Here’s the latest development in the reconsideration process in the Turtle Bay/Kuilima EIS case, Unite Here! Local 5 v. City and County of Honolulu, No. 28602 (Apr. 8, 2010).
As we noted earlier, Kuilima Resort Company filed a motion asking the Hawaii Supreme Court to reconsider or clarify its opinion in the case. Recently, a motion for leave to file an amicus brief in support of Kuilima’s motion for reconsideration was filed by the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii and a whole bunch of others (too numerous to list, but read the brief if you need to know who they are).
The motion argues:
Movants seek to file an amicus curiae brief to apprise the Court of important legal issues and public interests at stake in this precedent-setting case of first impression including, but are not limited to, how:
1. The Court Opinion, unless reconsidered or clarified, has created new regulatory requirements and policies and/or substituted its judgment for the existing land use process and decisions made by the legislature and relevant government agencies.
2. The Court Opinion will, and is already, affecting other projects in the State, subjecting uncompleted projects to a cloud of uncertainty and time limitations and other new requirements not known to exist until the Decision.
3. The Court Opinion, unless reconsidered or clarified, has already had and will continue to have far-reaching and a negative impact on the development of market and affordable housing, the visitor industry, the construction industry, lenders, and on Hawaii’s economy as a whole.
Motion at 2-3.