{"id":16542,"date":"2025-06-03T16:53:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T02:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=16542"},"modified":"2025-08-12T11:47:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:47:48","slug":"new-noteworthy-punalu%ca%bbu-problems-marconi-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=16542","title":{"rendered":"New & Noteworthy: Punalu\u02bbu Problems, Marconi Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Punalu\u02bbu Problems: <\/strong>Opponents of the redevelopment of Black Sand Beach, in the Big Island district of Ka\u02bbu, celebrated in mid-May when it seemed the former owner, S M Investment Partners, LLC, had successfully sued the developer for foreclosure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the relief was short-lived. In late May, 3rd<\/sup> Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto issued an order dismissing all claims. S M attorney, Lincoln Ashida, was reported to have told the Hawai\u02bbi Tribune-Herald<\/em>, \u201cThey own the property free of any encumbrances or outstanding loans or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But satisfying the indebtedness to the lienholder may have come at the cost of paying attorneys representing Punalu\u02bbu Black Sand Beach\u2019s service utility, Punalu\u02bbu Water and Sanitation, LLC, before the Public Utilities Commission. On May 28, the PUC, taking note of the court\u2019s actions, asked for an update on the company\u2019s financial health and \u201cany other information that may be relevant to PWS\u2019s ability to provide continued operations in the near- and long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days later, on May 30, Wil K. Yamamoto, of the firm Yamamoto Hetherington, notified the PUC that it would be withdrawing as counsel for the utility: \u201cThe undersigned is informed by PWS that it intends to proceed pro se<\/em> going forward. PWS has indicated that it will respond directly to the commission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first time the utility has sought to represent itself. As Environment Hawai\u02bbi <\/em>reported in March, it engaged Yamamoto Hetherington earlier this year, following a \u201cpause\u201d on its 2024 rate request so as to avoid paying attorneys and consultants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 8, the PUC approved a temporary rate increase of 2,795 percent, allowing PWS to collect over the next 12 months about $639,000. For the last couple of decades, the utility had received around $22,000 a year to manage its sewer and water systems that serve the owners of condominiums in the area. Over that time, both systems suffered from a lack of maintenance and the rate hike was supposed to allow the developer, owner of the utility as well as the land, to make urgently needed repairs and upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the utility is able to continue operations at this point would seem to be an open question. Comment was sought from the utility, but no reply was received by press time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marconi Update: <\/strong>On May 12, U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake overruled objections by Makai Ranch, LLC and related companies owned by Jeremiah Henderson, III, to Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter\u2019s March 28 order denying their motion to amend for the third time their complaint against the City & County of Honolulu and its Department of Planning and Permitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint, originally filed in May 2023, seeks to avoid having to apply for a Special Management Area permit for further development of the Marconi Point Condominiums property on O\u02bbahu\u2019s North Shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that year, Otake granted the city\u2019s request to dismiss claims related to building permits the companies argued they are entitled to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their most recent motion to amend their complaint, the companies argued that new evidence revealed late last year during discovery supported the reinstatement of those claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Porter\u2019s order, however, \u201cconcluded that Plaintiffs had not demonstrated the requisite diligence in: (1) seeking discovery of the New Evidence, and (2) moving for leave to amend after reviewing the New Evidence. Judge Porter also rejected Plaintiffs\u2019 argument that the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo<\/em>, 144 S. Ct. 2244 (2024)\u2014which overruled Chevron <\/em>deference\u2014justified leave to file a third amended complaint,\u201d Otake stated in her order last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She found that Porter did not clearly err in his conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be clear, the Court did not engage in a Chevron <\/em>analysis in its Dismissal Order; there was no ambiguous statute at issue and the Court wasn\u2019t deferring to Defendants\u2019 interpretation of such a law,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Punaluʻu Problems: Opponents of the redevelopment of Black Sand Beach, in the Big Island district of Kaʻu, celebrated in mid-May when it seemed the former owner, S M Investment Partners, LLC, had successfully sued the developer for foreclosure.  But the … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[7,3],"class_list":["post-16542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-june-2025","tag-patricia-tummons","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16542","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=16542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}