{"id":15216,"date":"2023-07-07T10:17:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T20:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=15216"},"modified":"2023-07-07T10:37:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T20:37:09","slug":"developer-seeks-fair-taxation-disclosure-of-dpp-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=15216","title":{"rendered":"Developer Seeks Fair Taxation, Disclosure of DPP Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UIPA Request:<\/strong> In addition to seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as damages, fees, and compensation (see cover story)<\/a>, the complaint filed in May by Marconi Point-related companies owned by Jeremiah Henderson III have also asked the U.S. District Court to compel disclosure of information and documents regarding the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting\u2019s investigations of corruption within its agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint alleges that corruption was at the root of the DPP\u2019s change of heart with regard to whether the work proposed at Marconi Point constituted development under Special Management Area rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 19, 2021, the law firm Damon Key Leong Kupchak and Hastert, which represents Henderson\u2019s companies, filed a request with the DPP to access government records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm sought materials provided to the FBI, the U.S. attorney for Hawai\u02bbi, and\/or any other state or federal investigative or law enforcement agency \u201crelated to investigation of William Wong, Wayne Inouye, Kanani Padeken, Jocelyn Godoy, Jason Dadez, and\/or Jennie Javonillo.\u201d All of them have pleaded guilty to federal corruption-related charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm also wanted records and communications between DPP employees and the FBI, information related to misconduct of the DPP employees who pleaded guilty, as well as copies of all records produced to other requestors of information about the public corruption within the DPP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DPP denied the firm\u2019s Uniform Information Practices Act request on September 14, 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe request is the subject of a pending appeal to the Hawai\u02bbi Office of Information Practices (OIP). However, OIP advised plaintiffs that due to short staffing and a significant backlog, plaintiffs\u2019 appeal would not be adjudicated in a timely manner and thus plaintiffs should consider initiating a court proceeding,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fair Taxation: <\/strong>In addition to the DPP, the complaint names the city\u2019s Real Property Assessment Division (RPAD) as a defendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[T]he defendants have violated plaintiffs\u2019 constitutional rights by on one hand preventing plaintiffs from using their property for lawful agricultural purposes, while on the other hand simultaneously taking the position that the city is entitled to greater real property tax revenue because plaintiffs\u2019 properties are not in active agricultural use,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It argues that the division improperly cancelled an agricultural dedication that would have resulted in lower property taxes within the Marconi Point condominium property regime. Litigation between the division and Makai Ranch led to a settlement covering taxes through 2018. The division effectively denied the ranch\u2019s agricultural dedication petition in subsequent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe RPAD defendants issued their assessment notices for the current 2023\/2024 real property tax year on or about December 15, 2022. Despite the fact that plaintiffs\u2019 units are unimproved (because of the DPP defendants\u2019 refusal to issue the necessary permits and approvals), the RPAD defendants assessed plaintiffs\u2019 units at rates much higher than fair market value and much higher than the rates used to assess plaintiffs\u2019 neighbors, even plaintiffs\u2019 neighbors within the same Project,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henderson\u2019s companies seek a declaration from the court that the RPAD is violating county ordinances by improperly assessing their properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Teresa Dawson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UIPA Request: In addition to seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as damages, fees, and compensation (see cover story), the complaint filed in May by Marconi Point-related companies owned by Jeremiah Henderson III have also asked the U.S. District … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[513],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-15216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-july-2023","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}