Developer Files SLAPP Suit Over Protest of Kihei Project
A hui that wants to develop a two-acre spit of land lying between Kamaole Beach Parks II and III in Kihei, Maui, has sued Maui Tomorrow and more than two dozen individuals. The lawsuit, which was filed on September 8, accuses the defendants of breaking a settlement agreement when they did not withdraw their opposition to the company’s request for a special management area permit.
The complaint appears to be of the sort that is designed to discourage public involvement in planning and permitting processes – otherwise known as a SLAPP suit (the acronym stands for strategic lawsuits against public participation).
According to a report in The Maui News, the complaint, filed by GATRI, claims that GATRI and the defendants had agreed last spring to a deal under which GATRI would scale back its proposed development, in return for which the defendants would drop their opposition to the project. GATRI had wanted to build two commercial buildings on the site, but has since scaled back its plans to what it describes as a luau-type operation.
Anthony Ranken is the attorney for Maui Tomorrow, a non-profit group advocating sensible community planning. The Maui News reported that Ranken had said GATRI’s threat to sue his clients for financial losses associated with delays in the project spoiled the deal. “I believe our settlement agreement was intended to resolve all differences between the parties,” he was quoted as saying. “They breached it by threatening to sue.”
The County Council, meanwhile, has taken the first steps necessary to condemn the land.
Installation of a new sewer line along Ali’i Drive in Kailua-Kona caused traffic tie-ups on the well-used route for years. The operation may have been a success; the project is completed. But the patient is dead; the sewer line doesn’t work.
West Hawai’i Today reports that that defective piping, improper installation and a faulty pumping station all contributed to the failure of the line, which was supposed to have been completed by January 1995.
Among the problems that plague the project are 1000 feet of defective pipe, which is rusting prematurely. The county was aware of the faulty pipe when it was installed, but was hopeful that the contractor, Fletcher Pacific, would be able to fix it with an epoxy paint. That did not work. (A spokesman for Fletcher Pacific was reported to have said the company installed exactly what the county contract called for. Any problems, he told the paper, resulted from poor design.)
Other problems include slope and elevation problems and faulty equipment at the Waiaha Pumping Station. The county claims that lines put in by contractor Kiewit Pacific are too shallow and at the wrong slope, resulting in a flow slower than that called for in the system’s design.
The county is seeking some relief from the contractors, but repairs could take up to four months and will probably involve tearing up pavement yet again.
The Hawai’i Institute for Continuing Legal Education is sponsoring a conference on land use planning and regulation on Tuesday, November 18. Co-sponsor of the event is the Real Property and Financial Services Section of the Hawai’i State Bar Association.
The conference, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Japanese Cultural Center in Honolulu, will address such subjects as development plans and their enforcement; state county regulatory jurisdiction; implications of the PASH-Kohanaiki decision; environmental laws and regulations; and land development conditions (including exactions and impact fees).
The keynote speaker will be Judge S.J. Plager of the Federal Circuit Court in Washington. Chairing the conference will be David Callies of the University of Hawai’i Richardson Law School. A registration fee will be charged, although government employees and officials may receive a discount.
For more information, call Carla Poirier, director, Hawai’i Institute of Continuing Legal Education, at 956-6551 on O’ahu.
Volume 8, Number 4 October 1997