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Koke'e cabin permits extended
by Amanda C. Gregg - Special to The Garden Island
KOKE'E - The state has extended revocable permits for Koke'e cabin leaseholders for another year with at least 90 day’s eviction notice, a small victory for lessees, a Kaua'i resident yesterday said.
That decision offers some respite for Koke'e leaseholders, as the Department of Land and Natural Resources has also promised to consider input from the community prior to deciding whether to auction the leases to the highest bidder.
Approximately 30 leaseholding plaintiffs, represented by Dan Hempey, a Lihu'e attorney, had filed suit asserting their constitutional rights were being violated because the state was taking the cabins without offering them compensation. The state had argued the owners agreed to forfeit the cabins upon lease expiration.
Fifth Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe ruled in December 2006 that leaseholding plaintiffs were not entitled to compensation according to certain terms of the 1985, 20-year land leases on which the cabins sit.
That lease expiration date was set at the end of 2005, which, with Watanabe’s ruling, meant the ownership of the cabins after that time could revert to the state. That decision is pending appeal in the Hawai'i Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Another group of leaseholders represented by O'ahu attorney Anthony Locricchio had its case dismissed by Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano earlier this year. Locricchio hasn’t filed any appeal or filed new actions, according to an electronic court document search.
The DLNR decision to renew the leases came after Friday’s testimony from Koke'e leaseholders at the state’s land board meeting, during which time boardmembers made an open promise to come to Kaua'i within the next four months to discuss final plans for the disposition of Koke'e cabins.
The state backed off its previous plans to give Koke'e leaseholders a six- month revocable permit with 30 day’s eviction notice. Several leaseholders had argued the state wouldn’t be ready to put the cabins up for auction within that amount of time and that the timeline could force leaseholders who end up retaining ownership of the cabins to have to move twice.
Cabin leaseholder Donn Carswell testified the six month revocable permit would have caused “undue penalty” to residents. Carswell said an incumbent bidding on his own cabin being forced to vacate is unfair. The reason it is unfair, he said, is because it could force the incumbent to have to move twice.
“That’s just going to leave it empty and subject to mold and mildew and vandalism,” he said. “Can you imagine 96 empty cabins?”
Carswell also alluded to the 1985 auction and said at that time incumbents weren’t obligated to move until ownership was determined.
Among other plaintiffs is Frank Hay, who in 1975 bought a one-bedroom, 600-square-foot cabin in Koke'e for $16,500.
Hay, as well as other leaseholders, claims he upheld his property interests and terms of ownership, which includes having paid 30 years of taxes on the cabin, paying rent to the state for the land and maintaining the structure.
In this case, the 100 cabins collectively are worth several million dollars.
Hempey said since ownership of the cabins is still at issue on appeal, the state would be taking risk by leasing them to new lessees before the Supreme Court has ruled.
• Amanda C. Gregg, assistant editor/staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or agregg@kauaipubco.com.
That decision offers some respite for Koke'e leaseholders, as the Department of Land and Natural Resources has also promised to consider input from the community prior to deciding whether to auction the leases to the highest bidder.
Approximately 30 leaseholding plaintiffs, represented by Dan Hempey, a Lihu'e attorney, had filed suit asserting their constitutional rights were being violated because the state was taking the cabins without offering them compensation. The state had argued the owners agreed to forfeit the cabins upon lease expiration.
Fifth Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe ruled in December 2006 that leaseholding plaintiffs were not entitled to compensation according to certain terms of the 1985, 20-year land leases on which the cabins sit.
That lease expiration date was set at the end of 2005, which, with Watanabe’s ruling, meant the ownership of the cabins after that time could revert to the state. That decision is pending appeal in the Hawai'i Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Another group of leaseholders represented by O'ahu attorney Anthony Locricchio had its case dismissed by Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano earlier this year. Locricchio hasn’t filed any appeal or filed new actions, according to an electronic court document search.
The DLNR decision to renew the leases came after Friday’s testimony from Koke'e leaseholders at the state’s land board meeting, during which time boardmembers made an open promise to come to Kaua'i within the next four months to discuss final plans for the disposition of Koke'e cabins.
The state backed off its previous plans to give Koke'e leaseholders a six- month revocable permit with 30 day’s eviction notice. Several leaseholders had argued the state wouldn’t be ready to put the cabins up for auction within that amount of time and that the timeline could force leaseholders who end up retaining ownership of the cabins to have to move twice.
Cabin leaseholder Donn Carswell testified the six month revocable permit would have caused “undue penalty” to residents. Carswell said an incumbent bidding on his own cabin being forced to vacate is unfair. The reason it is unfair, he said, is because it could force the incumbent to have to move twice.
“That’s just going to leave it empty and subject to mold and mildew and vandalism,” he said. “Can you imagine 96 empty cabins?”
Carswell also alluded to the 1985 auction and said at that time incumbents weren’t obligated to move until ownership was determined.
Among other plaintiffs is Frank Hay, who in 1975 bought a one-bedroom, 600-square-foot cabin in Koke'e for $16,500.
Hay, as well as other leaseholders, claims he upheld his property interests and terms of ownership, which includes having paid 30 years of taxes on the cabin, paying rent to the state for the land and maintaining the structure.
In this case, the 100 cabins collectively are worth several million dollars.
Hempey said since ownership of the cabins is still at issue on appeal, the state would be taking risk by leasing them to new lessees before the Supreme Court has ruled.
• Amanda C. Gregg, assistant editor/staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or agregg@kauaipubco.com.
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Ronald Pray wrote on Oct 17, 2009 5:14 AM:
I am a former U.S. Coast Guard Search and rescue team member at Barbers Point. I never read the scathing November 28 article about a rescue I did in 1977 while on leave.
In November of 1977 I had visited Kauai on leave and hiked the Na Pali coast to go camping. On the trail I saw some hikers in front of me ignore the cries of a man saying he was poisoned by mushrooms he had eaten. I know that there are many poisonous varieties from the orange mushrooms to the copelandia varieties which are deadly. I stopped and he was vomitting and telling me that he was dying. I laid my sleeping bag down onto the ground and made him comfortable then lit my coleman stove and cooked him soup to eat. He ate the soup and continued vomitting. He said that he needed immediate attention. I ecouraged him to vommit everything out of his stomache.
I asked him if he would be OK while I ran back to Haena for help and he said please do that.
I ran from his location sometimes skipping the zig-zags in the trails steep inclines jumping straight down to the trail below. I had injured my Achilles tendon by twisting my ankle which put me on light duty upon returning to Barbers Point.
I then knocked on the first door I found and asked them to contact the U.S. Coast Guard that there was a man stranded on the trail who needed immediate attention.
The Fire Department went in on the trail and found the man walking out on his own. This is why the writer in 1977 claimed that I had misread the situation and that is why he called my rescue "The Rescue that wasn't". I believe that had that man died, his death would have been on my ticket and given that rescuing folks was my business I had a responsibility to perform.
We may never know what part my inducing vomiting played in the recovery of this man. I'd like to believe that it played a major role in his quick recovery.
I am proud that I stood for the highest traditions of the U.S. Coast Guard on that fateful day on the Na Pali Coast.To this day, I have a lump in my Achilles Tendon which hurts on certain days to remind me of that day I ran into that man.
Malama Pono,
Former 3rd Class Petty Officer Ronald Pray "