Emergency housing panel shares hard-to-hear stories

Aug. 12—A statewide emergency housing development approval panel met for the first time Friday in what was largely an orientation session that at times was inaudible to the public.

The Build Beyond Barriers Working Group was established by a July 17 emergency proclamation from Gov. Josh Green as a way to reduce the cost and time for residential development using alternate environmental, historic preservation, land-use and other regulations without causing significant negative impacts.

Friday's meeting was held, in part, to let panel members ask questions about the unprecedented process and to let the public know who is serving on the panel and what they bring to the endeavor.

About 28 of the working group's 36 members joined the meeting, with most of them sitting around a long conference table in Green's office and a few attending via videoconference.

In an effort to be transparent, given that public meeting rules are among regulations suspended under the housing emergency, officials streamed the meeting on the Office of the Governor of Hawaii Facebook page.

However, online audio was sporadic and it was unclear who a few of the meeting participants were or what was said at times.

David Henkin, senior attorney for environmental law firm Earthjustice, complained on the meeting's Facebook chat feature that he couldn't hear things online after being blocked from observing in person.

Henkin claims that the emergency proclamation doesn't suspend a statute requiring all meetings of local government entities including boards and commissions be open to the public.

Henkin said Jeremy Lakin, Green's deputy general counsel, denied him access after state Deputy Attorney General Linda Chow advised that Henkin should be allowed into the meeting.

Green's order states that the entire section of public meeting law, Chapter 92 of Hawaii Revised Statures, is suspended "to the extent that any notice requirements or any other provisions of Chapter 92 may delay the expeditious action, decision, or approval of any agency."

Representatives of the governor did not respond to Henkin's claim other than to say Henkin did not have standing to attend in person.

Organizers of the panel expect meetings will be held on the last Tuesday of every month, with the next one tentatively scheduled for Aug. 29.

No applications for housing development approvals have been submitted to the panel yet, so Friday's meeting was largely about describing who members are and letting them ask about the process.

There are 36 panelists, though only 23 at a time will review and make decisions on a single project application because several positions are county specific. For instance, a representative of the mayor of a county or a utility company serving a county will only engage with projects in their county.

Most of Friday's meeting was spent on members introducing themselves and sharing why it's important to speed up Hawaii housing development and lower costs by stripping down regulatory barriers.

According to the governor's office, Hawaii has the highest housing costs in the nation partly because it has the highest regulation that adds $233,000 to $335,000 to the cost of a home.

Many panel members shared stories about how their own children are priced out of local housing. Some also described how housing costs inhibit recruiting or retaining employees.

Jimmy Tokioka, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said his son on Oahu has to live with a roommate because rent is expensive, and that his daughter living in Arizona wants to come home.

"But it's not easy, and it's not cheap," Tokioka said.

Zendo Kern, Hawaii County planning director, said he was born in an unpermitted shack in North Kohala and later moved to a studio in Puna that was expanded without permits to accommodate his very poor family that ultimately obtained permits for the home.

"Right now, our biggest export in Hawaii is our children," he said.

David Bissell, president and CEO of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, said his daughter with a law degree doesn't believe she can ever afford a house in Hawaii. He also said high housing costs affect the company he leads.

"We're one of the highest- paying companies on Kauai, and it's becoming almost impossible to recruit people from the mainland to come over," he said. "We just can't pay enough to cover the cost on the housing side."

Another county utility representative, Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric, said the employee retention issue is so bad with workers moving to the mainland because of housing and other costs that Hawaiian Electric has considered creating housing for its own workforce.

"Our best-paying union jobs aren't enough for our employees to stay here and be able to buy a home," she said. "As more and more families get broken up because they cannot afford to live here, we're breaking up the fabric of Hawaii."

Green's chief housing officer, Nani Medeiros, said stories shared by panel members show how important their work will be.

"We have to ask ourselves: What kind of Hawaii are we going to leave? What kind of Hawaii are we growing for the future if people who live here are not our own people and kids that we raised?"

Medeiros isn't a panel member but can allow housing projects initiated by a county or the state to use the special regulations instead of the panel, and make some but not all approval decisions.

Scott Glenn led Friday's meeting and said he's hopeful that members sharing personal stories about housing will inform the public about where they are coming from and why they are engaging in the special work.

"We're all part of the community, and we're all trying to do our best in the roles that we have," said Glenn, who once led the Hawaii State Energy Office and was rejected in March by the state Senate to head the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development. Glenn is helping facilitate the panel's work and isn't a member.

Some members didn't say much, but a bit of agitation was aired.

Dan Orodenker, executive officer of the state Land Use Commission, shared his frustration about 65,000 housing units at planned projects approved by the LUC that were never built. The LUC, which can reclassify use of farmland for urban use at the state level, has had some of its authority transferred to county councils under the emergency order.

Wayne Tanaka, director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii, expressed concern that well- meaning policies sometimes fail to achieve intended results and can cause harm.

Tanaka also twice tried to ask about the meeting being open to the public and couldn't get an answer.

Another panel member, Trisha Kehaulani Watson of environmental consulting firm Honua Consulting LLC, asked for Tanaka's question to be addressed apart from the meeting because panel members are busy and because "I actually got real questions."

Watson wanted to know about how much advance time members would have to review applications, how many applications there may be and if members can point out issues with applications before meetings.

Keomailani Hanapi Hirata, a member representing the Molokai Island Burial Council, also asked about public meeting rules referred to as the "sunshine law."

Medeiros noted that applicants will need to make some sort of public presentation about their planned project and solicit comments before they apply and then include any public comments received as part of their application. She also said the public can email comments to gov.housing@hawaii.gov and tune in to panel meetings online.

"Our intention in suspending the sunshine law and how it applies to the working group meetings is that we will be as sunshiny as possible," Medeiros said.