(Courts in the Community)

No. SCWC-17-0000181 Tuesday, December 6, 2022, 10 a.m.

HOʻOMOANA FOUNDATION, Respondent/Respondent/Appellant-Appellee, vs. LAND USE COMMISSION, STATE OF HAWAIʻI, Respondent/Petitioner/Appellee-Appellant, and PUʻUNOA HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.; AND ROSS R. SCOTT, Petitioners/Respondents/Appellees-Appellees.

The above-captioned case was set for oral argument on the merits at:

Lahainaluna High School
980 Lahainaluna Road
Lahainaluna, HI 96761

The oral argument will also be livestreamed for public viewing via the Judiciary’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/hawaiicourts.

This oral argument can also be viewed on Community Television Stations Olelo (Oahu) Channel 53, and Akakū Channel 55 via your computer or a television.

Attorneys for Petitioner Land Use Commission, State of Hawaiʻi:
Kimberly T. Guidry, Solicitor General, and Robert T. Nakatsuji, First Deputy Solicitor General

Attorneys for Petitioners Puʻunoa Homeowners Association, Inc. and Ross R. Scott:
Deborah K. Wright, Keith D. Kirschbraun, and Douglas R. Wright of Wright & Kirschbraun

Attorney for Respondent Hoʻomoana Foundation:
James W. Geiger of Mancini, Welch & Geiger LLP

NOTE: Order accepting Application for Writ of Certiorari, filed 09/16/22.

COURT: Recktenwald, C.J., Nakayama, McKenna, Wilson, and Eddins, JJ.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief Description:

In 2014, Hoʻomoana Foundation (“Hoʻomoana”) filed an application for a special use permit (“application”) with the Maui Planning Commission. The application was for a proposed overnight campsite facility in the agricultural district near Lahaina. While the application was pending, the Puʻunoa Homeowners Association and its president (“Puʻunoa”) filed a petition for declaratory order (“petition”) with the Hawaiʻi Land Use Commission (“the LUC”). Puʻunoa sought a declaration that Hoʻomoana’s campsite facility could not be authorized by special use permit and instead required a district boundary amendment.

The LUC granted the petition, declaring that the campsite could not be authorized by special use permit under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes §§ 205-4.5 and 205-6. The Circuit Court of the Second Circuit (“circuit court”) reversed, holding that the campsite could be authorized by special use permit in light of Mahaʻulepu v. Land Use Commission, 71 Haw. 332, 790 P.2d 906 (1990). The Intermediate Court of Appeals determined Mahaʻulepu was controlling and therefore affirmed the circuit court’s ruling as to the special permit issue. Puʻunoa and the LUC filed applications for writs of certiorari, arguing that: overnight camps on class A and B agricultural lands cannot be authorized by special permit; Mahaʻulepu should be overruled; and Hoʻomoana waived its argument regarding Mahaʻulepu.