A Koke‘e Leaseholders Association representative wants the state to issue new leases for 106 recreational cabin lots in Koke‘e and Waimea state parks rather than auction them off. In an e-mail to The Garden Island, Koke‘e cabin owner Frank O.
A Koke‘e Leaseholders Association representative wants the state to issue new leases for 106 recreational cabin lots in Koke‘e and Waimea state parks rather than auction them off.
In an e-mail to The Garden Island, Koke‘e cabin owner Frank O. Hay said the Board of Land and Natural Resources can apply a state law in leasing public lands for use in historic preservation and restoration projects.
Hay offered the options in response to action by the Land Board Wednesday approving an as-yet-funded concept for a new master plan for the Koke‘e and Waimea state parks.
The plans includes the termination of the leases for the recreational cabins, and a scenario in which a management company or a non-profit group could manage the cabins through a master lease.
Through the law, said Hay, the board can issue the leases under these conditions: Through negotiations and for a price to be determined by the board; the state Department of Land and Natural Resources shall adopt rules for historic preservation and restoration projects and all subleases shall be approved by the board.
“We would need a legal interpretation,” said DLNR spokeswoman Lauren Tanaka in response to Hay’s theory.
Application of Hay’s plan would apparently force the state to negotiate the leases with the current lessees, giving them the chance to continue using the cabins after December 2005, when most of the leases expire.
Tanaka said a cultural and historical survey was made of all the cabins, with the intention of placing them on the federal or state historic register, Tanaka said.
But even if the designations are applied to the cabins, there is no guarantee the leases would be renewed, Tanaka said. The current cabin leases are good for 20 years, and another state law requires that public land leases run no longer than that, she said.
Another option is having the holder of the master lease manage the bulk of the cabins, or possibly leasing some of the cabins on a “longer-term basis.” A public auction that could drive up the price of the leases is another option.
The approved master plan concept also calls for improvements that are intended to enhance the park over the next 20 years. Such improvements include a gate at the entry to the parks, charging of fees, construction of a visitor center and park headquarters and renovation of the Koke‘e Museum and the Koke‘e Lodge located at Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow in Koke‘e.
The bulk of the recreational leases expire in December 2005, but some members had voiced their preference for an extension of their leases.
In his e-mail yesterday, Hay said the majority of lessees would want the extension, but noted “this is simply not in the cards.”
Hay said that if an auction is imminent, “then our property rights in the cabins should be recognized.” “We built or bought them, and we are not giving them away to the state or a concessionaire without fair and reasonable compensation,” Hay said.
Hay said the leaseholders would not oppose an auction, provided “our rights to our cabins are respected.”
The state’s taking of the property “which we or our families either built or bought violates our constitutional rights,” Hay wrote.
And even if the taking of the property doesn’t violate the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, “it is morally and ethically wrong to take private property without compensation,” Hay wrote.
He said it is equally wrong to “require us to leave our cabins for the benefit of the state or a private concessionaire at the end the lease.”
Tanaka has said it was her understanding the lease agreements, consummated after a 1985 auction, stipulate the improvements, including the cabins, become property of the state if they are on the lot when the leases expire.
If the leaseholders have to give up their cabins, the incoming owners who won the leases should pay a fair price for them and the improvements, Hay said.
Hay also contended the master plan concept, if implemented, will turn the park complex into “a gated community for tourists.”
Such a situation could lead to widespread degradation of the parks and resources, Hay said. The parks are a state resource, and the DLNR would require, through a contract, the leaseholders, whoever they may be, to take care of the cabins, Tanaka said.
The proposed improvements are only that, and there are no funds at this time to build them, she has said, although funding could come from an operator for the master plan and the state Legislature.
None of the proposed improvements can be implemented unless they are put through an environmental review by the DLNR, have funding and are approved by the current DLNR board or future boards, Tanaka has said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
