An attorney for Valley House owner Larry Bowman said his client would drop a proposed land swap if the people of Kaua’i didn’t approve of it. Last week, he kept his word, and through Honolulu attorney A. Bernard Bays formally
An attorney for Valley House owner Larry Bowman said his client would drop a proposed land swap if the people of Kaua’i didn’t approve of it.
Last week, he kept his word, and through Honolulu attorney A. Bernard Bays formally withdrew the proposal to give the state a parcel smaller than an acre in size next to Hanalei Pier and Black Pot Park in exchange for around 90 acres of state land in Kapa’a.
Bowman’s Falko Partners had entered into an agreement to buy a Hanalei Bay beachfront parcel from Gaylord Wilcox for $3 million, and intended to convey it to the state in exchange for 90 acres in Kapa’a Falko Partners planned to leave undeveloped as a privacy buffer around its Valley House property.
Much of the state land around Valley House proposed in the swap is leased by the state to Falko Partners, and was appraised at around $2.3 million by appraisers hired by Falko Partners.
“Recently, Mr. Bowman has encountered some harsh criticism for this proposed exchange from an admittedly very small minority that is apparently fueled by misunderstanding and erroneous speculations regarding his motives,” Bays wrote in a letter to Gilbert Coloma-Agaron, chairperson of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
The letter was to formally withdraw the land exchange as proposed by Falko Partners, one of Bowman’s companies.
“Mr. Bowman does not want to be the subject of controversy within the Kaua’i community,” Bays said.
The BLNR at its meeting in Hilo on the Big Island today was scheduled to take up the land-swap matter, after bills aimed at effecting the exchange failed to progress at the state Legislature during its current session.
State Department of Land and Natural Resources staff had recommended the BLNR deny the proposed swap, saying among other things that archaeological studies hadn’t been conducted on either property, and that there was not sufficient time allowed for public and agency comments.
Coloma-Agaran had earlier this year expressed concerns about approving the proposed land swap, saying “there are other coastal areas on Kaua’i that the state would rather acquire. In addition, the state would prefer acquisition of revenue-producing property that the state can lease out at public auction, for the purpose of generating revenues for public trust purposes.”
At its meeting earlier this month, the Kauai Historic Preservation Review Commission voted unanimously to oppose the land exchange.
Many Native Hawaiian individuals and groups also came out against the proposal.
Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and the Hanalei Community Association both favor acquiring the Hanalei parcel, but the HCA had not formulated an opinion on the proposed land swap, said HCA president Diane Daniells.
Around 75 people turned out at this month’s HCA meeting at Hanalei School, where Bays reiterated his client’s promise to withdraw the proposal if the community wasn’t behind it.
Bays said earlier that Falko Partners was willing to give the state $400,000 for improvements to the Hanalei parcel, which could be used to improve the pier and acquire nearby lands for park expansion.
Though the swap is off the table for now, Bays in his letter to Coloma-Agaran doesn’t totally close the door on the proposal.
“Mr. Bowman remains receptive to an exchange that is supported by DLNR, and hopes that he can work with you in the future on such an exchange,” Bays concluded.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
