Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 1, 1 January 2005 — Suit likely over disputed Waikōloa ceded lands [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Suit likely over disputed Waikōloa ceded lands

By Sterling Kini Wong The state's decision to lease out more than an acre of prime oceanfront real estate being used by the Hilton Waikōloa for less than a third of its originallv annraised annn-

al value may be the subject of a lawsuit. The approximately 1.8 acres of public land has been at the heart of a legal dispute since a hotel developer filled in tide pools there 18 years ago. In November, the state Board of

Land and Natural Resources approved a plan to lease 1.3 acres

of the land to Global Resort Partners - the operators of the Hilton Waikōloa - for an annual rent of $55,000 for 65 years, with an annual fixed 3-percent increase. Alan Murakami, litigation director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said there is "an egregious disparity" in the rent the state agreed upon and the $192,000 annual rent that the state appraiser determined the land was worth in February 2003. "The state's plan doesn'tmake sense; it smells," Murakami said. He said NHLC will take action against the state, but they are deciding whether that action will take the form of a federal or state lawsuit. He added that they plan on working closely with OHA in whatever

legal path they take. OHAs has an interest in the lease rent because the lands are ceded lands, whieh were onee a part of Kingdom of Hawai'i's government holdings. The agency receives 20 percent of the revenue generated from snch lands to

work to improve the conditions of Hawaiians. ISherry Broder, the attorney advising OHA, told loeal media that she will urge the agency to ehallenge the lease rent. She is sched-

uled to present her recommendations to the OHA

Board in an executive-session meeting on Jan. 13. In 1984, the state determined that the filled and submerged lands were private. However, in 1986 a Native Hawaiian fisherman filed a federal lawsuit charging that the state was breaching its fiduciary duty by abandoning what he argued were public lands. In 1997, Judge David Ezra ruled that the lands were indeed ceded lands and required the state to recover compensation for the use of them, including back rent. Back rent was also set in the November state plan; however, it is unclear who will pay for it. ■

Protesters form a "human lei" around the disputed Waikōloa lands during a 2003 demonstration. Photo: Jerry Rothstein