A bill meant to prohibit giving false statements to city planners as a means of cracking down on “monster homes” might see more penalties given to violators beyond
potential monetary fines and imprisonment.
During the Honolulu City Council’s Committee on Executive Matters and Legal Affairs meeting Tuesday, the panel and members of the public suggested Bill 44 should require the demolition of any monster homes discovered by the city.
That said, the Council also learned that existing state laws — in particular, Hawaii Revised Statutes 710-1063, which covers unsworn falsifications to authorities — could preempt or eliminate the power of the proposed city measure with regard to lying to city officials, namely to city Department of Planning and Permitting inspectors.
Bill 44, as drafted, would “deter persons from making or inciting the making of a false statement to a public servant,” largely with regard to plans and permits issued by DPP for residential building projects.
Co-introduced by Council Chair Tommy Waters and Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, the proposal defines “city officials” as “any city employee who, in the normal course of the employee’s duties and responsibilities, conducts investigations or inspections, or both, to ascertain compliance with
any city ordinance, rule or regulation.”
“False statement” is defined to mean “any statement, in oral, written, printed, or electronic form, that is incorrect, inaccurate, or not in accordance with truth or fact.”
Bill 44 also comes with penalties. Those found in violation of knowingly making false statements to DPP could face a $2,000 fine, a one-year jail sentence or 80 hours of community service, the draft measure states.
During public testimony, Jeremy Lam, representing the Manoa Branch of The Outdoor Circle, said Bill 44 would not prevent all developers from building illegal structures.
“Two thousand dollars is a slap on the wrist. The owner will easily make $10,000 a month in income,” Lam said. “They will still try, but Bill 44 is definitely a start.”
Lam, however, noted other issues with DPP.
Following prior conversations with department officials, he said “DPP’s past philosophy” was such that it “tries not to be punitive” toward violators of the city’s current monster homes
ordinance.
“When a monster home is half built and determined to be violating city laws, not one has ever been demolished,” Lam said, adding that demolition should be the answer to the problem. “The developers get away with murder. A bill should be passed with a passage on demolition; this would be an effective deterrent.”
Moreover, Lam said Council members themselves should decline the “many gifts they receive to their campaign from developers, contractors and other members of the building industry” with regard to overall development on the island.
“I think they would not contribute to you if it had no effect,” he added.
For its part, Council members said they wanted to see more teeth in any future
version of Bill 44.
To that end, Vice Chair
Esther Kia‘aina referred to news she’d heard this week regarding a “huge house” built in Kaneohe — which the city later confirmed was at 35-41 Lilipuna Place — that was deemed illegal.
“The house went up in five months, and we’ve confirmed that there is no building permit or no (special management area) permit,” Kia‘aina said.
She added that “you can rest assured that when this bill comes back, I will be offering an amendment to stiffen the penalties.”
“And in an egregious circumstance like that, they need to tear the house down.”
Waters wanted to hear more information on the city’s ability to add on the requirement that homes be demolished if found to be in violation, “and figure out the legality of that before we
actually pass this out.”
He reminded Council members that Bill 44 may be preempted by existing state law with regard to the crime of lying to public
officials.
“Those are things that I think are important because … we want to get this right. We want to make sure the tools we give to DPP are actually workable tools. It just gives us another bite at the apple if we don’t rush it,”
Waters said.
Later in the meeting, DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna said her department had “no position” on Bill 44 at this time, due to the measure’s possible preemption by state law.
But Waters asked whether DPP ever enforced HRS 710-1063 and prosecuted anyone for the misdemeanor crime of lying to public officials,
including to city building
inspectors.
“Not during the current administration, and I don’t think so prior to that, but I’m not sure,” Takeuchi Apuna replied.
To that, Waters said, “Even though we say it’s a crime, if we’re not actually prosecuting it, it’s not going to be a deterrent.”
Then, he added, “All we need to do is demolish one home, and it’s going to wake people up and they’re going to think, ‘Oh my God!’ If we make them take it down, I think that’s going to have
the desired effect and stop people from doing this.”
Ultimately, the Council passed the measure for a second reading.
After the meeting, Richmond Luzar, policy and communications director for Dos Santos-Tam, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via text that the bill would go to the next full Council meeting Aug. 9.
“When it comes back, our office — and a few other Council offices — are planning on proposing substantive amendments,” Luzar said.
The bill will return for another committee hearing Aug. 22, he said.
Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Dos Santos-Tam took aim at Honolulu resident Christy Zeng Lei, who is involved in a case before the city Building Board of Appeals regarding the revocation of a building permit at 3615 Sierra Drive above Kaimuki, which the city alleges is a monster home.
According to DPP, Lei, developer of the project, provided incorrect information on her permit application.
Lei, who has been criticized for monster home development in the past, allegedly misrepresented the project’s building density and violated the thresholds established for setbacks, rear and side yards, and the number of bathrooms, among other things,
according to the city.
“We need to start going after these monster home developers. They can’t just lie and get away with it,”
Dos Santos-Tam said in a written statement. “That means we need to start strengthening penalties. We need to impose fines, community service, jail time. We need to take decisive action.”
In recent weeks and months, Honolulu’s fight against illegal “monster house” projects has
intensified.
On July 11, DPP announced the immediate suspension of contractor Shih Jen Lin’s review privileges over plans submitted for 4103 Pakolu Place in Kaimuki and 2939 Kalei Road in Manoa, which the city says were not in compliance with a chapter of the Revised Ordinances of
Honolulu that deals with monster homes.
DPP also revoked the building permits for both projects.
In April, third-party reviewer Jimmy Wu submitted plans for a Kalihi project at 1532 Hanai Loop. The two-story home’s plans, including construction of nine bathrooms and no yard, suggested the project would be a monster home, though the plans were still approved.
DPP halted that project and suspended Wu, a local architect, from his third-party registration.
