LIHU’E — A frazzled Bully Freitas, who since 1994 has lived next door to a construction site, appeared before the Kaua’i Planning Commission yesterday to let commissioners know what it will be like for neighbors of the Waiohai if its
LIHU’E — A frazzled Bully Freitas, who since 1994 has lived next door to a
construction site, appeared before the Kaua’i Planning Commission yesterday to
let commissioners know what it will be like for neighbors of the Waiohai if its
proposed seven-year reconstruction plan is approved.
The way the
reconstruction of the Kaua’i Inn in Niumalu has dragged on, Freitas predicted
at least two more years of “chaos” before the Inn is completed.
Owners and
managers of the Kiahuna Plantation Resort have other issues regarding the
Marriott Waiohai Beach Club’s proposed build-as-you-sell concept, where
construction would be completed in several phases timed to the sale of
timeshare units.
With an estimated seven-year schedule of on-and-off- again
construction, the adjacent Kiahuna Plantation Resort will be financially
harmed, Kiahuna officials said.
“We at Kiahuna will experience a negative
(financial) impact in either scenario,” said Jim Hill, Kiahuna Plantation
general manager for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.
In a chart supplied to
the commission, Hill estimated losses of over $22 million if a phased
construction plan is approved versus about $6.5 million if a two-year, nonstop
construction process is implemented.
Marriott officials earlier told the
commission that they would not rebuild the Waiohai if a one- or two-phase
construction schedule was mandated by the commission. They are proposing a
four-phase schedule over a seven-year period.
“You can see that in the
phased analysis, this (financial) impact is extraordinary,” Hill said. “To
experience such a long period of financial loss will not be survivable by most
of our owners.”
Hill talked repeatedly about the “healing period,” or time
to recover financially from the impacts to his property of the Waiohai
construction.
Hill also talked about ocean views certain Kiahuna apartment
owners and guests enjoy, which will be obliterated or partially obstructed due
to the Waiohai’s proposed configuration plan.
The rebuilt Waiohai will be
only 60 feet away from Kiahuna’s Phase V, units, Hill said.
Marriott
officials proposed seven specific fixes during meetings with Kiahuna owners and
managers, but only two have been incorporated into plans, Hill said.
“We
want the Marriott development,” said Bob Cohen, a Kiahuna apartment owner, but
phased construction, and maybe even all-at-once building, may mean losses to
apartment owners that will leave them no choice but to sell or lose their
apartments.
Phase V units originally sold for around $175,000 and were
going for around $120,000 before Hurricane ‘Iniki. Prices were around $60,000
two years ago, and have only recently been creeping up into the $80,000 range,
Hill said.
“To be shut down for seven years is unacceptable,” said William
Gill, a Phase V apartment owner whose second-floor unit enjoys ocean views in
two directions.
If Gill, who said he could live with a two-year build-out
schedule, can rent out his apartment during the construction period, he’ll get
a very low rent which might not even pay for the taxes on the unit, he said. He
and his wife spend several weeks a year here, and eventually plan to live
full-time on the island.
He said he wondered what Marriott timeshare buyers
would feel like coming to the Waiohai for a vacation in a construction
zone.
ON-SITE BURIALS: Healani Trembath, Cheryl Lovell-Obatake and Anne M.
Donovan expressed concerns about burials on the Waiohai property, especially
since the developers plan to construct underground parking beneath many of the
timeshare apartment buildings.
Trembath, who for 10 years worked as a
concierge at the Waiohai, recalled several instances where unexplained sounds
were reported by guests and employees.
She compiled a list, then went
through the entire hotel with one of the construction workers who knew where
bones were discovered and either moved to another location or left in place to
be covered with concrete.
In each case, where the strange sounds were
reported were in areas known to contain bones, she said.
She advised not
disturbing bones that will inevitably be discovered during the tearing down of
the old Waiohai, and building of the new Marriott Waiohai Beach Club.
“They
don’t want to be moved. You wouldn’t want to be moved from your house,” she
said.
Lovell-Obatake, chair of the Kaua’i-Ni’ihau Island Burial Council,
said she thinks the existing hotel has disturbed most of the sacred sites and
burials on the property.
Donovan has asked the Marriott, through attorney
Max Graham, to explore the possibility of abandoning the underground parking
plan. Not only will the underground parking disturb burial sites, but it will
flood easily during high-wave, tsunami and hurricane conditions, she
said
At the request of the Marriott, the public hearing on the matter will
continue at the commission’s Thursday, Feb. 24 meeting.
