Two recent judicial rulings have sent the Land Use Commission back to court. The first, a ruling on May 2 by 3rd Circuit Judge Wendy DeWeese, overturned a Hawaiʻi County law, supported by the LUC, that banned short-term vacation rentals … Continued
Land Board Heeds Community’s Wishes In New Rules for Miloli‘i Fishing Area On June 9, seventeen years after the Legislature designated Miloli`i as a Community Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA), the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved rules … Continued
How did a newly minted company get the County of Hawai‘i to purchase 13 acres of land for it? With only $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses the company was able to acquire land valued by the county at $948,200. It later … Continued
Hawai‘i County’s affordable housing policy is a disaster. Other counties have their problems as well when it comes to addressing the shelter needs of households who are priced out of market-rate rentals. But on the Big Island, the insanely complicated … Continued
Above photo: Office of Housing and Community Development administrator Suzan Kunz. Hawai‘i County, like every other county in the state, struggles with the problem of affordable housing. Unlike the others, though, it has a law – Chapter 11 of the … Continued
On the chilly but clear day of December 2, 2016, around 10:30 in the morning, the building housing the old Copper Lounge in downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota, collapsed. A contractor working on the first floor had removed two load-bearing … Continued
In January of 2015, barely a month after Luna Loa Developments, LLC, was formed, its sole member of record, Rajesh Budhabhatti, signed onto an affordable housing agreement with the County of Hawai‘i. Terms of the agreement called for Luna Loa … Continued
Above photo: Ronald Brown When Ronald A. Brown proposed to build 20 affordable rental units on 13 acres of land off Kealaka‘a Street, in Kona, Chris Yuen, then the Hawai‘i County planning director, was willing to let bygones be bygones. … Continued
‘Aina Le‘a Suit Dismissed: The state has prevailed in the efforts of DW ‘Aina Le‘a, LLC, to claim $200 million in damages as a result of the Land Use Commission’s reversion of land it once owned from the Urban land use … Continued
The owners of lands beneath and surrounding the Waiakalua Reservoir in North Kaua`i are facing $65,000 in fines if they don’t steadily progress toward making the sugarcane plantation-era fixture safer. The reservoir is relatively small compared to the Kaloko Reservoir, … Continued