Development

Requires the assessment of impact fees prior to issuance of a water meter ....

SB 894 would authorize the state to expend funds, swap land and explore other solutions to help preserve Turtle Bay lands.  This bill can be brought back next year, if negotiations fail, or to implement terms of an agreement....

Jeff and his wife Laurie Stone contributed $3000 to Kirk Caldwell's recent Mayoral campaign....

On a hillside in Hawaii sits a lavish home — a six-building estate that looks out over dark lava fields, the Pacific Ocean and a championship golf course....

"After the hiring freeze was lifted staff hired still required Budget and Finance Approval and the Governor’s signature for general funded positions. This slowed the process down significantly. Around November or early December of 2011 the DLNR budget analyst left for vacation and all our paper work at Budget and Finance stopped moving...."

Senator Brian Schatz, Senator Mazie K. Hirono, and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced today that Maui has been awarded a grant of technical assistance....

...the good professor labeled the record of the 1993-2010 Hawaii Supreme Court on property issues "appalling," so it should come as no surprise that two of the beneficiaries of those rulings have now rallied to that court's defense....

Auto commutes will be made more cumbersome to promote public transportation....

Census data strongly suggests that Hawaii, and Oahu in particular, are stable communities with very mild growth....

Repeal Bills:  SB 1; SBs 245, 246; SB 338; SB 425; SB 480; SB 663; SBs 780, 781; SB 866....

...the state Office of Planning is now drafting a resolution for Abercrombie to sign as an executive policy, recognizing that TOD is a priority of state government....

"If the Legislature cannot achieve this outcome, the possibility of repeal will ensue."

The information is key because it is used by developers to set affordable homes sales prices and rents....

“You may have noticed, I do like to fly under the radar.” -- Pierre Omidyar, 2009

The developer touts the proposed resort as "the most environmentally and culturally responsible visitor-oriented project ever to be proposed in the state."

...the Hawaii Supreme Court "has managed to find in favor of Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Earthjustice ... 90% of the time, 70% of those decisions overturning the [Hawaii] Intermediate Court of Appeals....

The lands are and will remain under the jurisdiction of the Hawai'i Community Development Authority (HCDA), and will continue to be subject to HCDA’s zoning and other land use conditions. The lands will be conveyed “as is,” “where is.”

The assessments were levied after the Campaign Spending Commission investigators uncovered thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions, contributed to Hirono as a part of Hawaii's extensive "Pay to Play" scandal....

For over a year most of Hawaii’s pliant and un-inquisitive media have gone along with the ridiculous story that Koolina developer and Broken Trust player Jeff Stone was donating 300 Makaha acres to Hawaiian Homelands and Kamehameha Schools as “a gift from the heart….”

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) took action to improve operations at its State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) and ensure federal compliance. The Department awarded a contract to Solutions Pacific, LLC to implement recommendations of the National Park Service’s Corrective Action Plan.  

When the Advertiser in 2004 exposed business dealings between then-State Sheriff John Sousa and two convicted felons, Souza said he was considering resigning and acknowledged "The appearance is bad." Souza had extended $25,000 credit to organized crime figure Jonnaven Monalim as part of a deal to sell seven Makaha acres of former Hanabusa family property. Another convicted felon was managing Souza's Pueo Trucking company while Souza was Sheriff.

But just two years later, Hanabusa's husband Souza would form a close working relationship with one George Grace III.  Unlike Monalim, a search of the Hawaii criminal database indicates that George Grace III has never been convicted of a crime. But the controversial owner of porta-potty rental firm Paradise Lua has had a court-documented interest in stolen trucks going back to the 1990s.

“After reading the alarming tract, I wanted to know whether Albertini -- who went to prison for a year (many years ago) for trying to block a Navy vessel in Hilo Harbor -- will be putting his life and/or freedom on the line along with the novice activists he is counseling.

“The answer? No. Not only is Albertini not going to protest the Superferry, he claims he didn’t even know his “non-violent” call to arms was even published."

Is the County of Hawai`i subject to secret agreements which direct the passage of future legislation? Is the Legislature? Did the plaintiffs get money?

Ritte’s phony “Save La`au” campaign has been falsely portrayed as an anti-development battle, but in reality it is a battle between two competing developers each tied to a different government group. 

Red hot lava threatening Puna’s Royal Gardens subdivision opens yet another chapter in a long-running saga. A hui of elected officials and state and county engineers in 1961 bought the 1,807 acre site from the Bishop Estate (Kamehameha Schools) for $200,000 after easily obtaining preliminary approval to subdivide from the Hawaii County Planning Commission.

...That was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life....