Politicians taking note of worries about HCDA

Fueled by constituents worried about Kakaako’s development, legislators are starting to take a serious look at the powers of the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

The worry comes after Wednesday’s HCDA hearing on a new request from developer Marshall Hung’s Downtown Capital LLC to put another tower on his 801 South Street project.

Approval is expected by December and will put more than 1,000 new apartments on the site of the old Honolulu Advertiser building.

This week’s hearing attracted a standing-room-only crowd of labor union members, developers and Realtors eager to see more good-paying work in town. Also attending were legislators and area residents.

Lawmakers are looking at the troubling payoff down the road with a new community with a density that could grow to 30,000 new residents in the next 15 years, according to the HCDA’s own environmental impact statement.

Some legislators are looking at Kakaako as ground zero for blighted, unsustainable overdevelopment, while others, led by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, hail the area as the beginning of a third city, standing with Honolulu and Kapolei, as Honolulu adapts to 21st-century high-rise living.

"The legislators have been getting involved because they are hearing from their constituents. It has been a crash course for all of us," said Rep. Scott Saiki, the House Democratic leader.

He and other legislators are saying the HCDA needs to slow down.

"We submit that as part of its statutory duty, HCDA must make a greater effort to specifically address increasing concerns related to overdevelopment, height, density and infrastructure," said Saiki and others in a letter to the authority.

Interviewed after the hearing, Saiki, who represents the Kakaako area, said changing the HCDA will come up during the 2014 Legislature.

"There will definitely be bills introduced next session. Some legislators are calling for repeal. I think that may be a bit extreme," Saiki said, but adding that HCDA’s granting of variances and changes is worrisome.

"We will definitely have to consider legislation for existing standards, especially codifying standards for density, height, proximity and infrastructure," said Saiki. "The HCDA should not have absolute authority to grant variances and exemptions from those sorts of standards."

The developer’s spokes-persons have sought to frame the issue as being existing residents who don’t want their views blocked by new buildings versus thousands of renters and others willing to snap up the apartments with regulated prices.

Prices for the 801 South Street project start at $253,200 for a 384-square-foot studio apartment.

Saiki has been joined by Sens. Brickwood Galuteria and Suzanne Chun Oakland, Reps. Della Au Bellati and Tom Brower and Council members Ann Kobayashi and Carol Fukunaga in asking for more public sessions with the HCDA.

"HCDA must improve its public-hearing process," the seven said in testimony to the authority.

Saiki knows that there is more to the issue than just one group of residents complaining about a new condo going up nearby. The issue goes straight to next year’s political races.

"It is a larger issue; it is going to have to be legislative oversight because the administration isn’t doing it," Saiki said.

The issue could turn on how much Abercrombie wants to defend the HCDA. As Saiki notes, the nine-person board has only seven members on it now and four of the seven are Abercrombie Cabinet members, so the HCDA today is an Abercrombie creation. How to measure its performance is a decision for next year’s voters to make.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.