WAILUA — The embattled 350-room Coco Palms hotel development is facing a new legal challenge.
Kaua‘i community group I Ola Wailuanui filed a lawsuit last month against the state Board of Land and Natural Resources and the developers behind the project, arguing recently renewed BLNR permits granted to a defunct LLC without the typically required environmental impact statements. The suit calls for an environmental assessment of the area.
“We want to address the process and the way things get done in Hawai‘i as it relates to leases and land issues. Those are basically capacity issues,” said former County Council Member Mason Chock, a member of the group filing suit.
“The bigger question is — is the use of those lands they are so readily giving out in accordance with our plans as a community?” said Chock. “We have to stop perpetuating this disservice to our future by not having our board better equipped to make decisions and manage our resources.”
At an October meeting, the BLNR renewed three permits to a corporate entity named Coco Palms Venture LLC, granting them the right to use three parcels of state-owned lands in their planned resort development.
The Coco Palms property has been owned by a shifting collection of similarly named LLCs, including Coco Palms Venture. In 2016, the BLNR canceled permits granted to Coco Palms Venture to transfer them to new owners, the failed project led by developers Tyler Green and Chad Waters under the name Coco Palms Hui LLC.
The title is now held by an corporate entity named RP21 Coco Palms LLC, led by the Utah-based Reef Capital Partners. It is being transferred to a new development team led by Utah-based Victor Kimball and Mitchell Burton. The new owners could not be reached to discuss the lawsuit on Friday.
The BLNR October meeting report said their paperwork would be updated to include the new ownership. The report also notes they would continue to explore the possibility of selling the lease at public auction. The board further increased the rent on the parcels by 3 percent, in line with their action on most other leases. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said it would not comment on pending litigation.
A cultural center
Originally built in the 1940s, the iconic Coco Palms site operated as a hotel until it was destroyed in Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992. Since that time, it has seen several attempts at development as a new resort — all of which sputtered out before getting off the ground.
I Ola Wailuanui hopes to buy the property from its current owners, who have expressed a willingness to entertain offers. They intend to build a low environmental impact Native Hawaiian cultural center on the site.
Assistant Professor of Hawaiian Studies at Kaua‘i Community College Puali‘ili‘imaikalani Rossi-Fukino, a member of the group, advocated for an approach that takes the cultural significance of the area into account.
“Wailua is without a doubt one of the most significant (sites) on the island in terms of its cultural, political, religious and social influences on the rest of the islands,” said Rossi-Fukino. “There are so many stories that are focused on Wailua, and a lot of cultural heroes who have some sort of ancestral ties to Wailua.”
The Coco Palms property features nearby he‘iau (temples), a significant birthing site known as Holoholoku, iwi kupuna (ancestral burial sites), loko i‘a (fishponds) and sites previously used for navigation and astronomy. Several of these important historical locations are located on the state parcels addressed in the lawsuit.
“Part of our vision is restoring cultural sites that haven’t been used properly in generations, but still can be restored and used in the way they were meant to be used,” said Rossi-Fukino. “I know Kaua‘i needs this type of community center we are envisioning. Having a cultural center there that can be used for generations, to give people the ability to learn things that our kupuna, or ancestors, wanted us to know.”
Making this vision a reality will be a Herculean task.
The property was most recently purchased at auction for $21 million, and may be valued significantly higher. The group estimates the total cost needed to develop and maintain the property as a cultural center could be in the $50 million range.
In a Facebook post in late October, the group reported it has raised $200,000 from community-driven donations and are attempting to confirm anchor donors.
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Guthrie Scrimgeour, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-0329 or gscrimgeour@thegardenisland.com.
A lot of wishful thinking in this article. It will be interesting to see how this new group will secure the many millions of dollars it will take to purchase and develop the property as they envision.
On a side note, it would be nice if Guthrie Scrimgeour learned that an LLC is not a corporation, but rather a Limited Liability Company. Posting errors such as this undermines confidence in everything you report.
Finally someone is writing about the financial aspect of this property. $200,000 raised so far with a need for $50,000,000. How about charging every resident $700 ? Or $60/month for a year ?
Last year the County Council invoked eminent domain to condemn the private property of a landowner in Kilauea in order to build affordable housing. It was a terrible precedent, but if used anywhere, it seems applicable to the Koko Palms mess.
I agree. This nonsense has been going on since 1992. Eminent domain, bulldoze it all. Turn it into a park. A lot of broken dreams that were well intended just did not work out. In the end nature is slowly taking it back. Humans need to make that process happen a little faster. Use it for good.
The biggest issues with the development problems are with the county. Money to spend is everywhere and the location is highly desirable. The county hoops are impossible let alone the 1 year waiting for the approval process to even be looked at. Then another 2-3 years for the environmental impact survey to be completed. If and when approved it would be 5-10 years before the first concrete truck was allowed to pour. Starts with the county and ends with the county.
Who’s going to pay for EIS? You can get that information from me. It’s a garbage dumb. The land is on sewage spilled water and certainly investing in a hotel like coco palms hotel will point to only heartache and eventual bankruptcy if the state don’t take over. Similar situation is Aloha Stadium Honolulu. DAGS. It was foreclosed on after being built in 1976. This turned out a fiasco. No longer around because the reason for its existence is gone. Nobody cares about supporting a college football team. In the same light, nobody cares about Kaua’i’s name of a hotel to attract more visitors here. Capitalism. The rich moves on. And they don’t stay here just for a name as coco palms hotel.
How many people on this county council played high school football? 3. Mason Chock and Billy Decosta and also Bernard Carvalho who also played UH football in 1979. Do you think the bank will pay them the money that you see on TGI news? That would be stealing money because just these three alone calls for skepticism on what they are really worth, money wise. That in itself already makes them garbage news on Kaua’i. The airport runway is only going to be extended because the right people are there. With these three people in office, red tape because already not qualified and too stupid.
Several years ago, the county council brought it up. No money. No experience. No education. Just for representing the average Joe. If you’re one of the many property owners paying taxes, vote no on this fiasco.