Hawaiʻi County committee approves leases with Hawaiian Homes and FAA, punts new building department; advances change to environmental director qualifications

HONOLULU — The Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs voted Aug. 19 to send several intergovernmental agreements to full council with favorable recommendations and took separate action on two charter-related items.

The panel voted to forward three intergovernmental agreements with the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) that would formalize the county’s operation and maintenance responsibilities at Panaeʻewa Park, Lehiyah (Lehiya) Beach Park and Hualani Park, and it approved sending a lease allowing the Federal Aviation Administration to replace weather instruments and install a platform at the Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area for further council consideration.

The committee postponed Bill 68, a proposed charter amendment to establish a standalone Department of Building, to its Oct. 7 meeting so members can obtain fiscal analysis and more detail on how county code and staffing would be adjusted. Separately, the committee amended and forwarded Bill 72 to full council; that measure broadens the qualifications for the director of Environmental Management beyond an engineering degree and was sent to council with a 6-2 vote.

The park agreements are 30-year leases that the administration said are retroactive to 2016 and therefore would run through 2046. “This is a 30 year lease,” Director Honma told the committee when introducing the Panaeʻewa agreement. Honma said the county has been operating month-to-month after the prior lease expired in February 2016 and that the new agreements are intended to clear the title for planned improvements and long-term oversight.

Honma told members the state does not provide maintenance funding to the county under these agreements. “No. No funds is provided back to the county by the state at all,” Honma said in response to a council member’s question. James Komata,…