THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	148
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE LEGISLATURE THAT THE STATE SHOULD immediately COMMENCE EMINENT DOMAIN PROCEEDINGS FOR KUKUI GARDENS.

     WHEREAS, Kukui Gardens is a large, affordable housing complex located on twenty-two acres of land in Palama, City and County of Honolulu; and

     WHEREAS, Kukui Gardens is comprised of eight hundred fifty-seven affordable units, housing approximately two thousand five hundred residents; and

     WHEREAS, because the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development assisted in financing the development of the Kukui Gardens complex, there was a condition that the lease rents meet certain affordability levels for a minimum of forty years; and

     WHEREAS, the forty-year period expires on May 1, 2011; and

     WHEREAS, in January 2006, the joint legislative housing and homeless task force expressed concern that the inventory of affordable housing in Hawaii was being reduced; and

     WHEREAS, on July 7, 2006, Governor Lingle signed House Bill No. 2239, C.D. 1, into law as Act 288; and

     WHEREAS, Act 288, required the State to immediately begin negotiations with the owner of Kukui Gardens, Kukui Gardens Corporation, to either extend the affordability restrictions an additional five years beyond the May 1, 2011, date or acquire the property; and

     WHEREAS, Act 288 further requires that if neither of the foregoing objectives can be accomplished within a reasonable time, the State shall exercise its power of eminent domain to acquire Kukui Gardens and use it for the public purpose of providing affordable workforce housing; and

     WHEREAS, other factors being equal, the value of Kukui Gardens will increase as the date of the end of the affordability restrictions approaches on May 1, 2011; and

     WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of all residents of the State to maintain a supply of affordable housing units; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that it is the sense of this body that a reasonable time has elapsed under the language of Act 288 for negotiating either a five-year extension of the affordability restrictions at Kukui Gardens or acquiring it; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the sense of this body that the State should immediately exercise its power of eminent domain and commence condemnation proceedings to acquire Kukui Gardens; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Eminent Domain; Kukui Gardens