Neighbors complain about Waiohai’s proposed 7-year construction plan

LIHU’E — A frazzled Bully Freitas, who since 1994 has lived next door to a

construction site, appeared before the Kaua’i Planning Commission yesterday to

let commissioners know what it will be like for neighbors of the Waiohai if its

proposed seven-year reconstruction plan is approved.

The way the

reconstruction of the Kaua’i Inn in Niumalu has dragged on, Freitas predicted

at least two more years of “chaos” before the Inn is completed.

Owners and

managers of the Kiahuna Plantation Resort have other issues regarding the

Marriott Waiohai Beach Club’s proposed build-as-you-sell concept, where

construction would be completed in several phases timed to the sale of

timeshare units.

With an estimated seven-year schedule of on-and-off- again

construction, the adjacent Kiahuna Plantation Resort will be financially

harmed, Kiahuna officials said.

“We at Kiahuna will experience a negative

(financial) impact in either scenario,” said Jim Hill, Kiahuna Plantation

general manager for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.

In a chart supplied to

the commission, Hill estimated losses of over $22 million if a phased

construction plan is approved versus about $6.5 million if a two-year, nonstop

construction process is implemented.

Marriott officials earlier told the

commission that they would not rebuild the Waiohai if a one- or two-phase

construction schedule was mandated by the commission. They are proposing a

four-phase schedule over a seven-year period.

“You can see that in the

phased analysis, this (financial) impact is extraordinary,” Hill said. “To

experience such a long period of financial loss will not be survivable by most

of our owners.”

Hill talked repeatedly about the “healing period,” or time

to recover financially from the impacts to his property of the Waiohai

construction.

Hill also talked about ocean views certain Kiahuna apartment

owners and guests enjoy, which will be obliterated or partially obstructed due

to the Waiohai’s proposed configuration plan.

The rebuilt Waiohai will be

only 60 feet away from Kiahuna’s Phase V, units, Hill said.

Marriott

officials proposed seven specific fixes during meetings with Kiahuna owners and

managers, but only two have been incorporated into plans, Hill said.

“We

want the Marriott development,” said Bob Cohen, a Kiahuna apartment owner, but

phased construction, and maybe even all-at-once building, may mean losses to

apartment owners that will leave them no choice but to sell or lose their

apartments.

Phase V units originally sold for around $175,000 and were

going for around $120,000 before Hurricane ‘Iniki. Prices were around $60,000

two years ago, and have only recently been creeping up into the $80,000 range,

Hill said.

“To be shut down for seven years is unacceptable,” said William

Gill, a Phase V apartment owner whose second-floor unit enjoys ocean views in

two directions.

If Gill, who said he could live with a two-year build-out

schedule, can rent out his apartment during the construction period, he’ll get

a very low rent which might not even pay for the taxes on the unit, he said. He

and his wife spend several weeks a year here, and eventually plan to live

full-time on the island.

He said he wondered what Marriott timeshare buyers

would feel like coming to the Waiohai for a vacation in a construction

zone.

ON-SITE BURIALS: Healani Trembath, Cheryl Lovell-Obatake and Anne M.

Donovan expressed concerns about burials on the Waiohai property, especially

since the developers plan to construct underground parking beneath many of the

timeshare apartment buildings.

Trembath, who for 10 years worked as a

concierge at the Waiohai, recalled several instances where unexplained sounds

were reported by guests and employees.

She compiled a list, then went

through the entire hotel with one of the construction workers who knew where

bones were discovered and either moved to another location or left in place to

be covered with concrete.

In each case, where the strange sounds were

reported were in areas known to contain bones, she said.

She advised not

disturbing bones that will inevitably be discovered during the tearing down of

the old Waiohai, and building of the new Marriott Waiohai Beach Club.

“They

don’t want to be moved. You wouldn’t want to be moved from your house,” she

said.

Lovell-Obatake, chair of the Kaua’i-Ni’ihau Island Burial Council,

said she thinks the existing hotel has disturbed most of the sacred sites and

burials on the property.

Donovan has asked the Marriott, through attorney

Max Graham, to explore the possibility of abandoning the underground parking

plan. Not only will the underground parking disturb burial sites, but it will

flood easily during high-wave, tsunami and hurricane conditions, she

said

At the request of the Marriott, the public hearing on the matter will

continue at the commission’s Thursday, Feb. 24 meeting.