HAWAIIANS SEEN AS ORIGINAL OWNERS OF LAND
Developer Fails In Attempt To Ignore Hawaiian Claims
The Maui News - September 29, 2006
By `Ilima Loomis, Staff Writer
WAILUKU - Developer Sterling Kim said his Hale Mua housing project may be in jeopardy if he is forced to wait for an appeals court to rule on land title questions before getting development approval from the state.
A 2nd Circuit judge ruled in March that Hale Mua had clear title to its Waiehu property, but a group of Native Hawaiians claiming rights to the land appealed the decision.
The state Land Use Commission told Kim in hearings this month that some commissioners still have "serious concerns" about the question of title, asking him to get written consent from all the Hawaiian claimants before proceeding...
Kim said he wouldn't seek the claimants' approval.
"We don't want to acknowledge they have any rights (to the land) whatsoever," Kim said...
Commission rules require that if a developer is not the fee simple owner of a property, the consent of the land's owner must be obtained.
The commission had asked Kim either to provide legal arguments for why he should be treated as the owner, or to get the signatures of the claimants, Ching said....
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