Honolulu is on the right track in condemning a derelict apartment building at 1615 Ala Wai Blvd., after three years of unsuccessful efforts to buy the Waikiki property, and about two decades of neglect by the owner. The City Council and Mayor Rick Blangiardi would do well to pursue additional condemnations in Waikiki and other Oahu locations, when owners have all but abandoned their properties in high-use, high-demand locations.
The property is now earmarked for a senior affordable rental housing development, a use dearly needed in Waikiki. If successfully transitioned to this valuable potential, that should encourage the city to make use of its condemnation powers in other locations where owners have long failed to maintain their properties, vexing communities and depriving the city of productive endeavors.
The Ala Wai Boulevard property, which was condemned and purchased for its fair-market value, was far past its sell-by date.
Delay on action was undoubtedly connected to its high value, and therefore high cost to the city — but when properties are allowed to deteriorate to the point that they attract vermin, trespassers and criminal activity, one can’t blame neighbors of such derelict properties for feeling abandoned by city enforcers, just as the owners themselves have abandoned their responsibilities.
Blangiardi has proven willing to move forward on the issue of derelict properties, which has often seemed intractable. But another avenue supported by the mayor was closed off to the city during this year’s legislative session: In April, the Legislature failed to pass House Bill 1434, part of a package submitted by the mayor.
HB 1434 would have allowed counties to use a civil procedure rather than a court foreclosure process to take possession of properties whose owners did not respond to city orders and fines for violating land use and building ordinances, once “all notices, orders, and appeal proceedings are exhausted.”
In the coming session, lawmakers should revive this legislation and see it through, with safeguards built in to ensure it is applied only in egregious cases of last resort. The law should establish a clear line of action by the city, setting up a timeline that would make it clear for property owners and agencies under what circumstances an issue could escalate from fines and remediation orders to civil foreclosure.
Across the Ala Wai, on Pensacola Street in Makiki, an owner lived with piles of hoarded items, including derelict vehicles, for more than 20 years before the city took action. The accumulation of trash violated city housing codes, and in 2017, after a concerted effort by neighbors, the Department of Planning and Permitting began issuing fines for violation.
In 2018, the city cleaned out 45 tons of waste from the property under its authority to “abate a public nuisance.” This is a remedy authorized by the City Council in 2014, but it took years to be applied to the Pensacola house. Regardless, over the next year, the home was taken over by squatters and cluttered with detritus again. In 2020, it was gutted by fire.
Finally, on Dec. 28, 2021, the City Council initiated a resolution asking the city to take ownership of the property and pursue steps to turn it into a community park and garden. It was adopted in February.
The Blangiardi administration must continue pressing forward to create a more responsive, accountable procedure for derelict properties. A delay of decades, with the damage done to a community beyond the property’s borders, should not be tolerated.
