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The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting has issued two notices of violation to Hawaii Reserves Inc. for doing construction work without permits on its proposed project to build 74 rental housing units on beachfront property it owns in Laie.

HRI is the land management arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In a column earlier this month, I reported on its proposed Laie oceanfront development. (I am a member of a club that owns property along the same Laie shoreline but the club is not involved in the development.)

At that time, HRI President Eric Beaver said the project was in its beginning stage with the company seeking multiple permits including an environmental assessment and a Special Management Area permit before it could start any work.

But the city planning department cited HRI on July 17 for jumping the gun by clearing land on part of the oceanfront property without a SMA permit and also for doing grubbing work without a permit on a road that leads into the proposed development.

In one notice, DPP cites HRI for removing trees and vegetation. The notice requires HRI to stop all work on that parcel until it gets an SMA permit or it could be fined up to $100,000 initially and up to $10,000 a day after that.

A second notice of violation cites HRI for grubbing without a permit approximately 16,305 square feet of land that’s part of a road widening project. DPP says HRI must get a grubbing permit by Aug. 19 or restore all the vegetation it removed. If the violation is not corrected, there will be an initial fine of $50 and $25 a day after that.

Laie resident Faye Fukuyama told Civil Beat on June 24 that HRI had started work to double the width of the 10-foot road, which is jointly owned by her family, HRI and other owners.

 “They were just going ahead and doing their own thing on our lane without our authorization,” Fukuyama said. “We called the police when the backhoes and an excavator started pulling out plants and was about to take down a plumeria tree my father-in-law planted more than 50 years ago.”

She has lived alongside the road for 49 years with her husband Dane, the postman for the Laie area.

The Fukuyamas and Connie Tamura, another joint owner of the road, then hired Honolulu attorney William Saunders Jr. to write a cease and desist letter when they couldn’t get HRI to stop tearing out the vegetation.

Fukuyama said Friday she was glad HRI had to stop work on the road. She said she felt vindicated because HRI’s Director of Property Management Kanani Tuala had sent her and the other road owners a letter June 10 saying HRI had a permit to proceed with the road widening.

“We now know have proof that was not true,” Fukuyama said.

Beaver, the HRI president, told Civil Beat in an email: “We’ve worked directly with DPP on this project, both well in advance of and during the work. DPP is requiring the roadway construction and approved those construction plans back in April. The vegetation removal work was done within the allowances under City Ordinances. Even though we are quite surprised by these notices, we will continue to work with the City to clarify and resolve these matters.”

DPP spokesman Curtis Lum said although DPP approved HRI’s construction plans, the company still needed a permit to start on the road work, a permit it lacked. He said Friday the department is still trying to determine if the two lots in question should be considered as part of HRI’s larger project and require SMA permits.        

In an earlier interview, Beaver described HRI’s project as beachfront rentals for working individuals and families with smaller households primarily from Koolauloa — an area that stretches from Kaaawa to Waimea Bay.

The development, called , is clearly unusual, maybe the first of its kind in Hawaii as an oceanfront project created for middle-class local resident families.

Normally,  a landowner would turn such rare open shoreline into luxury homes for the wealthy rather than rental dwellings expected to be priced for firefighters and teachers.

“Families want to raise their kids where they were raised,” Beaver said in the previous interview. “With this development, more families and individuals can have a roof over their heads.”

 Saunders, the attorney representing the neighboring property owners, said Friday he is glad DPP has responded to the concerns of neighbors about the project and that the city is starting to do serious scrutiny of HRI’s plan to transform the rural Laie shoreline into dozens of homes.

He added that HRI should be told by DPP to stop work on two lots it is developing next to the larger project until those lots also receive SMA permits.

HRI say those two lots in question do not need SMA permits and they are not part of the company’s rental housing development and the magnitude of work to be done on them does not require an SMA permit.