HANALEI — The county announced Wednesday it has secured the boundaries of all three Hanalei River lots previously owned by Mike Sheehan and Hanalei River Holdings LLC. The administration’s action was the culmination of an 18-month condemnation process, according to
HANALEI — The county announced Wednesday it has secured the boundaries of all three Hanalei River lots previously owned by Mike Sheehan and Hanalei River Holdings LLC. The administration’s action was the culmination of an 18-month condemnation process, according to county officials.
“These lands will eventually be returned to the people of Kaua‘i as part of an enhanced Hanalei Black Pot Beach Park,” Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. states in a press release.
The lots in question comprise of 3.5 acres directly behind Black Pot Beach Park and along Hanalei River. Sheehan has said in the past that he is in favor of the park expansion and that it’s not about the money, it’s about assuring the property will be well taken care of by the administration.
But the issue goes into additional legal meanders because Sheehan built a boatyard in the property some 25 years ago at approximately $250,000, which at today’s market would cost about $1 million, according to Sheehan’s statements at a Kaua‘i County Council meeting on October 2011.
Sheehan claims the boatyard — now blocked off — has the only washdown facility in the state that is approved by the state Department of Health and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
“I volunteered to put this in 20 years ago at a great additional cost and it wasn’t a requirement on my permits, but I did it anyway,” said Sheehan, adding that because of his boatyard being blocked off by the county, fishermen will have to wash their boats in the river.
“What a shame,” Sheehan said.
Since Sheehan first opened the boatyard, the county has been arm-wrestling him to take his permits away, which happened by a Kaua‘i Planning Commission vote in 2010.
The county’s action Tuesday hardly puts the issue to rest.
“In America you can’t steal things without paying for it,” said Sheehan, who has two lawsuits pending against the Kaua‘i Planning Commission and the county.
The first suit was filed at Hawai‘i Intermediate Court of Appeals, after 5th Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe upheld the commission’s decision to revoke Sheehan’s permits to operate the boatyard.
The second suit, filed at Federal Court in Honolulu, claims the unconstitutionality of the commission’s action without a compensation for the revoked permits.
“Those permits are worth as much as the boatyard real estate is,” Sheehan said. “They basically stole my permits through a vote by the Planning Commission.”
He said he is due for a preliminary hearing at Federal Court in about five months.
How much?
Sheehan said that about two years ago, county Finance Director Wally Rezentes Jr. asked him if he would agree to the appraised value of $10 million. He said he would have agreed to that upon certain conditions, including no overnight camping, no alcohol and no commercial uses. In addition, Sheehan said he and his former wife offered an extra 6.5 acres at no cost to the county.
“They could’ve had 10 acres for the price of three-and-a-half,” said Sheehan, adding that the additional property is worth between $10 million and $15 million, and that his offer was reasonable.
“The mayor chose to not accept that,” he said. “Somebody should ask him, ‘How come?’”
County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka, however, denied some of Sheehan’s statements.
“The only offer we have made to Sheehan for the parcels was the appraised value of $5.89 million,” she said.
“Sheehan has repeatedly refused this appraisal but has never provided the county with any other appraisal documents for consideration.”
As far as Sheehan agreeing with the county’s offer based on a set of conditions, Tokioka first said there is no recollection of it, but then said there were unknown conditions.
Sheehan’s main point of content, she said, was always the purchase price. The amount he wanted far exceeded anything the county was willing to pay, which was based on a third-party appraisal, she said.
“Sheehan vaguely discussed the option that he would donate additional parcels if the county would meet a number of unknown conditions, but nothing concrete was ever proposed,” she said.
Sheehan said that in condemnation cases, landowners and government officials meet, often with lawyers and an appraiser, and agree on a price and other terms.
“They shake hands and it’s done in a friendly manner,” Sheehan said.
“Apparently, the county … doesn’t seem like they want to do it in a friendly manner.”
Tokioka, however, said the administration has had many discussions with Sheehan over a number of years about a reasonable purchase price and associated terms.
“Our inability to come to an agreement led us to seek a third-party appraisal to determine the fair market value of the property,” she said.
The appraisal was finalized on Oct. 27, 2010, when the property was valued at $5.89 million, according to Tokioka.
In January 2011, the council authorized, through a resolution, the condemnation proceedings to go forward. In May 2012, the 5th Circuit Court issued the ex parte order allowing the county to move forward with taking possession of the property.
Commercial activities
When asked if Sheehan had included in his alleged offer of additional 6.5 acres to the county a condition to keep operating his boatyard, Tokioka said there have been several offers from Sheehan, but because of the possibility of continued litigation, the administration would not go into details about this.
Sheehan said if the county would not let him operate his boatyard after all these years, it should not give it to anyone else.
But he said that he thinks the county wants “a big piece,” and intends to engage in commercial activities in the property.
“We’ll watch and see who gets the operational contract,” he said.
Tokioka said the county intends to reserve the property for public park purposes, and will soon initiate a master planning process for the entirety of Black Pot Beach Park, including these three parcels and the recently acquired Hodge parcel.
“That will be a long-term project and will include much community input,” she said.
“We can’t predict at this point what the final master plan will look like and what types of activities may be included.”
Commercial entities wishing to conduct activities at any of the county’s beach parks may submit an application to the Department of Parks and Recreation, she said. The applications will be processed pursuant to rules adopted in 2011.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
