Judiciary site selection pending

BY ERIN MILLER | WEST HAWAII TODAY

The state’s top judge is awaiting the governor’s acceptance of the final environmental impact statement for the long-planned Kona Judiciary Complex.

Only once Gov. Neil Abercrombie accepts the EIS and publishes a notice about that acceptance can Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Rechtenwald issue his site selection decision, a Judiciary spokeswoman said Friday.

Messages left with Abercrombie’s office were not returned Friday.

West Hawaii Bar Association Vice President Bob Borns said the bar association and state officials are trying to get the document accepted so the site selection can move forward.

“There was a feeling it was perhaps dragging a bit,” Borns said.

He said the bar association is hoping Rechtenwald will select a site by the end of this month.

The Legislature last year appropriated $11 million for planning, and the site selection and environmental impact statement process started then. The complex is estimated to cost about $90 million.

Judiciary officials narrowed the list of potential sites to seven last year.

At a meeting with state Legislators in October, Borns said the bar association’s preferred site is a 10-acre parcel across the street from the West Hawaii Civic Center. The Department of Land and Natural Resources owns that land, and Abercrombie would need to sign an executive order allowing the land to be used for the Judiciary.

Abercrombie has previously listed the project as one of his top three priorities for West Hawaii.

Attorneys, judiciary employees and members of the public have asked for a new judiciary complex for West Hawaii. Right now, courts convene in three locations, several miles apart. Parking at all three court locations is limited and there is little room — if any — at the courthouses for members of the public to wait between hearings.

Rechtenwald had told bar association representatives he intended to make a decision early this year.

emiller@westhawaiitoday.com