House could be used by Hospice Maui

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WAILUKU - The county administration is considering another way to dispose of a luxury home built on oceanfront beach property at Kapukaula, also known as Montana Beach, in Paia.

Now, instead of dismantling and selling at auction the house built by Dennis and Dianne Holland in 2001, the county is considering allowing Hospice Maui to relocate and use it on county property it already occupies at the top of Mahalani Street, across from Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares said that the county has been exploring different options, with the Hospice Maui alternative appearing to be a "good fit."

"They're already on county property that has room for this house," she said Tuesday, adding it's a "very nice house" that would be a comfortable place for terminally ill patients to spend some of their last days.

Tavares, however, stressed that talks with Hospice Maui were only preliminary.

Hospice Maui Chief Executive Officer Greg LaGoy said he was aware of discussions about moving the Montana Beach house to the Mahalani Street property.

"That would serve our needs quite well," he said Tuesday. "Our current office building is smaller than we need."

Also, the current Hospice Maui office is sitting on property eyed for future construction of a 12-bed inpatient facility for hospice clients, he said.

LaGoy said it would be "very disruptive" to his agency's services if the agency needed to move its office to another location while the inpatient facility is built. A better option would be to move the Montana Beach house to the 4-acre Mahalani Street property and use that as offices, then making space available for the new facility.

A 2001 appraisal of the 2,500-square-foot Montana Beach house described the raised building as having high-end materials and workmanship, including mahogany, slate and marble flooring, teak wood vaulted ceilings, a Jacuzzi tub, central air conditioning, mango and koa wood kitchen cabinetry and top-end appliances, among other amenities. The property also has two separate guest rooms.

LaGoy said the house has 35 percent more space than Hospice Maui has now.

He also emphasized that the county was only "exploring options," but if the Montana Beach house were provided to the nonprofit its current office would be made available to another organization on the island.

LaGoy said Hospice Maui is not in a hurry to move into new office space. The plan to build the 12-bed facility is foreseen in the "next few years."

"We're not about to break ground on it," he said. If the process takes "a bit of time . . . (but) we have that time."

LaGoy said he understood the idea of providing the residence to Hospice Maui for its use dated back five years, and it was something that the Hollands proposed to the county as part of lawsuit settlement discussions.

However, he said, the house would be too small for a hospice patient facility. Instead, it would be used for office space.

County spokeswoman Mahina Martin said her understanding of discussions about the house was that Hospice Maui would pay to have the house relocated and make whatever improvements would be necessary. But the county would retain ownership because the home would be on county property, she said.

On Tuesday, the Maui County Council's Committee of the Whole was prepared to discuss a resolution authorizing the county administration to sell the Montana Beach home, but the panel deferred action when administration officials said they were exploring other options.

Committee members heard public testimony in favor of keeping the house at the beach site and turning it into a campsite or an environmental or cultural center.

Committee Chairman Mike Molina said that the panel decided to keep the matter before the committee and to conduct a site inspection. He said he expected to see a revised proposal from the administration within 60 days.

Last year, the county ended a six-year lawsuit by purchasing the final empty lot on the Montana Beach property as part of a $4.1 million settlement. The county had previously settled with two other landowners of the property by purchasing the other part of the site and the vacant house for $6.4 million.

Documents included in the County Council binder on the proposed sale of the Montana Beach house showed that a lawyer representing the Hollands objected to the sale of the house to a private party as a residence, even if the home were moved elsewhere.

"The Hollands were willing to sell their house to the county, provided that it was used for public purposes and not sold by the county for private use," said attorney Louise Ing.

Corporation Counsel Brian Moto said his office disagreed with the Hollands' position, maintaining the county has broad authority to dispose of the property as it deems fit, but he nevertheless advised council members of the risk of further litigation because the county's settlement with the Hollands contains a provision about public purposes only.

He also noted a "significant" amount of beach erosion at the Montana Beach property, at a rate of 1.5 to 3 feet per year, indicating the need to move the residence in the not-too-distant future.

* Brian Perry can be reached at citydesk@mauinews.com.