Parking war brewing in Honolulu neighborhood

Kakaako is a hotbed of conflict over increasing residential tower development. But another kind of dispute over land use is simmering in the urban Honolulu neighborhood: a clash over street parking.

The issue, which affects drivers and area businesses, can be as convoluted as the disjointed street layout in the once neglected industrial area.

In a section known as central Kakaako, several small-business owners claim they are being extorted to pay for parking in front of their stores.

The company charging $100 or more per month per parking space, Kakaako Land Co., claims that it has the right to rent out parking — and tow vehicles parked without authorization — as the legal owner of several streets.

Meanwhile, the city along with a state agency that regulates development in Kakaako have said they aren’t the arbiters in the matter, but will try to help resolve the conflict, which has heated up over the past few years.

"It’s probably going to get ugly before it gets resolved," Keala Simoes said at a recent meeting of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency overseeing land use in Kakaako.

Simoes co-owns Motor Werkes Inc. on Cummins Street where some "Reserved Parking" signs were recently installed, and she expects similar signs will eventually go up in front of her 20-year-old car repair business.

"People are being forced to pay for stalls we all assumed were owned by the city," she said.

Several Kakaako business owners filed a lawsuit in state court in September against Kakaako Land, which claims to have bought portions of Ward Avenue and Queen, Cooke, Cummins, Clayton, Ilaniwai, Kawaiahao and Waimanu streets in 1985 from the sole remaining heir of a man who subdivided a large section of Kakaako more than 100 years ago.

Kakaako Land, led by brothers Calvert and Cedric Chun, declined to comment for this story but issued a brief statement through attorney Wade Katano that in part said people should let the court rule instead of rushing to judgment.

The company has argued in court filings that it is legally managing its property.

"As owners of the properties in question, we have the legal right to control the shoulders of the roadway, including parking," the company said in the lawsuit. "This is no different from (what) other private road owners in and outside of Kakaako have been doing for decades."

Private owners of streets in Kakaako include Howard Hughes Corp., Kamehameha Schools, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. and Hawaiian Electric Co., according to city records.

Generally, the city will maintain privately owned roads as long as the roads provide unrestricted public use. The city also doesn’t collect property taxes for such roads.

Determining road ownership can be difficult. According to a 1989 "Roads in Limbo" report by the state Legislative Reference Bureau, there is no complete and accurate list of roads in Hawaii.

"As all roads in the state are not known, it is not surprising that disputes as to ownership — be it state, county, or private — have occurred," the report said.

The report includes a list of close to 100 roads with at least partial private ownership. Among them: Diamond Head Road, Haleiwa Road, Kaimuki Avenue, Kalakaua Avenue, Keeaumoku Street, Manoa Road, Punahou Street, Renton Road and Waiahole Valley Road.

In Kakaako, HCDA has recognized Kakaako Land as the owner of some streets. The agency also has referenced a 1978 city map of privately owned Kakaako streets that indicates several have "unknown" owners.

The city Department of Design and Construction was unable to provide any updated information on the map last week.

Kakaako Land said in the lawsuit that Calvert Chun researched the ownership of Kakaako real estate acquired in 1896 by Charles S. Desky, who subdivided and sold parcels along Clayton, Cooke, Cummins, Ilaniwai (then Laniwai), Kawaiahao, Queen, Waimanu and Ward streets.

Chun, according to documents in the lawsuit, located what he said was Desky’s only living heir, Adele M. Christian, and bought the streets from her along with land in Waikiki in 1985 for $5,000 plus returns equal to 25 percent of rental income from the property. In 1986 Chun transferred ownership to Kakaako Land.

The deal with Christian was made through a quitclaim deed, which offers no warranties against there being other ownership interests in the property.

Kakaako Land said it has sold and rented some portions of the streets in prior decades. In 2010 the company began restricting parking that has gradually spread, according to the lawsuit.

The restrictions include "Reserved Parking" and "Parking for Rent" signs, yellow parking stalls stamped "RESERVED" and curbs painted red with "RESERVED 24X7" in white type.

Ben Tirnauer, owner of Vibe Asylum on Kawaiahao Street, claimed in the lawsuit that large vans began to park in front of his music studio last June after he rejected an offer to rent the stalls.

"Because of the large vans parked in front of Vibe Asylum, my business has suffered, as customers cannot park in front of the property, and the business frontage and signage is obscured," he declared in the lawsuit.

Six other business and landowners banded together to file the lawsuit: Queen Auto LLC, Theodore Uyeda, Hayashi Family Corp., Tropical Lamp & Shade Co., Tropical Otto Parts and U. Okada Co.

The suit said Butch Burke of Queen Auto was "coerced" into renting stalls fronting his business. According to documents in the case, Burke offered to buy a 2,800-square-foot parking area for $50,000 or rent it for $500 a month in 2011. Kaka­ako Land settled on $942 in monthly rent, but Burke failed to pay for four months in 2012.

"A towing company is standing by," said a letter to Burke from the Bervar & Jones law firm that demanded $3,770 by June 30, 2012. Kakaako Land obtained a state court judgment for the delinquent rent.

Other businesses suing Kakaako Land, such as Tropical Lamp and Tropical Otto, continue to claim parking areas fronting their businesses on Queen Street for their exclusive use, and joined the lawsuit to fight Kakaako Land’s ownership claim.

The plaintiffs give several different reasons why they believe Kakaako Land’s claim is invalid.

One is that Desky dedicated the streets to the Territory of Hawaii as evidenced by a 1903 joint territorial House and Senate resolution directing the superintendent of public works to accept a deed for the streets from a willing Desky at no charge.

Kakaako Land said there’s no evidence a deed was ever conveyed to the territory.

Other arguments disputing Kakaako Land’s claim are that the streets were dedicated to the public when Desky sold the lots; that Desky abandoned his interest after five years of no ownership acts; and that the owners obtained the land through "adverse possession" by consistently occupying the space.

Kakaako Land refutes these allegations in court documents, and said it has been recognized by the city and state as the legal owner of the streets over the past 30 years.

For example, the company said HCDA named it in a lawsuit condemning part of Waimanu and Kamakee streets in 1995, while the city sent it violation notices over litter on Queen Street in 1987 and 1991.

"Throughout the decades since 1903, both the City and County of Honolulu and state of Hawaii have consistently denied ownership of the Desky roads and indicated both verbally and in writing that the roads are privately owned," Kakaako Land said in the lawsuit.

The city, which also was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, filed a response that denies the streets were surrendered or taken over through adverse possession. The city took no position on whether the streets were dedicated to the territory.

In 2012 then-Mayor Peter Carlisle asked the Department of Design and Construction to research ownership of Queen Street, including shoulder areas between Kamakee and Cooke streets, in response to complaints over restricted parking.

The department indicated it found no evidence of city ownership of Queen Street except for a few small pieces. "Any dispute between the owner of Queen Street and the abutting property owners is a private matter," the department said in a letter included in the lawsuit.

The city in August did inform Kakaako Land that it would cease surface maintenance for parts of Waimanu, Kawaiahao and Queen streets because parking was being restricted from public use.

John Kobelansky Jr., a resident in the Imperial Plaza condominium on Cooke Street, said in written testimony to the City Council in March that leaving parking control and maintenance of Kakaako streets in private hands is nonsensical.

"Let’s say you run your car into a new pothole on your way to work just outside your driveway in Kakaako and it’s the same pothole that you again run into after work," he wrote. "How long is it going to stay there? The answer should be obvious, but it’s not. … And this is Kakaako, site of megalithic constructions and luxury hi-rises? This has got to stop. We are amidst the biggest and perhaps ‘baddest’ urban renewal makeover in the entire history of Honolulu."

Added Michael Mcdonald, vice president of food brokerage firm Macdonald & Porter Inc. on Queen Street, "These roads have been used by the public in an open and continuous manner for over 100 years. It is in the benefit of the public to have these streets owned and maintained by the city or state."

The City Council agreed in March to form an advisory group that includes an HCDA representative to examine the road ownership issue and recommend solutions and actions for city or state acquisition.