HCR266

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	266
TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TO COLLABORATE WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO PURSUE ON A PRIORITY BASIS THE RELOCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII MARINE CENTER FROM THE FORMER KAPALAMA MILITARY RESERVATION, HONOLULU HARBOR.

WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation has jurisdiction over Honolulu Harbor as provided under chapter 266, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

WHEREAS, the mission of the Department of Transportation is to provide a safe, efficient, accessible, and inter-modal transportation system that ensures and preserves economic prosperity and the quality of life; and

WHEREAS, nearly eighty per cent of all goods used in our State is imported, and of this amount, 98.6 per cent is brought through the commercial harbor system; and

WHEREAS, Honolulu Harbor represents the primary port for the movement of cargo and the operation of passenger cruise vessels into and out of the State; and

WHEREAS, the inter-island system of cargo distribution that is based from Honolulu Harbor is the principal means by which neighbor island communities receive and export their cargo and Honolulu Harbor is the hub from which goods are consolidated and distributed to the neighbor islands; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that maritime lands are a valuable, especially critical, and finite resource of the State; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation's Oahu Commercial Harbors 2020 Master Plan projects that Honolulu Harbor will reach maximum capacity to handle domestic cargo by the year 2011 unless additional cargo processing terminals are developed and placed into use; and

WHEREAS, the Oahu Commercial Harbors 2020 master plan further identified the former Kapalama Military Reservation property as its primary area for redevelopment of expansion lands for maritime use; and

WHEREAS, the former Kapalama Military Reservation was purchased by the State from the federal government with the express purpose of redeveloping the property to expand cargo handling operations in Honolulu Harbor; and

WHEREAS, both the Department of Transportation and the Hawaii Harbors Users Group, a nonprofit maritime transportation industry organization, have identified the redevelopment of the former Kapalama Military Reservation as the number one long-term priority for Honolulu Harbor; and

WHEREAS, the first key step toward redevelopment of the former Kapalama Military Reservation is to relocate the University of Hawaii Marine Center, which currently holds at gratis, a long term lease of approximately seventeen acres along the harbor frontage from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; and

WHEREAS, the area held by the University of Hawaii Marine Center is crucial for pier development to berth cargo ships that will support the new cargo terminal; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation has offered the University of Hawaii Marine Center a relocation area within Honolulu Harbor; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources is cognizant of the initial legislative intent behind the purchase of the former Kapalama Military Reservation and is being kept apprised by the Department of Transportation of its efforts to acquire the University of Hawaii Marine Center parcel from the Department of Land and Natural Resources for the purpose of accommodating the development and expansion of the Honolulu Harbor; and

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii Marine Center is aware of the long-standing goal of relocating it for the purpose of expansion of maritime operations but has expressed concerns that the expansion not impede the ability for it to continue its important research programs that require berthing and land based facilities; and

WHEREAS, the relocation of the University of Hawaii Marine Center must be accomplished on a priority basis in order to avoid a crisis situation for cargo handling capacity by the year 2011; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the University of Hawaii is requested to collaborate with the Department of Transportation on a priority basis to effectuate the relocation of the University of Hawaii Marine Center; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of Hawaii and the Department of Transportation are requested to report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007 on the progress toward the relocation of the University of Hawaii Marine Center; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Director of Transportation, the Chair of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, and the President and the Chairperson of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

UH; Marine Center