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Battle brewing between BIA-Hawaii and state preservation officials over historic buildings law
Oct 24, 2014, 2:54pm HST
Duane Shimogawa
Reporter- Pacific Business News
A battle continues to brew between the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and historic preservation officials in the state over a law that subjects homes built more than 50 years ago to a historic preservation review whenever a homeowner applies for a building permit for a rebuild or remodel.
“Most people understand that it’s in the best interest of our communities to protect our historic buildings,” Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of Honolulu-based Historic Hawaii Foundation, told PBN. “The state Historic Preservation Division is required by law to review any project that has the potential to change an historic property.”
The Historic Hawaii Foundation works with SHPD on these issues. SHPD officials did not return messages left by PBN.
The issue only affects Oahu; other counties in the state have their own local preservation ordinance and commission.
Faulkner would like to see the City and County of Honolulu adopt a regulatory structure that protects its historic structures.
“We are very open to improving and revising the existing process,” she said. “We want to see that done in a thoughtful and targeted way, and not an across the board throwing out of the preservation goals for the sake of expediency.”
The BIA of Hawaii has been aggressive in its approach, printing out flyers saying that Hawaii homeowners should “unite and fight” and calling on them to sign its petition.
Gladys Quinto Marrone, the new president and CEO of the BIA of Hawaii, recently told PBN that her members wanted to go with this approach, and feels that this is one of the most important issues the industry is facing today.
The BIA of Hawaii notes that the 2008 law mandates that SHPD complete a time-consuming review of a potential historic home’s building permit application if a homeowner plans to renovate or rebuild their home.
The trade organization also noted that when applying for a building permit, homeowners in this category will have to provide SHPD with an existing site plan and floor plan, proposed project drawings, photo documentation and a preservation review submittal form.
“Even if SHPD determines that your home has relevant historical value, the law does not allow SHPD to compel you to preserve your home in part or in whole,” BIA of Hawaii said on one of its flyers. “SHPD has no authority to require the homeowner to do anything they recommend, but you need to go through their lengthy process anyway.”
Faulkner pointed out that part of the problem is that the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting relies exclusively on the under-staffed SHPD to do the inventories, review permits and make those determinations and recommendations.
SHPD is responsible for implementing the law not just in Honolulu, but throughout the state, including federal projects, all with just two architectural historians.
“We at Historic Hawaii Foundation have been looking at this issue, [and] some properties will be missed and have been harmed on what should be preserved,” she said. “Then there are properties, not historic, that are being caught in the middle. That’s the heart of the issue.”
The DPP convened a task force last year to look at this relationship between all stakeholders to see if an agreement can be made.
“There were some really good recommendations that came out of it, but it stalled,” Faulkner said.
She noted that part of the goal for both her organization and SHPD is to move away from being reactionary to getting in front of the issue.
“The best way is to inventory and survey all of our neighborhoods,” Faulkner said. “When was it built, who built it, why was it built? Can it be designated as an historic area? The process is all reactionary. By the time someone has applied for a permit, they haven’t had that explanation on what their actions will cause. The whole process needs to take into account to do that upfront analysis work.”