Homeowners in Ewa Beach’s Hoakalei Resort and Ocean Pointe communities say they bought their properties because developer Haseko Inc.’s government-approved master plan project included as the main physical attraction a small boat marina that connects to the ocean.
In November 2011, Haseko announced that instead of completing the marina, which had been under construction for a number of years, it would build a lagoon with no channel connecting it to the ocean.
The homeowners say that decision will lower the value of their properties. In addition, Hoakalei Resort homeowners say they have been paying community association fees for maintenance and operation of the marina for years.
The lawyers for eight Ocean Pointe and Hoakalei homeowners filed a class-action lawsuit in state court Wednesday against Haseko on behalf of all the homeowners who bought their properties before 2012.
The homeowners claim that Haseko lied to them and violated state condominium laws, land sale and fair trade practices and breached an implied contract when it decided not to build the marina.
Attorney Michael Green said he and the four other lawyers who filed the lawsuit represent nearly 700 Ocean Pointe and Hoakalei homeowners. He said another 300 also bought their homes before 2012.
A representative for Haseko said the developer has no comment because it has yet to be served with the complaint.
In 1984, the state Land Use Commission agreed to rezone more than 1,000 acres of agricultural land near Oneula Beach Park for the development of up to 7,200 homes around a 2,500-slip marina and 81⁄2 miles of connecting waterways. The commission granted the rezoning despite objections from opponents who said the area contained sacred Hawaiian burial and archaeological sites and that the marina would negatively affect surfing spots and near-shore limu-gathering sites.
A Colorado-based company was the original developer of what was then known as the Ewa Marina.
After Haseko bought the property in 1989, the project shrank.
Then in November 2011, citing the lack of demand for market-priced boat slips and the cost to excavate a channel to the ocean, Haseko announced that it was scrapping its plan for a marina and replacing it with a lagoon.
