The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has discharged a hearings officer and his recommendations about the proposed Advanced Technology Solar Telescope on Maui to avoid “even the appearance of impropriety” due to unauthorized communications with the permit applicant for the project, Chairman William Aila announced Thursday.

The board’s decision will delay review of the project’s request for a conservation district use permit by at least a couple of months.

The board has authorized Aila to appoint a new hearings officer and has asked that the officer issue a report with recommendations within 60 days.

The new officer’s duties include holding additional evidentiary hearings, as deemed necessary, to receive testimony from witnesses about the proposed solar telescope.

Aila said hearings officer Steven Jacobson had unauthorized communications with the chief proponent of the project, the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, which is seeking the permit. Jacobson is an attorney who had been appointed hearings officer for the case.

Jacobson, who recommended the board issue the permit and deny a request for a contested case hearing group to Native Hawaiian group, Kilakila o Hale­akala, reiterated Thursday that he acted impartially in the review and had no conflict of interest.

Attorney David Frankel, representing Kila­kila, said the board made the right decision in disqualifying Jacobson but still had concerns about the fairness of the process.

The proposed $300 million Advanced Technology Solar Telescope on Mount Hale­­akala, funded through the National Science Foundation, would house the world’s largest optical solar telescope. It would be able to study changes in the sun’s magnetic energy, including disruptions in satellite communications.