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Sometimes a bill not introduced at the Legislature is just as important as the proposals for new laws that are brought up for consideration each year.

One of the most contentious proposals last year was the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ failed attempt to persuade lawmakers to change state law to allow it to build three residential high-rises — each tower up to 450 feet tall — on the makai side of Kakaako.

Condominium towers are prohibited on Kakaako Makai.

OHA board chair Carmen Hulu Lindsey vowed to return to the Legislature in 2024 to try once again to get the law changed. It would be the fourth time OHA has tried to revoke the residential ban.

So why is OHA backing off this year?

In an email to Civil Beat, CEO Stacy Kealohalani Ferreira wrote that while OHA’s proposal to change the law to allow its high rises “gained support from community and some lawmakers … it also faced significant resistance by other lawmakers. OHA believes the same hurdles remain.”

It appears OHA is regrouping now to perhaps come back to the Legislature in the future with the same quest to get permission for residential towers but not now. 

OHA says its decision to back down this year had nothing to do with the Hawaii Community Development Authorityʻs rule change approved by Gov. Josh Green this year to emphasize residences are not allowed on the makai side of Ala Moana Boulevard.

HCDA is for overseeing development in Kakaako and other underutilized urban areas in Hawaii.

Lawmakers passed the law prohibiting residential high rises on Kakaako Makai in 2006  to keep rare oceanfront land in urban Honolulu open for public enjoyment.

The law was specifically enacted to stop Alexander & Baldwinʻs  to construct three 200-foot tall luxury condos and retail shops on 36 acres of prime, mostly public ocean recreational land surrounding Kewalo Basin Harbor.

When OHA tried to revoke the residential development ban, the same community advocates who successfully fought against A&Bʻs development banded together again to convince lawmakers to uphold the high-rise condo ban on all Kakaako land on the ocean side of Ala Moana Boulevard. 

In OHAʻs January newsletter, Ka Wai Ola, the organization expressed its dismay: “It is deeply disappointing that this effort failed — a bitter pill to swallow in light of the preponderance of luxury condominiums being developed just across the street.”

OHA received the 30 acres of land on the makai side of Kakaako in 2012 in settlement of $200 million in back payments the state owed for ceded lands. 

Ceded lands are Hawaiian crown and government property taken by the U.S. in 1898 after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom with no compensation given to the Hawaiian people.

When OHA accepted the land settlement, it knew it could not build residential towers there.  But it has tried for years to get the ban lifted.

Also, two years before OHA accepted the stateʻs settlement offer, HCDA  accepted a community-created master plan commissioned by HCDA that stated Kakaako Makai lands were to be kept open to the public for cultural, commercial, educational and recreational uses, not high-rise residential towers.

Wayne Takamine, who co-authored that government-sanctioned plan, said OHA is wise to step back this year from seeking legislative approval to lift the residential ban. 

“OHA does not have a chance of getting the residential prohibition overturned,” he said, “But we must remain vigilant because clearly OHA will keep trying to do it in the future.” 

Last November, OHA .

After the name change, OHA trustee Keliʻi Akina strongly criticized the campaign on which OHA spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV ads and other media. OHA claimed that it was a victim of racial injustice because it was denied the right to build on its makai land when developers on the mauka side were allowed to build residential condos.

Akina : “OHA has attributed its legislative failures to dysfunctional politics and racial prejudice, among other reasons. However, I believe that the messaging OHA uses to promote its development project could be connected to OHA’s failure to rally support in the Legislature.”

Akina wrote that the Kakaako Makai residential prohibition was not a case of discrimination against Hawaiians since it was enacted in 2006, six years before OHA acquired its 30 acres on the makai side. And he emphasized OHA was fully aware that it could not build residential high rises on the land when it agreed to the settlement.

He wrote that OHA needs to change its messaging and stop playing the victim.

“By taking responsibility for its decisions and focusing on its strengths, OHA can build credibility and move forward from the past. Hakuone can become a showcase for culture, community, economic opportunity and civic pride in Honolulu, benefitting all residents of Hawaii,” Akina wrote.

And that is what OHA appears to be doing now: pulling back to change its stance from that of a frustrated land developer to an entity dedicated to bettering the futures of Native Hawaiians and by extension to improving life for all Hawaii residents.

In its email to Civil Beat, OHA  says it will be hosting the first new large community events of the year on Jan. 27 at Hakuone — a concert it calls Pai Ka Leo to celebrate Mahina Olelo Hawaii, February’s Hawaiian language month. It will feature performances by 14 Oahu-based Aha Punana Leo and Kula Kaiapuni, Hawaiian language immersion schools.

“We expect to host 100s of Hawaiian ohana, supporters and community members at this community event that is being coordinated by Keu The Brand. We are excited to share mele through the voices of our keiki, through the language of our kupuna,” wrote Alice Malepeai Silbanuz, OHA’s communications director.

Ron Iwami is president of Friends of Kewalos, a group that stopped A&B from developing Kewalo Basin land and is dedicated to stopping OHA’s quest to build residential high-rises on Kakaako Makai.

He said he is glad that he and others supporting open oceanfront at Kakaako don’t have to work hard this year to try to stop OHA.

Iwami later texted me to say, “It is our hope that during this break, we can come to the table to work together with OHA to help them decide on a plan for Hakuone that will benefit all of the people of Hawaii in perpetuity.”

Native Hawaiian and OHA beneficiary Kanekoa Crabbe says the true shame is OHA has had the 30 acres of Kakaako Makai for 12 years and has done nothing with it.

But OHA says it is getting ready to develop its first project at Hakuone “in the near future. As part of its short-range planning we are focused on building opportunities to create cultural connections and economic opportunities at Hakuone.“

It appears OHA’s current plan is to rebrand itself as a helper and protector of Hawaiian causes to gear up to make a new case that it needs the cash infusion from constructing luxury residential towers on Kakaako Makai for programs to benefit not just Native Hawaiians but all the people of Hawaii.