Gov. Neil Abercrombie and state Sen. David Ige both say they do not support giving the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs the authority to develop high-rise condominiums near the waterfront at Kakaako.
Abercrombie had said in April that he did not think it was fair to cut OHA off before the agency had made a development proposal and that his own position was not the issue. But the governor said in an interview Friday that he opposes residential high-rises on the Kakaako makai parcels OHA received from the state in a $200 million settlement in 2012 over former crown land revenues.
"So the simple, straightforward answer is no, I don’t support residential high-rises down there," the governor said. "I didn’t support it before, I don’t support it now. That doesn’t mean that they can’t make some proposal regarding residences down there that might achieve broader public acceptance."
Ige, who is running against Abercrombie in the Democratic primary, has started to shape a campaign theme that Abercrombie is too cozy with special interests, including real estate developers behind the high-rise boom in Kakaako.
The state senator has said that the Abercrombie administration has not addressed public concerns about rapid growth in Kakaako, and he opposes residential high-rises on OHA land near the waterfront.
"I’m open to considering alternative solutions that enable the preservation of Kakaako makai as publicly accessible open space without residential high-rises," Ige said in a statement.
OHA has asked the Legislature for the flexibility to pursue limited residential development in Kakaako makai so the agency can get full value from the land received in the settlement. The legislation would undo a 2006 state law that prohibited residential development near the waterfront and killed a project planned by Alexander & Baldwin.
But resident-led groups such as the Save Our Kakaako Coalition have protested OHA’s plans, and lawmakers could not agree on a final draft of the legislation in conference committee before the session adjourned in May.
Garett Kamemoto, an OHA spokesman, said OHA remains interested in residential development on the land but will likely evaluate its approach before the next session of the Legislature opens in January.
Abercrombie said OHA needs a detailed plan to generate broad public support. He suggested, as potential examples, low-rise residential projects aimed at specific demographics or tied to the University of Hawaii medical school. Others have suggested commercial projects.
"I can’t image that you would ever get broad approval of any kind for a residential high-rise proposition," the governor said. "I just can’t."
Earlier this month Ige dinged Abercrombie over the Hoopili residential development project in West Oahu and the Koa Ridge project between Waipio and Mililani, blaming the governor for not protecting agricultural land from urban development.
The Abercrombie administration supported Hoopili, a planned community along the corridor for the city’s rail project, at the state Land Use Commission in 2012. The administration also endorsed Koa Ridge when the project came back before the Land Use Commission for a second vote in 2012 after an initial vote in 2010 — before Abercrombie was elected — was overturned in court by environmentalists.
Abercrombie questioned why Ige waited until he was running for governor to air such concerns.
"If he had concerns in those areas, he had plenty of time to deal with it and opportunity to deal with it in the Legislature, and didn’t do it," the governor said.
