LIHU‘E — A community group fighting to stop the construction of the Coco Palms Resort was awarded joint temporary access rights, along with the developer, for a small piece of disputed state land during a Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) meeting on Dec. 15.
The group, I Ola Wailuanui, aims to stop Utah developer Reef Capital Partners LLC from reconstructing the once-renowned Coco Palms Resort as a 350-room hotel that they aim to have completed by 2026.
The meeting surrounded three parcels of state-owned land adjacent to Reef Capital’s private property, totaling approximately 0.98 acres, which had been assigned to another previous developer and now-defunct entity, Coco Palms Ventures LLC.
The permits for the three parcels are set to be terminated on Dec. 31, a decision made during an Aug. 11 BLNR board meeting following allegations of several land use violations by Reef Capital Partners, including failure to maintain the premises, failure to submit annual reports, failure to pay property taxes and cutting down palm trees without consent.
The BLNR had said at the August meeting that the parcels could be reassigned to Reef Capital Partners, pending they meet obligations, while also giving the department time to evaluate requests for the parcels from competing applicants.
According to Reef Capital Partners, the parcels are planned to be used for parking, public restrooms, landscaping, management, and other construction operations at the site.
At the meeting, Reef Capital Partners’ attorney Mauna Kea Trask said being approved for the parcels will not jeopardize their plans for the hotel.
“But it could exacerbate (the hotel’s) impact on the public,” he said, emphasizing the parcels would help mitigate traffic.
At the Dec. 15 meeting, the board approved issuing both parties joint right access to the smallest parcel, measuring 460 square feet and estimated to cost $18,000, for a temporary one year period.
The other two parcels, measuring 0.12 acres and 0.855 acres, will go back before the board during their January 2024 meeting to allow time for I Ola Wailuanui’s application to be considered.
The decision was likely a surprise for Reef Capital Partners, whose representative, Shane Peters, had told The Garden Island before the meeting that “the expectation” was to receive approval for all three parcels.
Reef Capital Partners requested a lease term of the three parcels for 30 years, a plan that the board had submitted a recommendation of approval of before the meeting.
But the board heard from several members of the public who provided testimony against the development of the site due to traffic, flooding and environmental concerns, as well as its cultural significance.
Reef Capital Partners’ Chief Financial Officer John Day emphasized the cultural emphasis that would be placed on the rebuild, saying his team thinks of the site not as a development, “but a restoration of a property that’s on the Hawai‘i Register of National Historic Places.”
BLNR Board Chair Dawn Chang then asked Day about the coconut trees that his team had cut down, which were part of the historic property.
“Did you understand that the coconut trees that were cut down were part of the historic property and the historic nature and character of the property?” Chang said.
Day said at the time the trees were cut down, no one on his team knew the property had been on the historic register, as he had not been informed by the previous owner, who they foreclosed on in 2022.
Fern Holland, an I Ola Wailuanui board member and activist, said Day and his team were “speaking out of both sides of their mouth,” benefiting from claiming to be unaware of its historical significance while emphasizing it as his reason behind wanting to complete the project.
“It’s really interesting to me that on one hand, they speak out of one side of their mouth saying that we had no idea this property was historically registered,” she said. “Now their whole message and their whole narrative is we’re restoring the historical cultural site of Coco Palms.”
Holland also said Reef Capital Partners made the mistake of assuming they would be granted the rights to the three parcels of land.
“We’re looking at a Board of Land and Natural Resources that I think is thinking more holistically than we have in the past,” she said.
Holland also does not believe Reef Capital Partners claims that the three parcels, lying adjacent to the state-owned property, will not impact their construction plans.
“I’m not convinced that that’s the truth and neither are our lawyers,” she said, noting that the number of parking spaces they have depends on the number of rooms they can build.
“We’re not convinced that it doesn’t change their access entry points and their parking requirements by which their entire permit is based.”
Holland believes the decision on Friday brings I Ola Wailuanui a step closer to their ultimate goal of having the property turned into a Hawaiian cultural and education center, as well as an agricultural park.
At the meeting, Holland told the board her group has currently raised over $300,000 in pledges for purchases and has been working with financial institutions and angel donors to come up with an estimated more than $10 million needed to complete their aim for a historic restoration of the site.
Following the decision, Chang stated that entities interested in being assigned state land need to show a “demonstration of financial responsibility.”
In a statement following the announcement, Day said Reef Capital Partners was “grateful to the Board for approving the nonexclusive driveway easement to RP21 (Reef Capital Partners) to support potential traffic mitigation for the community.”
“We look forward to returning to the Board next year on the disposition of the remaining parcels, especially given our intent to provide public access and parking.”
Reef Capital Partners communications adviser Shane Peters said in an email response on Dec. 15 that their construction plan remains on track, with demolition set to start by the end of the year. However, he was unable to provide a specific date.
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached 808-652-0638 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
