HILO, Hawai‘i — A plan by Hawai‘i County to take private land in Puna in order to restore Pohoiki Road has gone to court.
In June, the Hawai‘i County Council approved the use of eminent domain — the power of a government to seize private property for public use with due compensation to the owner — to access a pair of parcels so construction work to reopen the long-closed road can begin.
The Department of Public Works has negotiated agreements with most property owners along either side of Pohoiki Road — which was closed in 2018 after it was covered by lava during the Kilauea eruption — allowing the county to use small portions of their land along the road’s shoulders for widening work, grading and slope cutback.
Only one property owner, Kapoho Land and Development Co. Ltd, has refused, leaving two gaps in the project’s coverage.
While the two parcels represent a sizable tract of land, totaling 660 acres, the county is only seeking the use of a small fraction of the two, measuring less than an acre in all.
Despite this, A. Lono Lyman, a manager for Kapoho Land and Development, did not come to an agreement with the county and claimed the county had not reached out to him to negotiate an agreement in the first place.
Department of Public Works Director Steve Pause said in June that he had had discussions with Lyman, but added that a letter Lyman sent to Mayor Mitch Roth that month included several unspecified conditions for the use of the land that Pause ultimately found unworkable.
In lieu of an agreement, the council moved to allow the eminent domain process to go forward.
Sherilyn Tavares, an attorney with the Corporation Counsel’s Office, said the county on July 8 filed a civil case against Kapoho Land and Development.
“Sometimes, this process can go quickly, because the landowners are willing to (cooperate),” Tavares said. “But in this case, it’s my understanding that the landowner has retained his own legal counsel.”
Lyman, a former county planning director, previously told the Tribune-Herald he intended to put up a legal fight, noting that he had successfully defended himself from lawsuits during his county career.
Tavares, who is the plaintiff representing the county in the case, said the matter has been assigned to Judge Peter Kubota, but added that no court dates have been scheduled yet.
Tavares filed a motion for a court order that would put the county in possession of the land on July 19, but no follow-up has taken place.
