$28 million bond issue proposed

LIHU’E — The Kaua’i County Council is proposing to float up to $28.4 million

in bonds for 13 construction projects, including a new facility to house the

Kaua’i police department, the county Civil Defense Office and the county

Prosecutor’s Office.

Estimated cost of the facility, which has been delayed

for lack of funding for many years, is $15 million, the largest of the proposed

projects.

The county is proposing the bond float for the complex because

state funds are not available, county officials have said.

If the bond

issue is approved, the money will be used to build the new facility and to

upgrade other facilities.

No one appeared to testify at a public hearing on

the bond issue Wednesday.

In addition to the police/civil

defense/prosecutor complex, other projects include:

* Lihu’e Civic Center.

$1.4 million for repair work the Federal Emergency Management Agency deemed

wasn’t related to Hurricane Iniki damage.

* Kekaha Landfill. $1.4

million.

* Roadway for the new emergency operating center. $350,000.

Lihu’e Civic Center renovation work. $454,000.

* A computer system for the

county’s Real Property Tax Division. $1.9 million.

* Puhi metal recycling

center. $300,000.

* Brennecke Beach shoreline protection. $500,000.

Improvements to the main pavilion at Lydgate Park. $200,000.

* American

with Disabilities Act work at the Historic County Building. $500,000.

American with Disabilities Act work on curbs. $1.6 million.

* American with

Disabilities Act work at the Wailua Golf Course restrooms. $200,000.

Project contingency funds. $1.2 million.

The amount for projects could be

higher or lower, depending on the interest rates related to the bond, Council

Chair Ron Kouchi said. The bonds will be repaid through a debt service

fund.

The county also proposes to float a $4 million bond for water

projects that will be repaid with county Water Department funds.

In other

matters, the Council’s Planning Committee deferred action on Wailua Falls

Gallery’s request to rezone its property in Kapaia from residential and open

use to neighborhood commercial use.

Committee members said the proposal is

charged with controversy and wants to study it further before sending it to the

full Council for a vote.

Located across the street from each other on Kuhio

Highway in Kapaia, Wailua Falls and the Kapaia Trading Company sell cigars,

cigar boxes and art work.

Kapaia Trading obtained neighborhood commercial

zoning earlier this year and has challenged a Wailua Falls bid to do the

same.

The Kaua’i Planning Commission recommended denial of Wailua Falls’

initial request to rezone its property for general commercial use.

The

Council subsequently amended the request for neighborhood commercial use, a

less intense use.

But Kaua’i attorney Harold Bronstein, who represents the

Kapaia Trading, said the Council has the authority to only accept or reject the

Planing Commission’s denial, and not act on an alternate zoning.

“I think,

procedurally, how you reach this point is incorrect,” Bronstein said.

But the Council committee is acting appropriately and has not violated any

procedures, said Deputy County Attorney Amy Esaki.

Council Chair Ron Kouchi

and councilmembers Billy Swain and James Tokioka said granting the zoning

request will only help small companies that create products on Kaua’i, like

Wailua Falls and Kapa’a Trading, stay in business.

Bronstein said the

Wailua Falls lot was designated by the county for residential use, but

councilmembers Daryl Kaneshiro and Swain said the lot has been used for

commercial use for years and should continue to be used in such a manner.

Bronstein also said the county would be engaging in spot zoning if it granted

the request, a claim rejected by the Council.

In a lawsuit filed in Circuit

Court, Carl asked a state judge for a court order to stop Wailua Falls from

operating until the company had secured the permits.

The judge denied the

request for a preliminary injunction, but the case is still pending.