The Hawaii Community Development Authority privately recommended that Gov. Neil Abercrombie veto a bill curtailing its power, arguing that the bill would not necessarily improve transparency and accountability of an authority under public scrutiny over the redevelopment of Kakaako.
Abercrombie signed the bill into law in late April, explaining that it would not change the authority’s ability to further its mission and revitalize Honolulu’s urban core while providing much-needed housing for residents at all income levels.
But the private, behind-the-scenes veto recommendation from the HCDA was far more critical than the authority’s public testimony before the Legislature. It also shows the political sensitivity over Kakaako, a region Abercrombie envisions as an urban ideal but that some Democrats, including state Sen. David Ige, his primary opponent, fear is growing too fast.
The new law reduces the governor’s power over the HCDA by giving the governor sole discretion to name four members of the authority’s nine-member board, down from six. The law also expands public notice and public hearing requirements, gives residents greater ability to contest projects, and sets a 418-foot building height limit.
"We will be damned if we take this position and there is much political risk for the governor," Anthony Ching, the HCDA’s executive director, said in a handwritten note on the veto recommendation, "but to allow it to become law is to accept a contradiction in words and action."
The perceived contradiction had to do with whether the new law would make HCDA more transparent and accountable.
State departments and agencies are expected to provide comments and recommendations on bills to the governor’s policy team. The documents are considered confidential, but a source, who requested anonymity, provided a copy of the HCDA’s veto recommendation to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
There was a political element to the debate over the bill from the start.
State House Majority Leader Scott Saiki, who represents Kakaako, had initially proposed a range of HCDA reforms, including abolishing the authority, that many interpreted as a message to Abercrombie and the HCDA that lawmakers were serious about making changes. The HCDA had been assigned the redevelopment of Kakaako in 1976, but the explosive growth being planned now has caused public concern.
Lawmakers, developers, the governor’s advisers and the authority all had roles in negotiating the final draft.
Three days after the bill cleared final passage in the House in April, the HCDA privately told the governor’s policy team that certain aspects of the bill did not jibe with Saiki’s stated objective to "reboot" the authority and make it more transparent and accountable to the public.
In particular, the HCDA warned that a provision that requires all existing board members be terminated by March 2015 could make the transition rocky and dilute, not enhance, community representation.
The law allows developers to make cash payments, instead of providing reserved housing in their projects, a provision the authority cautioned was ill-timed. One of the main public criticisms of growth in Kakaako is the number of luxury high-rise condominiums on the drawing board. Reserved housing is set aside for buyers who meet targeted income qualifications.
The HCDA also complained that the bill contained no findings or justification for a 418-foot building height limit. Abercrombie had at one point favored a residential tower in Kakaako that would have been a record 650 feet high, and planners contended there were practical as well as marketing reasons to allow flexibility in what had been a 400-foot limit.
The authority said that higher buildings could provide more housing units in the urban core and that taller, slender buildings could minimize interference with public view planes. Maximizing urban development, the authority said, could also prevent greater development of land outside the city limits meant for agriculture.
Ching said in an interview that the HCDA’s veto recommendation was a candid appraisal meant for Abercrombie’s policy team.
"Ultimately, though, I defer and I accept his judgment. I accept the judgment of the Legislature that that’s entirely within their prerogative," he said. "And we will be doing more to maintain the spirit and intent of being more accountable and transparent in accordance with the legislative instructions.
"Everyone at this agency is going to be motivated to do that and more to demonstrate that we are indeed a part of the solution and not a part of the problem."
Abercrombie waited until after the ninth day of the 10-day window he had to review the bill before signing it into law. At the time, the House was weighing whether to approve a bill — important to Abercrombie — that would finance the preservation of 665 acres of land at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore.
Some of Abercrombie’s advisers had heard rumblings that the House was waiting to see whether the governor signed the HCDA bill before moving on the Turtle Bay bill. A source close to Abercrombie, however, said that by then the governor had already decided to sign the HCDA bill.
The House approved the Turtle Bay bill on the last day of session.
"I hope that, notwithstanding its objections, that HCDA will comply with the new law," said Saiki (D, Downtown-Kakaako-McCully). "It’s important for HCDA to build public confidence in its decision-making process."
