Portlock property owner plans to fight city

The landowner at the center of the Portlock gate controversy said he plans to fight the city’s move to establish a public beach path over his property.

Bert Dohmen on Monday declined to say exactly how he plans to fight back, but he did say the City and County of Honolulu will have to pay “millions of dollars” if it wants to condemn his driveway at 379 Portlock Road for a public easement.

Dohmen also claimed he wasn’t given proper notice as required by law for Friday’s Honolulu City Council meeting, where a resolution to start condemnation proceedings was approved.

“This is a legal violation of my civil rights,” he said.

Dohmen, an investment adviser and author, claims that the covenants set up by Bishop Estate when it created the Portlock subdivision specifically state that the 22 lanes attached to the neighborhood’s oceanfront properties are not for public access. Furthermore, he said, the covenants say this provision cannot be changed in the future by any government entity.

“Did the City Council ever bother to look at the law before deciding to confiscate my private-­property rights, possibly illegally? All they talk about is a few local kids decades ago swimming in the ocean in Kahala, as if that were relevant. Shouldn’t we expect more from people who allegedly run Oahu?” he said.

But University of Hawaii law professor David Callies said Dohmen may not be in the best legal position to fight the Council action.

While noting that he doesn’t know all of the details of the dispute, Callies said the city has the right to use its condemnation power for public use and purpose — and not even subdivision covenants can supersede the law.

However, the city will have to provide just compensation, he said, and that will be determined by the court.

Dohmen said the city offered him $1 but that compensation would reach into the millions to include the loss of value to his home and the additional liability imposed on him.

According to Friday’s Council resolution — approved 7-0 — city attorneys are authorized to negotiate terms of a settlement before eminent-domain proceedings begin.

Dohmen, who has owned his oceanfront property since 1982, said the driveway/path known as Lane N has been used for years by surfers, fishermen and other oceangoers with no problem. But in the mid-1990s he started experiencing problems with vandals, drug users and all-night parties.

It was then he removed the initial fence he had installed, and fended off the city’s first attempt to seize the driveway. But with what he described as all-night drug parties and other problems picking up again, he reinstalled the chain-link gate with a lock in May 2017.

“We had increasing vandalism, drug users, drunks and those high on illegal substances jumping over my fence, stealing lawn furniture and leaving it in the water,” he said. “We could not sleep at night as any little sound made us think of an intruder.”

Recently a real intruder used wire cutters and climbed onto the property at 4 a.m., he said.

“Which member of the City Council would tolerate that on his driveway?” he added.

Dohmen said he blames former Councilman Trevor Ozawa for the current resolution.

“An ancient Hawaiian path” described by Ozawa, Dohmen said, is actually a sandy trail set up 10 or 15 years ago by a former neighbor who piled up rocks to mark the way. “It’s ridiculous,” Dohmen said. “There is no ancient path.”

Ozawa is off the Council for now, awaiting a new election for his seat after the state Supreme Court agreed with opponent Tommy Waters’ challenge to November’s ballot results.

But interim Councilman Mike Formby, who is representing the East Honolulu district until next month’s election, said Friday he’d been asked by constituents to move forward with the resolution.

Council officials couldn’t be reached late Monday to verify whether Dohmen received proper notice.

Mike Tsai is on leave. His Incidental Lives column will resume when he returns.