By John Burnett
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Hilo’s state lawmakers, all Democrats, are in agreement that Banyan Drive needs to be redeveloped — and it appears that differences in approaches are to be ironed out when a bill reaches a House-Senate conference committee.

Rep. Chris Todd, the House Finance Committee chairman, said he will schedule a hearing for Senate Bill 2001, which was introduced by Sen. Lorraine Inouye, with Big Island Sens. Dru Kanuha and Joy San Buenaventura as co-signers.

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After crossing over from the Senate, the measure on March 17 passed the House Water and Land Committee. The committee added amendments that would delete a community advisory council and require a Waiakea Community Development District voting board representative with lineal or cultural ties to the Waiakea ahupuaa.

While the money committee hearing has yet to be scheduled, Todd said he would “move Sen. Inouye’s bill forward.”

“We’re not 100% eye-to-eye on the exact provision, but we’re trying to work it out and get that bill to a conference committee and then negotiate some of the difference out. It looks like the best opportunity to pass this — at least since I’ve been in office,” Todd said Thursday.

House Bill 2616, which was introduced by Todd with Big Island Reps. Sue Keohokapu-Lee Loy and Matthias Kusch co-signing, crossed over to the Senate, but hasn’t received a committee hearing.

That measure had provisions for a lineal descendent of Waiakea Peninsula, which includes Banyan Drive, as a voting redevelopment board member, but the House Water and Land committee removed that provision in favor of a nonvoting cultural advisory council at the behest of Craig Nakamoto, executive director of Hawaii Community Development Authority.

The affected Waiakea Peninsula properties are state-owned leasehold lands administered by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“DLNR is not a developer, and that’s why we decided to have HCDA instead of DLNR provide the project and do all of the things that needs to be done — like the environmental assessment and hiring contracts and doing the (request for proposal) for a developer,” said Inouye. “They’re an authority that has restrictions.”

Inouye said HCDA’s rules mandate that they put two community members of a development district on its own board, but they can only vote on or make decisions for their own development district.

“We already did all of the preliminary plans and designs” for the peninsula’s redevelopment, said Inouye. That planning, by HCDA, was funded by appropriations secured by the late Hamakua Rep. Mark Nakashima, whose district is now represented by Kusch.

Terri Napeahi, a lineal descendent of Makaoku, an area that includes the Waiakea Peninsula, and who has testified for including lineal descendants as voting members of any board with decision-making authority, praised Todd, Keohokapu-Lee Loy and Kusch for “bridging the gap between government and local families while honoring the principle of ‘home rule.’

“These leaders are collaborating with the community to ensure that the revitalization of Waiakea Peninsula Makaoku respects the pasts while establishing a sustainable future,” Napeahi said in an email. “This approach sets an important precedent for indigenous voices, focusing on community-driven ideas and goals.”

Inouye and Todd are in agreement on two prominent features of the redevelopment picture. One is the demolition of the deserted, dilapidated Country Club Apartment Hotel.

SB 3288, which would’ve appropriated the funds, approximately $14 million, needed to raze the six-story eyesore, died in the Senate.

“That process can be done through a line item in the budget, so we wouldn’t need a bill to be alive to move forward,” said Todd. “We just need to get some money into the budget.”

The other is to reacquire the 62.5 inland acres occupied by the Grand Naniloa Golf Course, which is part of the Grand Naniloa Hotel’s lease, to develop a hotel and a cultural center which could include an arena to host the Merrie Monarch Festival.

SB 2692 — a bill introduced by Inouye that would authorize the DLNR “to acquire, through eminent domain or otherwise, the leasehold interest in the parcel” the nine-hole course occupies — died before crossing over.

“We need the golf course,” Inouye said. “So, DLNR is going to do eminent domain in getting the lease from the Grand Naniloa. DLNR already has the power to do that, because we own the land. We already did an appraisal, and the appraisal is about $270,000.”

Todd said he’s “not sure of an exact timeline” for the state to reacquire the golf course property.

“I know DLNR has been trying to negotiate restructuring the Naniloa lease so that the state can reacquire the golf course. But my understanding has been, to this point, that hasn’t gone super well,” he said. “I think we’ve been pretty clear that if we can’t find a way to negotiate that out, it’s in the best interest of Hilo and the state if we were to take control of that property. So, if we can’t find a negotiated settlement, we would move forward with some sort of eminent domain process. We’ve had an appraisal. You’d pay fair market value to a lessee.

“But I think with the sea-level rise, it’s pretty clear the future of Banyan Drive is not going to be on the shoreline.”

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.