HB3039

Report Title:

Hawaii Community Development Authority; Public Lands

Description:

Prohibits HCDA from alienating any lands it holds title to or any public lands it controls for development by a private developer.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	3039
TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to hawaii community development authority.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. After publicly soliciting proposals from the private section for the development of thirty-six and a half acres of waterfront land at Kakaako-makai, surrounding and to the east of Kewalo basin, the Hawaii community development authority selected a proposal by Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. for the development. This privately financed proposal included the development of: three twenty-story condominiums containing nine hundred forty-seven units to be sold in fee; a commercial village containing restaurants, retail shops and public parking; and a public oceanfront amphitheater for hula and other cultural events, and the expansion of the existing park.

Immediate community concern vigorously opposed the use of any public land for what is viewed as expensive private residences, even though the State would be paid for the land and twenty per cent of the units developed are to be sold at affordable prices. The private developer explained that the residential component of the development was the financial engine that would allow the rest of the development to be developed without the expenditure of public funds.

In response to the community concerns, Alexander & Baldwin eliminated one of the proposed residential towers; however, community concerns remains unabated for the last remaining oceanfront public lands in urban Oahu. Once the irreplaceable oceanfront lands are developed, they are lost in perpetuity.

The purpose of this Act is to prohibit the Hawaii community development authority from alienating any land it holds title to or other public lands it controls.

SECTION 2. Section 206E-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§206E-4 Powers; generally[.]; prohibition on alienation of lands. (a) Except as otherwise limited by this chapter, the authority may:

(1) Sue and be sued;

(2) Have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;

(3) Make and execute contracts and all other instruments necessary or convenient for the exercise of its powers and functions under this chapter;

(4) Make and alter bylaws for its organization and internal management;

(5) Make rules with respect to its projects, operations, properties, and facilities, which rules shall be in conformance with chapter 91;

(6) Through its executive director appoint officers, agents, and employees, prescribe their duties and qualifications, and fix their salaries, without regard to chapter 76;

(7) Prepare or cause to be prepared a community development plan for all designated community development districts;

(8) Acquire, reacquire, or contract to acquire or reacquire by grant or purchase real, personal, or mixed property or any interest therein; to own, hold, clear, improve, and rehabilitate, and to sell, assign, exchange, transfer, convey, lease, or otherwise dispose of or encumber the same;

(9) Acquire or reacquire by condemnation real, personal, or mixed property or any interest therein for public facilities, including but not limited to streets, sidewalks, parks, schools, and other public improvements;

(10) By itself, or in partnership with qualified persons, acquire, reacquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, alter, or repair or provide for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration, or repair of any project; own, hold, sell, assign, transfer, convey, exchange, lease, or otherwise dispose of or encumber any project, and in the case of the sale of any project, accept a purchase money mortgage in connection therewith; and repurchase or otherwise acquire any project which the authority has theretofore sold or otherwise conveyed, transferred, or disposed of;

(11) Arrange or contract for the planning, replanning, opening, grading, or closing of streets, roads, roadways, alleys, or other places, or for the furnishing of facilities or for the acquisition of property or property rights or for the furnishing of property or services in connection with a project;

(12) Grant options to purchase any project or to renew any lease entered into by it in connection with any of its projects, on such terms and conditions as it deems advisable;

(13) Prepare or cause to be prepared plans, specifications, designs, and estimates of costs for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, alteration, or repair of any project, and from time to time to modify such plans, specifications, designs, or estimates;

(14) Provide advisory, consultative, training, and educational services, technical assistance, and advice to any person, partnership, or corporation, either public or private, in order to carry out the purposes of this chapter, and engage the services of consultants on a contractual basis for rendering professional and technical assistance and advice;

(15) Procure insurance against any loss in connection with its property and other assets and operations in such amounts and from such insurers as it deems desirable;

(16) Contract for and accept gifts or grants in any form from any public agency or from any other source;

(17) Do any and all things necessary to carry out its purposes and exercise the powers given and granted in this chapter; and

(18) Allow satisfaction of any affordable housing requirements imposed by the authority upon any proposed development project through the construction of reserved housing, as defined in section 206E-101, by a person on land located outside the geographic boundaries of the authority's jurisdiction. Such substituted housing shall be located on the same island as the development project and shall be substantially equal in value to the required reserved housing units that were to be developed on site. The authority shall establish the following priority in the development of reserved housing:

(A) Within the community development district;

(B) Within areas immediately surrounding the community development district;

(D) In outlying areas within the same island as the development project.

The Hawaii community development authority shall adopt rules relating to the approval of reserved housing that are developed outside of a community development district. The rules shall include, but are not limited to, the establishment of guidelines to ensure compliance with the above priorities.

(b) Anything to the contrary notwithstanding, unless authorized by concurrent resolution by the legislature, the authority may not sell, assign, transfer, convey, exchange, lease, or otherwise dispose of or encumber any parcel of undeveloped land or developed land that it holds title to in its corporate capacity or any real property or other public lands, developed or undeveloped, that it controls to a private developer to be developed or redeveloped or refurbished.

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that this Act shall apply retroactively and be applicable to any transaction entered into by the Hawaii community development authority and any other person or entity subsequent to January 18, 2006.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________