Billboards may be allowed in Aloha Stadium district

Proposed legislation to allow billboards and other large messaging signs in the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District passed first reading in the state Senate on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 3197 would make NASED exempt from long-standing Hawaii state law that prohibits such in most cases. One of the bill’s primary sponsors said this would make development in the 98-acre district more attractive to potential builders.

“It will allow for advertising on the sides of buildings,” said state Sen. Glenn Wakai at Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Aloha Stadium Authority. “It will be perfectly aligned with the RFP.”

Wakai’s reference is to the request for proposals that was released in December to build the new Aloha Stadium and develop the surrounding area with businesses and housing. The latest incarnation of the project is a revision of the original private-public partnership. This one has the private partner developing, building, operating and maintaining the new stadium, with the opportunity to develop real estate in the rest of the district as part of the deal.

The public is providing $400 million allocated by the 2022 Legislature for construction of the new stadium, and the job is scheduled to be awarded this fall. Construction to replace the old Aloha Stadium, at the same spot in Halawa, is expected to be done in time for the 2028 football season. Real estate development throughout the district will be long-term.

Wakai said he conferred with Aloha Stadium manager Ryan Andrews, deputy manager Chris Sadayasu and Stadium Authority chair Brennon Morioka about the bill to exempt NASED from the large- signage laws.

But a key area community leader and Stadium Authority board member was surprised to first hear of the bill at Thursday’s meeting.

“I don’t know if it will blend well. A lot would depend on dimensions and other factors,” said Claire Tamamoto, who is also chair of the Aiea Community Association board. “I think we need to air it out at our next meeting.

“We don’t want the area to be so commercialized that it’s like a Las Vegas light,” Tamamoto added. “We don’t want it to be ‘raise money at all cost.’”

Wakai said he expects opposition to the bill from The Outdoor Circle, which “spearheaded legal efforts to ban billboards throughout Hawaii,” in 1927, and was also instrumental in developing law to control size and location of signs 30 years later, according to the group’s website.

“Hawaii’s billboard ban and signage laws are a source of pride for us and the envy of the nation,” said Winston Welch, executive director of The Outdoor Circle. “Any proposed development at NASED, or any site, needs to conform to our laws, not seek exemptions from them.”

One of the existing exemptions to the law is for the jumbo scoreboard that was inside the old Aloha Stadium.