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CASE: Right, but nobody's going to take a lease unless they've cleared with the County what all
<br /> can go into their project. That
<br /> DELIMA: And the Redevelopment Agency can facilitate all the County requirements and
<br /> factors to implement it as soon as possible. Daryn you can clarify.
<br /> ARAI: Yeah, thank you, sorry. Lively discussion, sorry forI think I better kind of lay the
<br /> ground work a little bit. The way I understand it, and if there's lawyers in the room, Amy you're
<br /> one of them, maybe you can clarify for me, but you know, 53 exists in order to empower a
<br /> Hawaii Redevelopment Agency. Right? And that's, that power is provided by statute. In
<br /> designating the blighted status to, to the peninsula, and with the creation of the Agency, and with
<br /> the statement of understanding provided by DLNR that they will support this initiative, you
<br /> know I find it awkward that the Agency empowered to redevelopment under statute does not
<br /> have that ultimate authority and must, in the end, gain Board approval. It's to me, it's
<br /> counterproductive. I may be wrong, I'm just saying, is because the Agency has the power to
<br /> enter into contracts, you know secure funding. They have these broad powers, but those powers
<br /> are also defined by the scope of the master plan that has yet to be developed. We need to take a
<br /> bite of the trunk of the elephant, I guess; I don't know how it would taste like, but basically it's
<br /> like the agency can only utilize its powers to implement an approved master plan. We're not
<br /> there yet. We need to get to the master plan, which is why we've been asking. We need the
<br /> resources, the funding, in order to prepare the necessary documentation and studies that allows
<br /> us to develop that master plan. So you can kind of see, and until we get there, in so many ways,
<br /> and with all due respect to the Agency, you're somewhat powerless, which is why we've been
<br /> canceling meetings. So that's where I think we need to focus. On what can we do in the interim
<br /> to give the Agency the opportunity to develop what it needs to stand on and in the interim, the
<br /> Department will continue to support the Agency as best as it can.
<br /> CASE: Yeah, if I can just add to that. In a sense we're irrelevant. You know, a developer could
<br /> come in and they could, they could have an option; typically they maybe would have an option to
<br /> lease land or they would have an option to purchase or whatever, but the real rubber meets the
<br /> road in their plan, their development, design, and whether it meets the County, all County
<br /> requirements and so that's where your master plan and your, your abilities as a redevelopment
<br /> agency come in.
<br /> SELF: Part of the power of the Agency, under Chapter 53, is also the ability to purchase land
<br /> and then they have more power because they control that land and they can sell it, and
<br /> they—that's part of all of this, but the problem here is that State owns the land. So that takes
<br /> away a lot of the power from the Agency. So that's the other thing that you're dealing with is
<br /> it's not Agency's land, it's the DLNR's land or the BLNR's land.
<br /> CASE: But again, what we're saying is we're cooperating with you. So that's not, it's not like
<br /> we're a landowner that says, "Sorry go away, we don't want to talk to you,"we're saying,
<br /> "Here's this piece of land, you know, what's your vision?"
<br /> TSUJI: And often times when our dispositions, generally, 90 percent of the dispositions is
<br /> offered by public auction, and it may have a general use—commercial, industrial, business —it
<br /> doesn't get into the specifics of the actual construction or the height limitations other than being
<br /> in compliance with law. And a lot of those construction requirements and height limitations and
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<br /> Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency
<br /> October 25,2017 Minutes
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