Waikiki Hotel Plan Caught In Honolulu's Tangled Web

Flickr: WireLizard

Hawaii has more than 1.3 million residents, but sometimes it can feel like a very small place.

A recent meeting of the Honolulu Zoning Board of Appeals was surely one of those times. Of the five board members asked to evaluate the merits of a controversial hotel redevelopment in Waikiki, two recused themselves after disclosing direct connections to the hotelier and a third may yet be disqualified after the Honolulu Ethics Commission weighs in.

The proposal in question would replace the existing Diamond Head Tower attached to the historic Moana Surfrider hotel. The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting has given Kyo-ya, owner of the Surfrider as well as the Royal Hawaiian and Sheraton Waikiki, the green light for a tower some 300 feet tall.

But the last approval has been challenged. Honolulu Planning Director David Tanoue in December granted partial approval of a zoning variance that would allow the new tower to violate the city's shoreline height setback rule. Environmental opponents appealed the decision to the Zoning Board of Appeals, where it now sits.

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