A state agency overseeing development in Kakaako won’t consider an appeal of a decision it made in August permitting a new condominium tower project called The Collection.
Board members of the Hawaii Community Development Authority voted 8-0 on Wednesday to deny a petition filed by the association of condo owners at One Waterfront Towers and the organization Kaka’ako United that attempted to appeal and invalidate a permit for the 43-story tower.
Linda Paul, an attorney representing the petitioners, said her clients may elect to appeal the case to Circuit Court. "I think it’s a good case to appeal," she said, adding that she still needs to review a written order from HCDA and meet with her clients to see whether they want to move ahead with a court appeal.
HCDA’s board, which was advised by a state deputy attorney general, rejected the petition for appeal based on an agency staff recommendation that in part essentially said agency rules and state law don’t allow the agency to entertain an appeal of a development permit after public hearings and a board decision.
The petitioners had requested something called a contested-case hearing. HCDA said its regular public hearing process served as the contested case.
All state agencies that make decisions affecting "rights, duties and privileges" of specific parties have provisions for holding contested-case hearings.
Paul said those provisions for HCDA aren’t being followed properly, though HCDA disagreed.
An affiliate of local development firm Alexander & Baldwin Inc. applied for a permit in April seeking to develop The Collection on a 3.3-acre block just makai of One Waterfront and bordered by Ala Moana Boulevard and South, Auahi and Keawe streets where CompUSA operated a store from 1998 to 2008.
HCDA held an initial public hearing on the permit in June, and approved the project in August after a second public hearing. The One
Waterfront and Kaka’ako United groups filed their petition in September.
A&B began Collection unit sales in August and recently reported that buyers have signed binding contracts for about 222 of the 397 tower units. The Collection project also is designed with 70 midrise residences and retail and restaurant space wrapped around a 914-stall parking structure.
A&B has said starting construction on the project is dependent on reaching a certain unspecified level of sales and completing the regulatory process.
