his home developed cracks last fall when it shook from all of the heavy equipment used to compact and grade the soil above his house for the Dowsett Estates subdivision.

Now that the shaking’s over, he and his wife, Melek, are left with dozens of cracks inside and outside their home.

"You want cracks, we’ve got cracks — big ones, small ones, dozens of them," Kaya said. "My wife, she just cries."