State lays claim to private Kakaako roads

A tussle between the state and a private road owner in Kakaako took yet another turn Thursday with the state contending that it now owns seven streets recorded as private property for more than a century.

State Attorney General Clare Connors filed a quitclaim deed Thursday to claim ownership of seven streets also claimed by Kakaako Land Co.

The move sets up potential litigation to have a court rule on who owns the roads where Kakaako Land charges for parking.

The paid parking has upset some area businesses and led the Legislature to pass several laws aimed at the issue in recent years.

One law created in 2016 allows the state to recognize a resolution by the territorial House and Senate in 1903 as conveying the streets to what is now the state. The resolution directed the superintendent of public works to accept a deed for the streets offered by then-owner Charles S. Desky, though no one has produced evidence that a deed was ever conveyed to the territory. The deed refers to Hustace Avenue; Kawaiahao, Cooke, Ward, Cummins and Laniwai streets; and a Queen Street extension of South Street.

City and state attorneys at the time raised doubts about the law.

Quitclaim deeds offer no warranties against there being competing ownership. Kakaako Land filed its own quitclaim deed for the roads in 1985 after paying the last remaining heir of Desky for the property.

Earlier this month the Hawaii Community Development Authority started assessing $2,500 daily fines against Kakaako Land, saying the company is violating a 9-month-old Hawaii law that requires that privately owned Kakaako roads meet city standards if the owner charges a fee for any use and the roads have been used by the public for at least six months. Kakaako Land contends the law is unconstitutional.