Bill to ban private neigborhoods set to return to council floor by Nathan Eagle – THE GARDEN ISLAND A stalled plan to ban gated communities should return to County Council’s agenda by the end of February, Mayor Bryan Baptiste said
Bill to ban private neigborhoods set to return to council floor
by Nathan Eagle – THE GARDEN ISLAND
A stalled plan to ban gated communities should return to County Council’s agenda by the end of February, Mayor Bryan Baptiste said yesterday.
“It’s not a public safety issue to me,” he said. “It’s so we don’t isolate ourselves from each other.”
His administration proposed the legislation more than two years ago, but legal questions have played a role in preventing it from moving forward.
Past and present county attorneys have signed off on it, Baptiste said.
But critics — such as David Callies, a professor at the University of Hawai‘i William S. Richardson School of Law — have said that excluding the public from private land is a constitutional right protected under the Fifth Amendment.
County Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura introduced the bill by request on Oct. 6, 2005. It passed on first reading.
Specifically, the law would prohibit the construction of gates that prevent access to private roads that are required to be designed and constructed to county standards and which serve five or more lots or dwelling units.
The proposed bill would also ban guard stations or other means of restricting public access across private roads.
Close interaction among neighbors of varying financial and ethnic backgrounds strengthens communities and fosters a greater society, the mayor said.
When people share more than just casual conversation, “we tend to get to know each other as human beings and not by our socio-economic or racial stereotypes,” he continued
There are at least two gated communities on Kaua‘i — one overlooks Nawiliwili Harbor, another is in Kilauea.
However, the largest land development project on the South Shore will not include fences or gates, Kukui‘ula Development Co. President Richard Holtzman has said.
Although the 1,500 homes will be unaffordable to most residents — lots start at $900,000 — the entire 1,010-acre property will remain open to the public, he said.
The development’s park, hiking trails and shopping center will be accessible, and the Kukui‘ula residents will be encouraged to engage in the surrounding community.
“It was purposefully built as an open community,” said Sheila Donnelly Theroux, Kukui‘ula spokeswoman.
But the development could be affected by the mayor’s proposed prohibition against guard stations.
The company’s Web site states that some of the neighborhoods within Kukui‘ula may have “controlled access or a greeter house staffed as a part of the individual community guidelines.”
Kukui‘ula may not be quite as integrated as the mayor envisions, but it could be worse.
When separated, Baptiste said, “it creates an ‘us and them’ mentality.”
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
