Private Moiliili road dispute takes new turn

A confusing scene might greet the first tenants of the Hale Mahana collegiate rental housing tower opening Thursday in Moiliili.

The road fronting the entryway to the tower’s parking garage has been marked “private access” in big yellow capital letters along with diagonal lines covering most of the street.

At the same time, a couple of utility poles stand in the middle of one side of the road called Kahuna Lane.

The two elements demarcate lines of opposing property owners involved in a simmering lawsuit over use of the privately owned lane, which for decades has been open to public traffic.

On one side is a kamaaina real estate investment firm, The Malulani Group, once known as Magoon Brothers Ltd., which owns a block-long stretch of Kahuna Lane next to Kokua Market.

On the other side is a mainland partnership that developed the $110 million apartment building capable of housing 590 students, teachers and other staff of local universities.

The developer held a blessing ceremony for the tower Aug. 8. Malulani painted the lane Saturday.

Malulani argues that the development partners, California-­based Laconia Development LLC and Tennessee-­based EdR Collegiate Housing, need permission to use the road to access their property as opposed to long-standing public use of simply passing through or visiting Kokua Market, which is on land owned by Malulani.

Joachim Cox, a local attorney with Cox Fricke representing Malulani, said the “private access” wording is intended to identify ownership of the road but not to deny public thoroughfare.

“What we’re saying is it is a private road,” he said.

Cox also said the striping and paint that states a 5 mile-per-hour speed limit, down from 15 mph as indicated on a nearby sign, was made to improve safety on the lane, which he argues the tower developer has made more dangerous.

“What we’re trying to address is the safety concerns that the developer has created and not addressed,” he said.

Michael Lam, a local attorney with Case Lombardi & Pettit representing Hale Mahana’s developer, disagrees.

“(Malulani) has made Kahuna Lane much less safe, which is ironic because the basis for its stated opposition has been traffic safety,” Lam said in an email.

Lam added that the city told the developer to add ‘traffic safety control striping’ at the midpoint of the lane, and that Malulani’s paint job interferes with this requirement.

City spokesman Andrew Pereira said “the city has no jurisdiction over Kahuna Lane as it is a private road” in response to a request for comment on the use and changes to the road.

It’s possible that the new issues of contention will be incorporated into the pending lawsuit filed in state Circuit Court by Malulani in June 2017.

Malulani claims in court filings that the tower, with 200 parking stalls plus 84 spaces for mopeds and 208 spaces for bikes, will overburden its segment of the lane and make it unsafe.

Laconia and EdR deny that claim and objected to a Malulani request for the developer to improve a broader segment of the lane with features including storm drains and sidewalks.

The developer did use its property to add five feet to the width of the lane along with a sidewalk fronting the new building. As part of that work, utility lines were placed underground, but the old utility poles have not yet been removed.

A trial in the case is scheduled for August 2019.