Members of the Koke‘e Leaseholders Association have lined up against a proposal by officials of the state Department of Land & Natural Resources Division of State Parks to convert at least 111 recreational cabins into short-term rentals. The group also
Members of the Koke‘e Leaseholders Association have lined up against a proposal by officials of the state Department of Land & Natural Resources Division of State Parks to convert at least 111 recreational cabins into short-term rentals.
The group also is opposed to having the cabins managed by a nonprofit organization through a master plan. To do so would result in the destruction of some cabins, some of which are old enough to be put in a government-designated historic district for preservation.
The leaseholders conveyed these sentiments in a letter sent to DLNR Division of State Parks representatives.
Yesterday, division representatives were scheduled to present to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources management options under consideration for the two state parks, Koke‘e and Waimea Canyon, including a recommendation on disposition of the recreational residence lots.
The briefing was scheduled to be held in Honolulu, followed by a board meeting on the matter today, Wednesday, Nov. 5, also in Honolulu.
In a letter to the DLNR Division of State Parks, Frank O. Hay, spokesman for the leaseholders, said “there can be no better way to destroy its community of historic recreational residence than the alternative proposed by the state parks.”
Hay said putting all the cabins under a single master lease would go against the DLNR plan and the state constitution. The leaseholders would prefer that their leases, won during a public auction in 1985, be extended after they expire in 2006.
The state’s proposed alternative “would effectively create a gated resort of tourists and take our cabins away from the local families that have cared for them for generations,” Hay said.
Hay also questioned how the consulting firm, R.M. Towill Corporation, and DLNR staffers, arrived at a recommendation to turn the cabins into rental units without an economic analysis.
Hay said people at a meeting last month told the government, through written comment, they didn’t want the cabins used as short-term rentals.
Hay said the cabin-rental proposal suggests government officials made their decision on the rental matter regardless of public sentiment.
R.M. Towill Corp. spokesman Jim Niermann and DLNR spokeswoman Lauren Tanaka, both located in Honolulu, were not immediately available for comment on the issue.
Hay asked further how the state could confiscate the cabins after the leases expire in 2006. “It is morally wrong and ethically wrong for the state to confiscate its citizen’s property without compensation,” Hay wrote.
State officials have said that leaseholders knew of that condition when they won the leases during a public auction on Kaua‘i in 1985.
Hay and others, in e-mails received by The Garden Island, contended 14 historic cabins have been lost “forever” as a result of poor decisions made by past BLNR members nearly 20 years ago.
The DLNR holds 24 lots in the state parks that have been surveyed but never leased out, Hay wrote.
Also, six cabins and four vacant lots have reverted to state control through default, and one cabin has been set aside for use by the DLNR law-enforcement division, Hay wrote.
The lots could conceivably generate up to $1.75 million in additional revenues that could be used for the state parks, Hay indicated.
Related to the master plan, residents told DLNR officials that they favored a consultant’s alternative that called for:
- achieving sustainable operations with 35 percent of park revenues;
- upgrading existing park facilities;
- developing guidelines to protect historic values;
- continuing existing programs.
The master plan was developed after meetings with the public, and proposes to enhance park facilities over the next two decades.
Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
