2 lawmakers criticize bills seeking to redraw skyline

Two state lawmakers who live in and represent Kakaako on Monday criticized bills that colleagues introduced to allow at least a couple of exceptionally tall towers in the area.

Rep. Scott Saiki and Sen. Sharon Moriwaki issued public statements opposing a pair of bills that propose to permit towers as high as 768 feet, nearly twice the current 418-foot limit, which the Legislature enshrined in law five years ago.

Saiki, who is also House speaker, said his concern is that the proposed change will lead to a “proliferation of super towers” altering Honolulu’s skyline.

Moriwaki, a freshman lawmaker, added, “These bills undermine and set back years of community work with the Kakaako governing authority, Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) to ensure smart and quality development in the Kakaako district as envisioned by law — for mixed income, mixed density and mixed use quality neighborhoods.”

The two bills, House Bill 1559 and Senate Bill 1496, intend to create a “signature” urban skyline that avoids the top of all the tallest buildings forming a flat and “undesirable” uniformity. To accomplish this, the bills would allow one tower up to 768 feet per master plan approved by HCDA if the building is near a rail station site and provides extra public benefits negotiated with the agency that regulates development in Kakaako.

Currently, two master plans would qualify.

One, called Our Kakaako, covers 29 acres that Kamehameha Schools owns and is filling with 2,750 homes in a mix of midrise buildings and seven towers. The other, called Ward Village, covers 60 acres that Howard Hughes Corp. owns and is filling with 4,500 homes mainly in 16 towers.

Texas-based Hughes Corp. endorsed HB 1559, saying it would produce one “signature building” within each master-planned area and discourage monolithic structures and urban sprawl.

Saiki said he informed Hughes Corp. of his opposition to the bill.

Kamehameha Schools didn’t testify on the House bill and declined to comment on it for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The House Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs Committee passed HB 1559 on Feb. 1 in a unanimous vote from Reps. Ryan Yamane, Chris Todd, Nicole Lowen, David Tarnas and Tina Wildberger. Yamane, committee chairman, introduced the bill and represents the Mili­lani-Waipio-Waikele area. The other four lawmakers who voted represent neighbor island districts.

SB 1496 was introduced by Sen. Stanley Chang (D, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai). Chang chairs the Senate Housing Committee, which is scheduled to hold a joint hearing on the bill with the Senate Water and Land Committee today at 1:15 p.m.

Kakaako’s roughly 400-foot height limit has been in place for decades, but HCDA floated plans to increase it during the administration of Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who in 2011 announced a plan to build a 650-foot tower on state land next to Mother Waldron Park as a way to produce more affordable housing close to a future city rail station.

HCDA proposed allowing three 700-foot towers near Kakaako rail station sites along with towers up to 550 feet in other parts of Kakaako. The agency intended to hold public hearings and have its board vote on the plan, but the Legislature quashed the effort by passing a bill that froze the height limit in 2014.