HONOLULU — The Friends of Haiku Stairs have filed a new legal motion meant to stop the city’s planned demolition of the World War II-era staircase, above Haiku Valley and the H-3 freeway, in Kaneohe.
On Friday, the group filed “a request for an injunction pending appeal” with the 1st Circuit Court related to its rejected 2023 lawsuit, the first of two, in which an appeal was later sought, according to Justin Scorza, the Friends’ vice president.
“The law allows us to get an injunction pending that appeal,” Scorza told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser by phone. “So we just need an injunction to preserve the status quo, pending the appeal.”
According to the new injunction, “Plaintiffs-appellants … seek injunctive relief from the court due to the irreparable harm that will result from the impending actions that (the city’s) ongoing work to demolish the Haiku Stairs and the related procedural right to appeal that such demolition would foreclose.”
“Importantly, plaintiffs-appellants do not seek monetary compensation in this action and no amount of money could adequately compensate them, let alone the citizens of Oahu, for the damage to the environment and loss of this historic treasure,” the motion states. “Furthermore, the historical resource and recreational opportunity provided by the Stairs would be lost forever.”
Scorza said the court is tentatively scheduled to hear the group’s case June 21, but noted it could be heard as soon as this week.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration, which has called for the Haiku Stairs’ removal due to public safety concerns, city liability costs, trespassing and disturbances to nearby residents, said ongoing legal challenges won’t halt the city’s nearly $2.6 million demolition project.
“The city’s position on the removal of the Haiku Stairs has not changed, and work on the project to remove the stairs is currently underway,” Ian Scheuring, the mayor’s deputy communications director, told the Star- Advertiser via email.
The work to demolish the staircase — to be done by the contractor The Nakoa Cos. via a Hughes 500D helicopter and roughly a half-dozen ground workers set to remove 664 steel stair modules — is expected to take up to six months to complete, weather permitting, the city says.
Originally filed in August, the Friends’ prior 50-page complaint contended the city had not updated or completed necessary environmental impact studies required to demolish the stairs and had therefore violated basic Hawai‘i Environmental Protection Act rules.
But by February the Friends filed a notice of appeal in the Intermediate Court of Appeals to oppose 1st Circuit Judge John M. Tonaki’s December ruling granting a summary judgment on the city’s motion to dismiss the Friends’ lawsuit to block the removal of the Windward O‘ahu landmark.
The Friends’ latest legal action follows a suspended state-level hearing last week over a related appeals case involving the “Stairway to Heaven.”
The group’s appeal to the state Historic Places Review Board first involved a May 14 closed-door hearing to address the appeal of the state Historic Preservation Department, or SHPD, April 9 approval of the city’s planned demolition of what the Friends deem a protected, historic landmark.
Each side — SHPD, the city and the Friends — was given 30 minutes to present its case to the review board, according to Scorza.
The subsequent hearing was supposed to include the board’s final ruling in the matter by Friday.
But Scorza said their lawyer, Tim Vandeveer, and group president, Sean Pager, were later informed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources that the board’s hearing would not be held due to a member’s recusal from the proceedings.
In DLNR’s one-page, unsigned letter drafted May 23, it states that “this leaves the board without the minimum number of remaining members necessary to make a decision in this matter.”
“The board is therefore not able to do anything further in this non-judicial appeal until one or more additional members are appointed to the board,” DLNR’s letter states.
On May 30, state Deputy Attorney General Miranda Steed also informed Friends’ lawyer Vandeveer that the same meeting would not be held as planned, according to Scorza.
In an email sent Friday to the historic review board, Scorza wrote, “Yesterday, Deputy AG (Steed) informed our attorney … that the board will not be issuing a ruling due to lack of quorum. Will there be any official notice? I note that (Hawai‘i Administrative Rules) 13-275-8 requires the board to rule on our appeal by today (May 31).”
“I also understand that the chair’s term is expiring soon, preventing the possibility of any future quorum. Ultimately, these facts suggest that our appeal will be stuck in limbo indefinitely,” he wrote. “In light of the fact that the board is unable to respond to our appeal, as required by law, Friends of Haiku Stairs will suffer a complete denial of due process.”
“Therefore, we respectfully request that the board suspend the SHPD concurrence to preserve the status quo regarding the Stairs until such time as the board is able to meet quorum and issue a final ruling,” he wrote.
Toni Schwarz, a Department of Attorney General public information officer, told the Star-Advertiser that “after the May 14 hearing a board member consulted with the state Ethics Commission and was advised to recuse themselves from the board on this specific appeal.”
According to Scorza, the state historic review board — which is authorized for seven members — has only four serving members on the board as three vacan- cies remain unfilled by the governor.
“The review board is powerless until the governor appoints replacement board members,” he told the Star-Advertiser.
Meantime, the Friends’ fight to save the Haiku Stairs via legal actions has faltered.
On May 13, 1st Circuit Senior Environmental Judge Lisa W. Cataldo ruled to deny the Friends’ latest lawsuit — the second the group has filed in less than a year’s time — which requested the court grant a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the city’s removal of the stairs.
The judge disagreed with the merits of the group’s case, including their assertions that removal of the more than 3,900 stairs built along the sheer ridgeline of a 2,800-foot mountain would “irreparably harm” them.
Cataldo also determined the Friends “lack standing” to enforce any prior state-level land use agreement related to the Haiku Stairs, which now sit on City and County of Honolulu property and are closed to the public.
That same judge is now expected to review the group’s request for an injunction, Scorza said.
