Twenty-nine years ago on Sept. 11, 1992, Hurricane ‘Iniki, the most powerful storm to strike Hawai‘i in recorded history, demolished much of Kaua‘i, including that property formerly known as the Coco Palms Hotel.
While the rest of us have rebuilt and moved on, the various and continuously changing amorphous owners of this property, unfortunately, have not. They have instead continued to offer hollow promises, waste the time of our county government, disrespect our community goodwill and desecrate what is arguably one of the most culturally significant lands on our island.
On Tuesday, Sept. 28, the owners/developers are scheduled to continue the charade and present a “status update” to the Kaua‘i Planning Commission.
It’s a shame that our volunteer planning commissioners, our paid professional planning staffers, and the general public, must waste our valuable time yet once again on this.
The “auction on the courthouse steps” occurred less than two months ago, on July 26, with TGI reporting that Private Capital Group, “a Utah-based, short-term loan-servicing company” was the successful bidder at $22.231 million.
It will be interesting to see who shows up purporting to speak for the owner/developer. They will no doubt utilize their by-now well-polished double-speak to reassure the Planning Commission that everything is on track.
Perhaps they will claim the proverbial new buyer is waiting in the wings to step forward to purchase and develop the property, if only the existing permits can remain in place. They will, of course, pay lip service to the cultural and historical importance of the place, and make still more promises to honor and preserve the same.
While Hurricane ‘Iniki occurred in 1992, the original Coco Palms Hotel which the developers are attempting to utilize as their “footprint,” was built in 1953. This means the developers are attempting to utilize not just pre-Hurricane ‘Iniki permit standards from 29 years ago but, actually, those standards in place when the hotel was first constructed nearly 70 years ago.
This makes no sense at all.
So many factors have changed over the past 29 to 70 years (pick your number). The coastline has changed, our population has grown and, of course, the highway and traffic flow has dramatically increased.
The hope of many in the community is that the Planning Commission and the county will soon begin the process to revoke their permits and pull the plug. Enough is enough. At the minimum, the new owners should be forced to demolish the existing structures first, before even asking for new permits based on today’s planning and building standards.
The lands we are discussing are literally the birthplace of Hawaiian royalty. There are ancient fishponds and uncountable iwi kupuna buried beneath the sands now covered by broken-down buildings. Though my ancestors are not from these lands, my blood boils when I think of how they have been treated over the past decades.
Please email your thoughts, hopes and dreams to our Planning Commission today. They, I am sure, share our frustration and want very much to do the right thing. The email address is planningdepartment@kauai.gov *Attention Planning Commission, Coco Palms.
For an alternative viewpoint opposing the development of a hotel and instead focused on community ownership based on a community vision, please visit wailuanui.org. Full disclosure: I am a member of the I Ola Wailuanui Working Group. If you share this vision and want to help, please join us.
Yes, I have a bias. Kaua‘i is my home and I am oh so tired of watching the desecration and feeling the disrespect.
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Gary Hooser is the former vice-chair of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and served eight years in the state Senate, where he was majority leader. He also served for eight years on the Kaua‘i County Council, and was the former director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control. He serves in a volunteer capacity as board president of the Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action and is executive director of the Pono Hawai‘i Initiative.
Unfortunately, the hotel never recovered. And never got back its glory days as it once was in the 1970s. Don Ho’s “Tiny bubbles, in the wine, make me happy, make me feel fine. Make me warm all over.” Anybody here want to pay higher property taxes because you got a hotel opening up? No. Then stop the building of it right now. Leave it alone. Let things rot. Get rid of it means leave it alone.
I just hope no one is planning a fancy house of worship by the new owners.
Surely you have other things to gripe about Gary.
save the coco palms
Where was the push for this when you had a county seat Gary? Oh right. Pushing other agendas….but now that his daily living is affected by traffic since he lives in homesteads…..
ThinkKauai- you are correct and I voted no. I was the only no vote on the council when this developer was granted the special Iniki permit exception. So…I am being consistent.
Gary,gary,gARY…wtpquboi!., check with the PMRF for 2022 completed, via CSPAN3 video coverage, Kauai 2018 1.2 Billion $ receipt, Ballistic Missile and Radar!
Right??? Seems he thinks that he’s being “culturally respectful” by snuggling up to leftist demoncats and true Hawai’ian descendants, who btw folks, are the only ones who have rights to own and live on the Aina…. these ongoing letters from a former Kauai county corporation member is insulting and I stand with you Aunty…. Rid the Military from our shores is #1 priority for the survival and reparations of Hawai’Ian Kingdom…. many wish we would just be ignored so that they can delude themselves into the lies that rich white people have taught our keiki for generations.
The cat is out of the bag now….
Show your mark of the beast and stand in line with the masks to hide your pain…. the enemy is winning!!!
Coco Palms is a hazard and should have been red-tagged and demo’d decades ago. That the County is so incompetent/craven to allow obviously hazardous structures to remain is beyond rational comprehension. But bureaucrats will be bureaucrats – kick the can, refuse to make a decision as long as possible is the qge-old standard bureaucratic response (because once a decision is made you can be criticized for your incompetence – and for Gov’t Lifers, that’s a fate worse than losing your pension!).
As such, we can expect the County and our so-called elected representative to bury their heads in the sand yet again, making a mockery of good governance.
How did that meeting go now that its october?