LIHUE — A hearing to determine probable cause of violations regarding permitting conditions of the Coco Palms development was deferred Tuesday at the Planning Commission meeting.
The issue will be discussed at the Nov. 13 meeting.
At the Sept. 12 meeting, Planning Director Mike Dahilig petitioned for a contested case due to alleged permitting violations by the developers.
Developers Tyler Greene and Chad Waters, principals of Coco Palms Hui LLC, the economic arm of the development, were not present at Tuesday’s meeting, but attorney Jon Pang represented them.
Dahilig requested the deferral due to potential modifications or adjustments to the conditions to rectify the violations reported by the department.
“We would like to request the ability to do an informal process to negotiate any potential modifications to the permits,” he said.
Pang said they submitted testimonies in response to the contested case.
“Coco Palms Hui feels that it has complied with the conditions but recognizing that the Planning Department has some concerns over that so we decided that it would be better if we could work something out with the department to just get on the same page,” he said.
No written arguments have been submitted, Dahilig said.
For the past 18 months, the reconstruction and development of the resort, shuttered since 1992 after sustaining damages from Hurricane Iniki, became tumultuous when some indigenous Hawaiian activists moved onto the property.
At last week’s Kauai County Council committee meeting, Greene told councilmembers the court cases delayed the project.
Now that court proceedings are over, Greene said they’re looking at completing the project by the end of 2020, but in many Facebook posts, Noa Mau-Espirito, one of the defendants in the case, says they are still in the appeals process.
Once completed, the $145 million project is slated to boast 350 guest rooms, 12,00 square feet of retail space, three leisure areas and a four-acre cultural center.
Mau-Espirito and several supporters attended the meeting.
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Bethany Freudenthal, Crime, courts and county reporter, 652-7891, bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com
