A court has overturned a 2024 Windward Planning Commission decision denying a Special Management Area Use Permit to a Houston developer for a proposed 17-unit affordable workforce apartment complex in Hilo.

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A court has overturned a 2024 Windward Planning Commission decision denying a Special Management Area Use Permit to a Houston developer for a proposed 17-unit affordable workforce apartment complex in Hilo.

In a rare move, the Sept. 1 ruling by Hilo Circuit Judge Peter Kubota grants the SMA to applicant Niel Jayasinghe, subject to conditions of approval recommended by the county Planning Department and agreed to by Jayasinghe, instead of remanding the matter back to the commission for further consideration.

Jayasinghe filed the agency appeal lawsuit in January 2025, naming the commission, Chairman Louis Daniele III — who was vice chairman when the project was rejected — and the Planning Department.

The court’s decision was the last item on the commission’s Oct. 1 agenda, with Deputy Corporation Counsel Diana Mellon-Lacey telling Daniele it was an informational item.

“You will have the permit to sign, Chair, and this project will be going forward, so the community will see it happening. Be aware of the court’s reversal here,” Mellon-Lacey said.

Kubota’s action reverses a 4-1 vote by the commission on Sept. 5, 2024, to deny Jayasinghe’s SMA application.

Voting no on the application were then-Chairman Dennis Lin, Daniele, and commissioners Wayne DeLuz and Lauren Balog. The only yes vote came from then-commissioner Matthias Kusch, who is now a state representative, with Commissioner Chantel Perrin, who is now the vice chair, absent and excused.

The project proposal is a for a four-story, 41,000-square-foot apartment building in Keaukaha containing 17 rental units on a 0.445-acre parcel sandwiched between Kalaniana‘ole Street and Apapane Road, with entry on Kalaniana‘ole about 350 feet southwest of Onekahakaha Road.

The court’s decision said the project “qualified as a 100% affordable/workforce housing project under the county’s area median income (AMI) at the time the application was filed.”

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Then-estimated rents and corresponding AMIs for the 17 units were: three two-bedroom units at $2,250 per month, less than 100% AMI; six two-bedroom units at $2,500 per month, less than 120% AMI; seven two-bedroom units at $3,000 per month, less than 140% AMI; and one three-bedroom unit at $3,500 per month, less than 140% AMI.

The commission on Aug. 1, 2024, took testimony from six members of the public about the project, mostly negative, at a meeting where Lin informed all in attendance there wasn’t a quorum and no votes would be taken.

At the meeting on Sept. 5, 2024, the commission heard presentations recommending approval from Alex Roy, a Planning Department staffer, and John Pipan, Jayasinghe’s land-use planner. Both affirmed Jayasinghe had agreed to the proposed conditions in the Planning Department’s recommendation, plus two additional conditions concerning fire protection measures and archaeological monitoring.

At the 2024 meeting’s conclusion, Daniele made a motion to deny the permit on the grounds that “the community doesn’t want this in their community,” Kubota’s ruling states.

“Obviously, they don’t want it, quite frankly I think it’s an eyesore …,” Daniele is quoted as having said while making the motion. “I don’t know how much time this guy from Texas has spent here.”

Then-Deputy Corporation Counsel Suzanne Tiapula pressed Daniele to clarify the basis of his motion for the record, to which Daniele replied, “the density of the project, the amount of people, the amount of traffic, the amount of infrastructure needs this thing is going to have to have,” according to the document.

In his ruling, Kubota wrote the project “is consistent with the objectives” of applicable law and commission rules and “is consistent with the county’s General Plan, the Hilo Community Development Plan and Zoning Code.”

“Specifically, the project would meet the criteria to increase rental opportunities and choices in terms of quality, cost, amenity, style, and size of housing, especially for low- and moderate-income households,” the judge noted.

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Email John Burnett at [email protected].