About 700 Waikiki property owners and lessees have raised protests against a City Council bill that would require them to contribute to a fund that would battle sand erosion and make other improvements along Oahu’s most iconic beach, but that’s not even close to the number necessary to stop it.
Meanwhile, the head of the Waikiki Improvement Association, which is leading the movement to create the Waikiki Special Improvement District No. 3, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that his group is willing to agree to amendments to Bill 82 (2014) that would address concerns raised by groups and individuals who don’t think the stretch of beach east of the Kapahulu Groin should be part of the district.
Bills 81 (2014) and 82 (2014) would establish a special improvement district that would assess businesses and property owners a fee that would be placed into a fund to pay for shoreline improvement, restoration and protection projects carried out by the state, city and other entities. Waikiki interests say the situation is dire, and note that the beach is eroding at a rate of about a foot a year.
The city law pertaining to creation of special improvement districts says proceedings to establish such a district must cease if the measure is opposed by 51 percent of the owners in the district or the owners of 51 percent of the assessed value of the property.
Acting City Clerk Glen Takahashi, in a memorandum to Council Chairman Ernie Martin last week, said that 254 property owners and 445 lessees who pay property taxes in the district had raised objections. That represents only 10.6 percent of the 6,537 tax map key parcels within the boundaries of the district. The protesters’ properties amounted to $514.6 million of assessed value, also far short of 51 percent of the $11.9 billion of total assessed value for the entire district.
The law requires the clerk’s office to disclose the proposal to all property owners in the district and those lessees who pay the property taxes on lands within the district. The parties had until the day of the official public hearing on the bills, Feb. 18, to submit protests.
Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association, said there would have been fewer protesters if his group had more time to explain the rationale for the improvement district, but that he and his colleagues are pleased with the results.
"We did a lot of work getting to the point to where we proposed this," Egged said. "What you’re seeing in terms of the lack of protests is the general feeling among most businesses in Waikiki that this is something important that needs to be done."
Stuart Coleman, Hawaii regional manager for the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation, said that while the number of objectors does not come close to the 51 percent threshold to block the district from forming, the fact that 699 landowners and lessees voiced objection to the plan raises red flags.
"It may not be enough to stop the process, but that’s a huge number," Coleman said. "It’s rare to get that much opposition on a bill that’s been relatively obscure, although lately has been getting a lot more press."
Coleman’s group joined other nonprofits such as the Kapiolani Park Preservation Society, the Kaimana Beach Coalition and the Friends of the Natatorium in testifying on Feb, 18 against the two bills. All cited concerns that the new special improvement district is proposed to extend as far south as Kaimana Beach, just beyond the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium.
The groups testified that they want the eastern boundary to end at Kapahulu groin. They don’t want a group of Waikiki businesses and landowners with control of the fund to dictate what happens at Kapiolani Park, Kaimana Beach and other points east of Kapahulu.
Coleman said the Surfrider Foundation supports beach replenishment and the idea of Waikiki landowners and businesses contributing to the effort, and that its concerns are solely about how far the district would extend.
"The only thing we object to is the overreach, going into that area that is not part of the Waikiki Special District."
He said he suspects many of those who filed protests may share the same concerns about the district extending east of Kapahulu.
Egged told the Star-Advertiser that he has spoken with representatives from the Surfrider Foundation, the Kapiolani Park Preservation Society and the Kaimana Beach Coalition about their concerns and that his group is ready to ask the Council to address their concerns.
A list of those filing the protests was not immediately available from the clerk’s office.
Egged said he has yet to meet with his own Waikiki Improvement Association board, but that it will discuss options to meet the concerns of protesters. Among the ideas the board will discuss are asking the Council to remove the area east of Kapahulu from the district or adding to the improvement district’s board individuals with an interest in the areas east of Kapahulu, he said.
The Council Zoning and Planning Committee is expected to take the bill up again in April. Zoning Chairman Ikaika Anderson and Councilman Trevor Ozawa, who represents the Waikiki region, said the committee intends to address the concerns raised.
The initial plan calls for the district to charge the owners of all commercial properties in Waikiki 7.63 cents per $1,000 of the assessed value of their land with the goal of collecting $600,000 annually.
