STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2406

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2918

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Economic Development and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2918 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to transfer the property surrounding the Aloha Stadium to the Hawaii Community Development Authority and create the Halawa Community Development District.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, Windward Ahupua‘a Alliance, and two individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Community Development Authority and Aloha Stadium Authority.

     Your Committees find that over the years the Aloha Stadium has served as a preferred venue for major entertainment and recreational events, not just for sports but also for concert events.  As a central venue, the stadium is also a planned terminal point for the proposed rail transit system.  Your Committees are aware of additional opportunities to incorporate mixed use and transit-oriented development to strengthen the stadium and its surrounding properties as a self-sustaining premier venue for community gathering and major events.  Furthermore, in order to assist in the financing, it is your Committees' intent to add a dedicated development special or trust fund into which development monies may be deposited and not raided.

     Your Committees further find that the Public Land Development Corporation was created as an agency to develop public lands into suitable recreational and leisure centers where the public can congregate and where visitors can go as part of their vacation experience.  Accordingly, your Committees find that the Corporation would be the more appropriate state agency to oversee the development of the stadium and its surrounding areas.  However, your Committees are concerned with the operational and logistical issues that may adversely impact events held at the stadium, which has been successfully administered by the Stadium Authority.

Therefore, your Committees have amended this measure by deleting its contents and replacing it with language to:

     (1)  Transfer the development rights of the Stadium Authority for certain parcels of land to the Public Land Development Corporation; and

     (2)  Allow the Stadium Authority to retain certain duties and responsibilities relating to the transferred development rights until June 30, 2013, or until it is able to effectively transfer its duties and responsibilities to the Corporation, whichever occurs first.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Economic Development and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2918, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2918, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Economic Development and Technology,

____________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair

____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair