Opinion ID: 2521161
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Kuapa Isle Condominiums

Text: On July 13, 1995, the Department advised the Trustees that it had designated the land underlying the Kuapa Isle condominium development for acquisition, through the exercise of the power of eminent domain or by purchase under the threat of eminent domain, pursuant to ROH § 38-2.2, see supra note 3. The City informed the Trustees that thirty-six owner-occupants of condominium units in the project, six of whom were denominated as trustees, had applied for lease-to-fee conversions. The Department submitted a resolution authorizing condemnation proceedings in order to acquire the leased fee interests in the land underlying Kuapa Isle to the City Council in March 1996; [9] the City Council deferred action on the resolution at its March 19, 1996 Policy Committee meeting, at which the Trustees, as landowner, opposed the resolution. The City requested, however, that the Trustees waive any claim to out-of-pocket expenses that they might be entitled to recover pursuant to ROH § 38-5.2, see supra note 5, due to the City Council's deferral of the resolution. In a subsequent letter to the Trustees, the City reminded the Trustees that these expenses would not be recoverable if the City were to institute the condemnation action prior to July 12, 1996 i.e., within twelve months of the City's designation of the leased fee interests for acquisition. An agreement was apparently reached, which the City described in a letter, dated July 11, 1996 and written by Jon Yoshimura, Chair of the City Council's Committee on Policy, acting on behalf of the City: After telephonic discussion with you and discussion between my committee staff and [the Trustees'] counsel, I am gratified that [the Trustees] would be willing to waive and release these claims on the condition that the City will not pass any resolution authorizing condemnation of any leased fee interest at Kuapa Isle until the claims for relief in Richardson v. City and County of Honolulu, 802 F.Supp. 326 (D.Haw.1992), appeal docketed, No. 94-16041, 94-16142, and 94-16143 (9th Cir.1994) and Small Landowners v. City and County of Honolulu, 832 F.Supp. 1404 (D.Haw.1993), appeal docketed, No. 94-16327 (9th Cir.1994) [hereinafter, the Richardson appeals] have been dismissed by a final non-appealable and non-reviewable judicial determination either that Ordinance 91-95 is valid and constitutional under the federal and state constitutions or is invalid and unconstitutional under the federal and state constitutions, and all claims and motions therein and all appeals and writs therein or therefrom have been finally decided, resolved, and dismissed with respect to the facial constitutionality or validity of Ordinance 91-95. I would appreciate your timely concurrence with the proposed waiver and release conditions set forth in the paragraph immediately above. On September 8, 1997, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit entered a decision affirming the constitutionality of ROH ch. 38. See Richardson v. City and County of Honolulu, 124 F.3d 1150 (9th Cir.1997). On September 23, 1997, the Trustees petitioned for an en banc rehearing of the Richardson decision, which the Ninth Circuit denied on March 23, 1998. The Trustees subsequently petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, which was denied on October 5, 1998, see City and County of Honolulu v. Small Landowners of Oahu, 525 U.S. 871, 119 S.Ct. 168, 142 L.Ed.2d 137 (1998), thereby resolving the Trustees' constitutional challenges to Ordinance 91-95 in the Richardson appeals by way of a final, non-appealable, and non-reviewable judicial determination. In the meantime, on October 15, 1997, almost a year before the United States Supreme Court denied the Trustees' petition in the Richardson appeals, the Department informed the Trustees that it was submitting a new resolution to the City Council to authorize condemnation of certain leased fee interests underlying Kuapa Isle. The Department included in its letter to the Trustees a copy of the resolution and a list of thirty-three condominium units that had applied for lease-to-fee conversions, twenty-four of which had been included in the Department's original designation of the property for lease-to-fee conversion in 1995. The City passed the resolution on March 11, 1998.