Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

Real Estate

The winner of a lawsuit against a County of Hawai‘i agency believes his verdict can help others who are struggling with building permit woes across the state.

California native Shahzaad Ausman has been embroiled in a dispute with Hawai‘i Island’s Department of Public Works for three years, with a home renovation project held up by conflicting and contradictory permit rules.

Ausman told Aloha State Daily that he purchased a home in Miloli‘i, on the west side of the Big Island, in 2021. That home was originally built in 1987, but after 30 years of coastal exposure, it was in need of renovations.

Ausman was not the home’s first buyer, he said. A buyer from Washington State had purchased the home a few years prior and had obtained the necessary permits from the county for the renovation in 2020.

“And then COVID hit right after,” Ausman said. With travel to Hawai‘i all but impossible, the previous buyer was unable to visit their property, let alone complete the project, and so they listed it for sale again, and Ausman eventually purchased it.

When Ausman took possession of the property, he said he checked to make sure all the permits on the house were valid. With the county’s confirmation, he began remodeling work in early 2022.

But when Ausman requested a county inspection, nobody from the Department of Public Works came, he said. Despite multiple calls to the department, he said he received no response until June 2, 2022, when they told him his permits had expired the day before.

“I said that didn’t make sense, because the permit should have been good for five years,” Ausman said. “They said no, it was the building permit from 1987 that had expired.”

Ausman said the county’s transition to its new online permitting system — the Electronic Processing and Inspection Center, or EPIC — had forced the expiration of his and many other property owners’ permits. 

When the county transitioned to the EPIC system, DPW decided to cancel all expired building permits. In 2021, when DPW announced the impending cancellations, the department stated that there were 40,000 building permits listed as “expired" in its system. 

But some pre-digital permits became listed as “expired” even though they had passed final inspection, although the department offered a grace period through 2022 that would allow such permit holders to apply for extensions. On June 1, 2022, that grace period ended, with as many as 6,840 building permits on the chopping block, 

according to prior reporting from the Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Ausman reasoned that the 1987 permit logically must have passed final inspection, because DPW would not have approved the 2020 alterations permit if it had not. But, later in 2022, he said DPW told him that not only was the entire house unpermitted, but all subsequent permits were null and void as a result. 

If Ausman wanted to live in the house, he would have to bring it up to current code and get a shoreline management area permit, which he called “a trap.”

“I would have to change every stick and nail of the house to bring it up to code,” Ausman said. “I’d basically have to rebuild the house.”

Ausman said he had no other choice than to bring the matter before the county’s Board of Appeals, which ruled “arbitrarily and capriciously” to uphold DPW’s decisions. Ausman noted that the same attorneys who advise the Board of Appeals advise DPW.

Following this, Ausman appealed the board’s decision in 2023, filing a lawsuit against the county and Stephen Pause, then the Public Works Director.

Oral arguments in the case were heard in February, and in March the Third Circuit Court rendered a verdict in favor of Ausman. 

“I couldn’t believe I’d won,” Ausman said. “It’s been a fight of three years, and they tried to wear me down, but I won.”

The court’s ruling stated that DPW acted in good faith when it issued the 2020 alterations permit, and that Ausman was reasonable in assuming that the permit remained valid when he purchased it, based on official assurances from the county. 

Consequently, the ruling found that it would be “unjust and unreasonable” for DPW to now revoke the 2020 permit and ordered the Hawai‘i County Board of Appeals to reverse its decision.

But even with a legal victory, the fight isn’t over, Ausman said. Following the verdict, he said the county reached out to his attorney — Kailua-Kona lawyer Patrick Wong — with a settlement offer.

[{"text":"“What is there to settle?” Ausman laughed. “I f---ing won.”","type":"text"}]

Ausman suspects that the county fears his case being used as legal precedent for other property owners whose permits have been similarly left in limbo following the EPIC transition. He added that the City and County of Honolulu is also shifting its permitting process from the current POSSE software to a new platform, Clariti, that could similarly cause growing pains.

The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting announced in March that it would purge inactive permit applications older than one year in advance of the transition, which could impact nearly 2,000 residential permit applications.

Meanwhile, Ausman’s Miloli‘i home still remains incomplete. Despite the verdict, he said DPW still hasn’t restored his permits, although he added that Wong is still drafting documents to officially enter the court order. 

“I’ve probably spent more than $250,000 on it, including attorney’s fees,” Ausman said, estimating that the work has been more than 70% complete for years.

[{"text":"Ausman said his case should serve as a warning to other homeowners.","type":"text"}]

“If they can do this to me, they can do it to so many more,” Ausman said. “You’ve got to be on top of it, keep researching for yourself and fight for your rights.”

Hawai‘i County DPW declined to comment on a legal matter, and referred ASD's queries to Hawai‘i County Corporation Counsel. ASD also reached out to Patrick Wong, Honolulu DPP and Corporation Counsel for additional comment.

Shahzaad Ausman pic 16x9

<title>Hawai‘i Island homeowner wins three-year permit battle</title>

Lawsuit against Hawai‘i County could set precedent for other permitting woes, plaintiff says.

Hawai‘i Island homeowner wins three-year permit battle

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

I wonder if there’s a civics course UH President Wendy Hensel can audit, because on Tuesday, April 22, she issued a statement on Instagram that suggests she may have forgotten the nature of the institution she works for.

“Today, I joined over 190 college and university leaders in signing a statement opposing government overreach and political interference in higher education,”  Hensel 

. “We reaffirm our commitment to academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas, standing united as a community to protect the core values of education.”

This, of course, is in response to federal grant cuts by the Trump administration, which is pursuing different priorities from previous administrations, using funding as leverage. There are a lot of sweeping claims in the letter about the purported independence of American universities in the golden age before Trump, which you can read 

I don’t even know where to start unpacking Hensel’s post, or the mentality of the letter's signatories, so let’s start at the beginning. 

Here in Hawai‘i, the UH owes its very existence to the federal government. In 1907, Hawai‘i Territorial Gov. George Carter signed into law Act 24 of the Territorial Legislature, creating what was then called the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. It was established as a 

That means UH was born out of the Morrill Acts of 

. These federal laws sought to beef up higher education among the states, with a stringent demand that the universities would emphasize vocational training to be of greater service to the industrializing nation's needs at the time. Not much academic freedom in that.

[{"text":"Where did the Morrill Acts find the money to pay for these colleges?","type":"text"}]

I hope my university readers are sitting down for this: The feds got the money by selling land that the federal government obtained from Native Americans, “treaties, agreements, and seizure," according to the National Archives.

This is, as they say on campus, “problematic.” You probably can’t walk 10 feet on the Mānoa campus without running into a grad student or a professor, steeped Howard Zinn’s baleful writing, who will tell you this was abject colonialism, white supremacy, dispossession, exploitation, and generally not very nice. By their own terms, the very definition of “government overreach and political interference."

[{"text":"Yet, here we are. UH exists because of it.","type":"text"}]

The 1890 follow-up is significant here because in that act, Republicans offered to extend the land-grant college system into the former Confederate states on the condition that their colleges prove they were not using race as a basis for admission. One of the things the more than 190 college and university leaders are upset about in 2025 is that the Trump administration is using grants to force them to reject their DEI-based policies.

Obviously, the university leaders and the Trump administration disagree on the merits of DEI, but no one can say it's unprecedented for the feds to use grant money to exert pressure on universities over race policies. 

There’s a fundamental misunderstanding by Hensel and the other university leaders protesting “government overreach” and “political interference.”

Some of those letter-signing institutions are nominally private but receive substantial sums of public money via grants and contracts, not to mention the special status afforded them as tax-exempt nonprofits. That status depends on government permission to be excused from the tax liabilities any other business would face, which leaves them open to public policy pressure. It’s a conditional status, organizations have to apply for it and agree to serve some public good in exchange for contributing less money than we do in the private sector. 

 government, state government, wholly, and always has been. Its priorities reflect someone’s politics and always have. In this reality, “overreach” and “interference” are meaningless slogans. Public universities belong to the people, and are subject the will of the people through the politicians they elect — whether university leaders like those politicians or not.

In practice, the universities know this and abide by it, despite their claims of independence. 

They don't lead, they follow and what they follow is the money. UH has done a phenomenal job at appealing to the priorities of the agencies under the previous administration, on track for $700 million in funding this year, Hensel described in 

 the fourth straight year of record-breaking grant funding.

If the letter-signing university leaders truly want to be free of that distortionary influence and have their independence, there’s exactly one way to do it: Stop. Taking. The. Money.

UH leaders have been out in force talking about the impact of the cuts. As Hensel outlined in her town hall, as of April 21, 48 federally funded programs had been terminated, paused or phased out, impacting 82 employees, costing UH $36 million in awards equating to $250,000 a month in payroll expenses. 

Here's some context she left out. In the 2024 fiscal year, the UH system 

 $1.136 billion. The cuts amount to 3% of that. As of 2023,

worked in the UH system. The 82 impacted so far represent 0.8% of the system’s total workforce.

Hensel said that university is financially stable and will be paying severance to terminated faculty and staff. She outlined how she has been instituting new financial controls on such things as hiring, contracts and travel. And that was the extent what she had to say as the leader of the UH system on what actions the system is taking to adapt, financially. No word about what could be done, or what was tried, to save those jobs or fund the research some other way.

In fact, that question didn't get addressed until 23 minutes into the 

. Couldn't the university simply take over the cancelled grants, someone asked. Kalbert K. Young, vice president for budget and finance and chief financial officer, answered, not Hensel. 

"Theoretically, that is a possibility," he said. "Right now we are on a position that, very cautious[ly], the state and the university cannot afford to take over funding that was previously provided by the U.S. federal government." 

A handful of surgically precise rescues might be mounted, he said, but, "As of today, generally, that is not the go-to approach."

It's a billion-dollar operation, but if the feds kill your research, the most you can expect UH is cut a severance check. No explanation of why that is. No one addressed how this squares with all the principled, high-minded statements about academic inquiry and university independence.

If it were my dissertation that got blown up, if I were part of the 0.8% of the workforce let go, I might be wondering why a system so huge can't handle a mere 3% hit. Nothing can be done? Really? No money can be moved, no priorities shifted? 

Well, terminated UH employees, it's not like absolutely nothing was done to help you. 

[{"text":"Hensel signed a letter.","type":"text"}]

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His irresponsible, socially unacceptable opinions are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

Bachman Hall UH Manoa 020725

<title>Pipikaula Corner: UH joins the Resistance</title>

But I have questions about its claims that it was ever politically independent.

Pipikaula Corner: UH joins the Resistance

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Campbell High School is set a receive a $25.3 million upgrade to its athletic complex. 

The new athletic facility will include new lights and bleachers to seat 3,000 spectators at its football field, as well as a new press box. Other upgrades across the department include a new locker room building, a weight room, and offices.

On Thursday afternoon, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in ‘Ewa Beach, attended by Campbell students and staff, as well as Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, DOE superintendent Keith Hayashi, Sen. Kurt Fevella, Rep. David Alcos III, Rep. Julie Reyes Oda and Rep. Elijah Pierick. 

In recent years, the Sabers received turf upgrades to their baseball, softball and football fields.

[{"text":"The upgrades are projected to be ready by September 2026. ","type":"text"}]

“I’m excited to see this day finally happen as we take a significant step toward properly supporting our student-athletes. Today signifies a reciprocal level of commitment and dedication to our student-athletes," principal Jon Henry Lee said in a press release. "It’s a great day for Campbell High School.”

Thursday's announcement was the second phase of a athletics project upgrade at Campbell. The first phase included a new track and field surface surrounding its football field, which was completed in 2023. 

With an enrollment of 2,890 for the 2024-2025 school year, Campbell is the state of Hawai‘i's largest public school. 

Campbell renderings

<title>Campbell High School breaks ground on $25.3 million athletic facility upgrade</title>

September 2026 is the projected completion date.

Campbell High School breaks ground on $25.3 million athletic facility upgrade

Get the latest news, updates, and insights from across the Islands, delivered straight to your inbox.

Homepage Full Width Newsletter

Make Aloha part of your day, everyday

Public housing agency evicted a woman in 2021 when a guest, her son, attacked a neighbor with a bat. She fought back.

I Stock 178835830 16x9

Pearl City tenant wrongfully evicted after baseball bat attack, state Supreme Court rules

Poirier, who has defeated Holloway twice, is set to retire following the fight in New Orleans.

UFC general 042525

Waianae's Max Holloway to take on Dustin Poirier at UFC 318

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Sip ‘N Slide just opened in Lāʻie Village Center.

Sip n Slide sodas 042325

This new soda shop has an indoor playground

Cheryl Tsutsumi

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi

Kahuku-born and -raised, Melvin Matsuda decamped to California in the early ’70s with his black belt and ran successful martial arts schools in San Bernadino and Palm Springs for five years. But when his father asked if he would come home to look after the family farm, he signed on, came home, and never looked back.

Mel Matsuda Tractor

Uncles and Aunties: Melvin Matsuda, the karate farmer of Kahuku

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts previously sponsored the Hawai‘i Bowl from 2003 to 2013.

Hawai‘i Bowl 042425

Sheraton returns as Hawai‘i Bowl sponsor

Headlines

Savaiinaea was selected by the Dolphins in the second round with the 37th overall selection.

Jonah Savaiinaea 042525

Saint Louis alumnus Jonah Savaiinaea selected by Miami Dolphins in NFL Draft

<title>Aloha State Daily – Hawaii News, Island Culture, Breaking Events, Sports & Community…</title>

Alternatives for how the new Aloha Stadium will be built are being considered due to the results of House Bill 300.

New Aloha Stadium remains on track despite $49.5 million hurdle

Ajitama Hawaiʻi offers ramen egg musubi, matcha and more

New ajitama musubi is an “egg-cellent” addition to the Kakaʻako neighborhood

Located in the Nā Lama Kukui Lifestyle & Design Center in Iwilei, a grand opening is planned for Sunday, May 4.

HPM Building Supply to host grand opening for O‘ahu Design Centers

The four-time Grammy award winner and five-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano award winner is back to his Hawaiʻi Island roots with this free concert in Hilo during Merrie Monarch Festival.

News

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

Sports

Business & Tourism

Real Estate

Food & Dining

Entertainment

Arts & Culture

Aloha Spirit

Hawaii History

Opinion

Daily Features

News

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

Sports

Business & Tourism

Real Estate

Food & Dining

Entertainment

Arts & Culture

Aloha Spirit

Hawaii History

Opinion

Daily Features

Headlines

Pearl City tenant wrongfully evicted after baseball bat attack, state Supreme Court rules

Waianae's Max Holloway to take on Dustin Poirier at UFC 318

This new soda shop has an indoor playground

Uncles and Aunties: Melvin Matsuda, the karate farmer of Kahuku

Hawai‘i Island homeowner wins three-year permit battle

Sheraton returns as Hawai‘i Bowl sponsor

Aloha State Daily - Hawaii News

News

Headlines

Pearl City tenant wrongfully evicted after baseball bat attack, state Supreme Court rules

Waianae's Max Holloway to take on Dustin Poirier at UFC 318

This new soda shop has an indoor playground

Uncles and Aunties: Melvin Matsuda, the karate farmer of Kahuku

Hawai‘i Island homeowner wins three-year permit battle

Sheraton returns as Hawai‘i Bowl sponsor