The state Board of Land and Natural Resources as it is known today dates back to July 1, 1962. On that day, a new law enacted by the 1962 legislature took effect, establishing the board as a six-member body whose members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
Since then, 37 men and one woman have served as board members. Almost half (17) of them have been of Japanese ancestry. Eighteen are fairly equally divided among people of Chinese, Hawaiian, or Caucasian ancestry or mixes thereof. Three Portuguese members round out the list.
For the first 28 years, the board was a men-only club. Not until the appointment of Sharon Himeno in 1990 was a woman able to break into its ranks. Himeno will leave the board in June, at which time the board will, in all likelihood, revert to its all-male status.
The business community has always enjoyed ample representation on the Land Board. Real estate salesmen, members of the infamous land huis that sprang up across the state in the 1960s and 1970s, contractors, business owners or officers or employees, and plantation executives account for roughly half of the board’s members. As though it were unwritten law, the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union has always had at least one member sitting on the board. (Invariably, the board’s Maui representative is from the ILWU. On one occasion, the O’ahu representative also was from that union.)
From 1962 to 1980, only one lawyer – Chairman Christopher Cobb (1975-1977) – was appointed to the board. From 1980 to the present, however four of the 13 members named in this period have been practicing attorneys.
The last significant group from whom members are drawn are workers in state government, whether elective or appointive. Included in this category is the current board chairman, Keith Ahue (who lateraled into this post after a stint as director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and, before that, as deputy director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources). Others include former state Senator T.C. Yim, former Hawai’i County Board of Supervisors member Tanaka Hiroshi, and budget analyst and aide to Ariyoshi Susumo Ono (board chairman from 1979 to 1987).
As one might expect, some board members defy easy categorization. In addition to being businessmen or union representatives or political aides, most are active in Democratic Party politics. While the legislation establishing the board requires that no more than three members be of the same party, it is difficult to figure out who the non-Democrats are today.
And then there’s Larry Mehau, the Big Island rancher and former Honolulu policeman. Mehau (1969-1977) is in a class by himself.
Tilting to Development
In October 1990, Governor John Waihe`e named Hilo attorney Christopher J. Yuen to fill the unexpired term of Herbert Arata. Arata had resigned following newspaper accounts that he had failed to disclose his interest in land leases before voting on them and that he was in arrears on rental payments on those leases. Yuen, who holds a master’s degree in environmental science, enjoys a reputation as a champion of conservation causes. As such, he is the first person to join the board who has paid more than lip service to environmental concerns.
More typical are the sentiments of Jim Ferry, the first man to be appointed chairman of the re-organized board. (Ferry was appointed to the board by Governor John Burns in September 1963 and was named its chairman a month later.) Ferry, 35 years old when he was named to the board, owned a real estate agency based in Kailua, O’ahu. From 1957 to 1959, he worked with his cousin, Joe Pao, a noted (if not notorious) developer of residential subdivisions in Manoa, Palolo, Kailua, and elsewhere.
In an interview given to the Honolulu Star Bulletin soon after he was named board chairman, Ferry expressed his view that “the development of public lands for hotel and resort uses are highly important to the economy of the state.”
Ferry served as chairman from 1963 to April 1968. He announced his intention to resign about the same time that the state began investigating real estate loans made by the State Employees Retirement System and questions were raised about Ferry’s possible role in helping a Big Island politician, Elroy Osorio, acquire the Pacific Empress Hotel.1 Announcing his resignation, Ferry insisted it had nothing to do with the retirement fund investigation, but rather was prompted by his desire “to spend more time with his family and escape the pressures that sent him to the hospital for an extended period” the previous year, according to the Star-Bulletin.
Among the Land Boards map-altering decisions made during Ferry’s tenure as its chief was the approval of the filling of Salt Lake in order to develop the Honolulu International Country Club. Ferry also was at the helm when the board decided to sell, over the bitter objections of the Outdoor Circle, 53 house lots on the slopes of Diamond Head. (The lots sold for a total of $1,902,300 in 1965.)
Since leaving the Land Board, Ferry has resumed selling real estate. In the late 1980s, he tried to assist David Farendin in Farendin’s ultimately unsuccessful efforts to obtain a Conservation District Use Permit for a house on the slopes of Olomana, in Windward O’ahu.
The Kido Years
Ferry’s successor, Sunao Kido, also was unapologetically pro-development. Kido had worked a stint in the state legislature as research assistant to the House Committee on Public Employment and assistant clerk of the House while also holding his real estate license. He was named deputy director of the DLNR in November 1963.
In an interview just after his appointment to chairman, Kido told the Star-Bulletin’s Helen Altonn that anyone in his position had to be “developer oriented.” “A person must be developer-oriented,” he said, “because what are we talking about? We’re talking about the development of state lands to the optimum… to their highest and best use.”
Sunao Kido’s brother, then-state Senator Mitsuyuki (Mits) Kido, was an investor in the International Development Company, which, at the time Sunao was DLNR deputy, received Land Board permission in 1966 to fill most of Salt Lake. In 1972, the Star-Bulletin‘s Tom Coffman undertook an investigation into the manner in which the project had won approval, finding (among other things) that “influential state Land Board officials” – including Sunao Kido “were aiding the developer on political strategy.”
In 1972, the City and County of Honolulu wanted to widen Ward Avenue by encroaching on Thomas Square and the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Kido led the successful fight against this, arguing that both the park and the museum were of historic significance and should not be touched.
Sunao Kido resigned when Governor George Ariyoshi succeeded John Burns at the start of 1975. He served on the Public Utilities Commission from 1976 to 1983. He died on March 20, 1987.
Turmoil under Cobb
Christopher Cobb was Ariyoshi’s first choice as Land Board chairman. Cobb had an unusual background. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he was a physicist before deciding to obtain his law degree. He came to Hawai’i in 1961 and became an executive with the Kohala Corp. just as its owner, Castle & Cooke, was phasing out its sugar operations on the Big Island.
Cobb’s place in Hawai’i history was etched when he led the Land Board to approve the construction of H-3 in the Conservation District.
Cobb’s tenure on the Land Board was short. By April 1976, news stories reported growing friction between Cobb and other Land Board members. The tension was attributed to Cobb’s management style not being agreeable to most of the other board members. Apparently, Cobb wanted to limit board actions to matters of policy while making most administrative decisions himself. Other board members also appear to have resented Cobb’s heavily reliance on and perceived favorable treatment of the department’s Planning Office, under the direction then Edgar Hamasu, whose staff Roger C. Evans had recently joined. (The Planning Office is now known as the Office of Conservation and Environmental Affairs. For more than a decade now, it has been headed by Evans.)
By late 1976, board members were boycotting meetings called by Cobb, causing meetings to be cancelled when no quorum could be obtained. On April 27, 1977, Cobb submitted a letter of resignation to Ariyoshi, citing financial reasons.
A New Leaf
In December 1976, sitting on the Land Board were Cobb, Mehau, Manuel Monix Jr. of Maui, Moses W. Kealoha of O’ahu, Shinichi Nakagawa of O’ahu (serving as member at large) and Hisao Munechika of Kauai.
By April 1978, the composition had changed dramatically. Cobb was out, as were Moniz and Mehau, both of whom had completed two four-year terms and could not be reappointed. Nakagawa had been lateraled to the Land Use Commission. Munechika, whose first term had expired December 31, 1975, served without reappointment in to mid 1977.
Kealoha alone provided continuity. Joining him in 1977 were the new chairman, Walter Y. Thompson, a civil engineer from the Big Island who had been a deputy to Sunao Kido. Stanley Hong, vice president and general counsel for Theo H. Davies and Co. (and more recently in the news for his leadership of the Hawai’i Visitors Bureau) was named to replace Nakagawa. Replacing Munechika was Takeo Yamamoto and holding down the ILWU seat (from Maui) was Tom Yagi, replacing Moniz.
Thompson was out even faster than Cobb, serving from July 1977 to December 1978. His departure was not unexpected, inasmuch as Ariyoshi made it known he would not reappoint Thompson.
Despite his short tenure, Thompson did not escape scandal. In November 1978, the Honolulu Advertiser had reported the presence of illegal, unpermitted structures on land leased from the state by Kauai Councilman Billy Fernandes. Running interference for Fernandes had been first Kido and then Thompson.2 Kido and Thompson were longtime friends of Fernandes, although both denied showing him any special favors.3
Ono Takes Over
In January 1979, Governor Ariyoshi appointed Susumu Ono to head the Land Board. Ono, a budget analyst, had been Ariyoshi’s unofficial chief of staff for the governor’s first term. According to reports at the time, the governor instructed Ono to “clean house” in the DLNR and to guide the DLNR into position as the lead agency for energy research and development, expansion of aquaculture and agriculture, and acquisition of park land.
And so it was that Ono has come to be remembered as the Land Board chairman who steered the board on a course of geothermal exploration and development. Among Ono’s achievements on this front was exchanging the state-owned Wao Kele o Puna Natural Area Reserve with Campbell Estate’s Kahauale’a tract after portions of Kahauale’a, where geothermal drilling had been planned, were overrun with lava from Kilauea volcano.
Even after Ono left the Land Board, he continued to work as a consultant to the DLNR on geothermal development. In addition, according to the Star-Bulletin of July 15, 1989, Ono had consultant contracts with the state departments of Health, Human Services, Agriculture, and Corrections.
The Paty Era
Following the election of John Waihe’e as governor in 1986, William W. Paty, Waihe’e’s campaign chairman, was named to head the Land Board. Paty, a former sugar plantation executive, brought to the Land Board a greater openness to public concerns than his predecessors.
As welcome as the change in style was, concerns over the substance of Land Board decisions continued to mount. During Paty’s tenure, much of the focus was on residential development in the Conservation District. In the late 1980s, the size and scope of houses proposed for Land Board approval grew exponentially. A Balinese compound, a mansion complete with ballroom, and a 45,000 square-foot palace were just three of the houses approved by the Land Board during Paty’s years.
Many of the problems associated with new residential construction in the Conservation District were described in a report of the Legislative Auditor issued in 1991. Also, a study by the University of Hawai’i Department of Urban and Regional Planning confirmed environmentalists’ worst fears – approvals are granted with numerous conditions intended to mitigate impacts, yet the department has virtually no ability to monitor condition compliance. Paty left the Land Board in February 1993 to become a trustee of the Robinson Trusts.
Into the Future
Succeeding Paty is the current Land Board chairman, Keith Ahue, a deputy director of the department from 1990 to 1991 and director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in 1992. Before entering state government, Ahue worked about 15 years with the Hawai’i Government Employees Association, the state’s civil-service union.
Other sitting members of the board are:
Sharon Himeno, at-large member. Some may see irony in the fact that Himeno’s father, Stanley, had a hand in the development of Salt Lake and the Honolulu International Country Club. Sharon Himeno is an attorney whose husband, Warren Price, is a former state attorney general in the Waihe’e administration.
Himeno is a graduate of Punahou and Stanford University. She received her law degree in 1981 from Hastings College of the Law. From 1981 to 1987, she was an associate with Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn & Stifel. She made partner in March 1988 – a month before she left to form her own firm.
From 1987 to 1990, Himeno sat on the state Land Use Commission. She was named to the Land Board in 1990. In 1992, she was nominated by Waihe’e to be an associate justice on the state Supreme Court, but was not confirmed by the Senate. Her term on the board expires June 30, 1994.
Himeno will not be serving a second term. As Environment Hawai’i goes to press, the nomination of Libert Landgraf, former DLNR deputy director, to replace Himeno is pending before the Senate.
Herbert K. Apaka, Jr, Kaua’i member. Apaka was appointed by Waihe’e in July 1988. His second term will expire June 30, 1996. According to the biography Apaka provided to the governor’s office, he worked for Hawaiian Telephone Co. from 1949 to 1987, when he retired.
Christopher J. Yuen, Hawai’i member. Yuen’s first term on the Land Board expires June 30, 1994, but he has been nominated to a second term. Yuen received his law degree from the Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai’i in May 1982. He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford in 1974 and, in 1980, was awarded his master’s in environmental science from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. For five years, Yuen was a deputy corporation counsel for Hawai’i County. Since 1987, he has had a private law practice in Hilo.
William Kennison, Maui member. Kennison was appointed in July 1993. His term will expire June 30, 1997.
Kennison is the business agent and political action committee chairman of ILWU Local 142. He has worked for the union since 1981. From 1967 to 1981, he was employed by the Wailuku Sugar Company.
Michael Nekoba, O’ahu member. Nekoba, appointed to the board by Waihe’e in April 1993, may be best known as one of the founders of Mahalo Airlines, the newest interisland carrier.
Nekoba is senior director of the CPA Consulting Group, Inc., doing business as PKF Hawai’i. From 1978 to 1978, he was an accountant with Robert H.Y. Leong & Co., CPAs. Also, Nekoba is licensed to sell real estate.
Nekoba fills the vacancy created when T.C. Yim resigned in June of 1992. His term will expire June 30, 1995.
1 Others receiving loans included the Frank Fasi Supply Co. ($343,776), Himeno, Inc. ($279,447), the Mid-Pacific Country Club ($294,341), Kenneth F. and Joan S. Brown ($2,274,341). Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 10, 1968. It is perhaps worth noting that Ferry was a past president of the Mid-Pacific Country Club.
2 “Records show 2 land board chiefs intervened in land lease disputes” Honolulu Advertiser, November 3, 1978.
3. Fernandes received special treatment right up to the time he gave up his lease in 1991. For a discussion of this, see Environment Hawai`i, April 1993, “DLNR Won’t Let Ag Use Die In Protective Subzone of Hanalei”.
4. For a discussion of several of the more controversial applications, see Environment Hawai`i, September 1990.
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 4, Number 11 May 1994
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