Critical mass has not yet been reached, but more leaders in the state Legislature are raising doubts about the planning for Kakaako.
Next Tuesday, legislators and Honolulu City Council members from the midtown area will hold a community meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the state Capitol auditorium to review plans with the Hawaii Community Development Authority.
The questions focus on two concerns.
First, is the HCDA helping or hurting the development of Kakaako?
Second, is the HCDA the creation we need today?
The semi-independent state agency was set up in 1976 during a different time. Honolulu’s development plan was:" Throttle up, you are cleared for take-off." The standing joke in the ’70s was that the climbing crane was the state bird.
Sometimes standing in the way, sometimes encouraging his own projects and never acting subservient to state wishes was the late Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi.
With the creation of the HCDA, however, the state Legislature took back its power from the city in the area of Kakaako, thereby thwarting Honolulu and Fasi.
"We exempted them (HCDA) from county land use ordinances, we gave them special funds, we gave them bonding authority," says Rep. Scott Saiki.
He now says, "At some point the Legislature is just going to have to ask if this model is working."
The person now saying build more, denser and higher is Gov. Neil Abercrombie, whose still-evolving plan to create a "third city" in Kakaako is what is fueling developers to keep the concrete coming.
"We’re going to develop a third city here in Kakaako. We’re going to have workforce housing. We’re going to have early childhood education," Abercrombie told supporters in April. "We’re going to emphasize living in a community in a way that does not isolate people."
Others will see irony in that "no isolation" promise, as developers are planning "affordable" units of 350 square feet.
Makiki Democrat Rep. Della Au Belatti says she is "increasingly frustrated" because the Kakaako plans are almost completely lacking in a realistic approach to public schools for the eventual 30,000-50,000 new residents.
"I am not just an area resident. I am a parent, and I don’t think the planning has been done," Belatti said.
Saiki, House Democratic leader, says the state Department of Education is also concerned.
"I called DOE. They said they have been writing letters to HCDA since back in November. There are residents outside of Kakaako concerned about this. This is growing," Saiki said.
The veteran legislator said he doesn’t want to stop development, but instead either bring public opinion to bear on the HCDA or control how HCDA grants variances for things such as height or density.
Both legislators note that when faced with organized public protests over HCDA’s plans to allow developers to stick condos along the shoreline of Kakaako Makai, in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, the Legislature wrote a new law forbidding the development.
If Kakaako does become an issue for next year’s Legislature, it may be what is needed to prevent the governor’s "third city" from looking more like Dubai than Honolulu.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
