HILO — Hawaii County is looking to take the wheel on revitalizing Hilo’s beleaguered Banyan Drive with a new planning agency that could largely take over the state’s role in overseeing leases and development on the Waiakea Peninsula.
A proposal to form the Banyan Drive Redevelopment Agency and outline its boundaries will go before the Windward Planning Commission on Feb. 4 before being sent to the County Council for approval, said Duane Kanuha, county planning director. It wasn’t immediately clear if the agency would oversee the entire peninsula or just portions in most need of renewal.
Kanuha mentioned the idea Friday at a public meeting hosted by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources on recent economic reports completed on the area and ideas for its future.
The Planning Commission will consider the proposal only a few days after Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel — an iconic kamaaina business on Banyan Drive — plans to close.
Kanuha said the agency would operate under the Planning Department and be governed by five board members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the County Council.
Its main task would be drafting a master plan for the future of Banyan Drive, which also would require council approval.
That plan would essentially outline a vision for properties within the agency’s jurisdiction that would govern how they are redeveloped.
Suzanne Case, DLNR administrator, said the department supports the idea.
Under the proposal, DLNR would remain the landlord and would still receive the lease rent.
“We’re really just a collaborator; we’re a landlord,” she said.
Kanuha said one idea would be to turn the golf course that is part of the Hilo Naniloa Hotel’s lease into a Native Hawaiian cultural and convention center that could also host the Merrie Monarch Festival — Hilo’s premiere hula event.
He said that is one of the “components moving this forward.”
Ed Bushor, one of the Naniloa owners, said he is open to that idea, mentioned by others attending the DLNR meeting.
“We’re up for every one of those ideas,” he said.
The meeting attracted nearly 100 people, including one man who interrupted the session to address the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Gene Tamashiro, who was arrested during the Thirty Meter Telescope protests on Mauna Kea, said the state is “self-proclaimed” and DLNR doesn’t have lawful authority over public lands.
“The overwhelming evidence is the state of Hawaii is self-proclaimed, and there is no lawful treaty,” he said.
Tamashiro, who also was part of a protest against the overthrow that saw people occupy DLNR land near the Kamehameha the Great statue in Hilo in 2013, also warned those attending about “foreign powers” taking over the United States and tried to get state Sen. Lorraine Inouye to respond to the “truth.”
“Who’s got title? Answer that,” he said before leaving the meeting.
At one point, Donald Inouye, owner of Reeds Bay Resort Hotel on Banyan Drive, tried to intervene.
“We’re here to discuss economic problems,” he said.
Inouye’s hotel is one of three properties that will see leases revert to a month-to-month revocable permit in March. The others are Uncle Billy’s and the Country Club Condos.
The properties received a one-year extension on their leases, but Inouye said he still lost all of his renters and condo owners since their agreements lapsed last March when the lease was initially set to expire.
He said he is renovating the rooms and plans to turn them back into hotel units.
After Uncle Billy’s closes, the hotel will revert back to DLNR.
Russell Tsuji, DLNR land administrator, said he hopes to find someone to take it over temporarily so that it doesn’t sit empty until the site is redeveloped.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
