Council committee advances DPP director nominee

The Honolulu City Council’s Committee on Planning and the Economy voted unanimously Thursday to advance Dawn Takeuchi Apuna toward leading the city’s troubled Department of Planning and Permitting.

The full City Council is expected to review Takeuchi Apuna’s nomination for final approval Feb. 22.

Takeuchi Apuna’s professional background has been varied. She holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a law degree from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law. In Hawaii her work has included stints as DPP’s deputy director and a chief planner for the state. In addition, Takeuchi Apuna served as a deputy state attorney general and as a deputy city corporation counsel.

In December, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi appointed Takeuchi Apuna as DPP’s acting director, following former Director Dean Uchida’s abrupt resignation in September.

If confirmed, Takeuchi Apuna will lead a department suffering multiple setbacks, which include months-long backlogs to obtain building permits to repairing a dysfunctional work culture that reportedly bred years of corruption, most recently seen in the bribery case of former DPP chief building examiner Wayne Inouye, who pleaded guilty in October to accepting more than $100,000 from 2012 to 2017 in exchange for the fast-tracking of city building permits.

“I appreciate this nomination very much and, if confirmed, look forward to continuing the work with the Council and the committee,” Takeuchi Apuna told the panel prior to its vote.

After vocal approval from the Council, the public also weighed in to support the city’s choice to lead DPP. Among them, Rodney Funakoshi, a retired Office of Planning and Sustainable Development administrator, lauded Takeuchi Apuna’s professionalism while she worked as a deputy attorney general on land use matters.

“She was always very well prepared, eloquent and highly professional throughout,” Funakoshi said, adding that the DPP directorship was one of the most challenging positions in the city. “I applaud Dawn’s willingness to take up this appointment. I know she will act in the city and the public’s best interests, and I encourage her full support.”

Racquel Achiu, a North Shore Neighborhood Board member, also supported Takeuchi Apuna while working as DPP’s acting director. “Since she’s taken this position, she has been hugely impacting to our community and engaging,” said Achiu. “She has a tough job and that does not go unrecognized, but we appreciate all of her efforts.”

In January, Takeuchi Apuna told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that DPP, which issues 15,000 permits annually, needs to solve long-term problems like staffing shortages via the active recruitment and hiring of more plan reviewers and engineers — the latter seeing only 15 positions filled over the past 20 years. In addition, she said DPP must revamp its software technology to reduce the average seven-month wait time for building permits down to as many days. And she said DPP must beef up its enforcement team to crack down on illegal vacation rentals and permit violators who build “monster homes.”