KAILUA — After four months of monitoring by a community watchdog group, city officials have issued a notice of violation to McKenna Motors Hawai'i for the storage of automobiles in the parking lot at the Daiei store in Kailua.

According to the Aug. 5 notice, a storage yard (outdoor storage of vehicles) is not a permitted use on the B-2 Community Business District zoned lot. McKenna was told to remove the vehicles by Sept. 5 or face fines and possible prosecution.

The company said it would remove the vehicles by Sept. 1.

The violation stems from a request to investigate the storage of vehicles in the parking garage next to the Longs Drug Store, said Don Bremner, spokesman for community group Keep It Kailua.

"We don't want all of Kailua to be turned into a new-car lot," said Bremner, a Kailua resident. "Every space that becomes available, McKenna seems to move into."

Auto dealer Mike McKenna said the vehicles would be moved from Daiei to a lot on Oneawa Street.

"We're totally legal in the parking structure because those cars move all the time," he said. "The inspector comes out about every 10 days."

McKenna sells Mazdas and Fords on Kailua Road.

McKenna is known for his support of the state's education system. He is approaching his personal goal of contributing $1 million to Hawai'i's schools through 10,000 checks of $100 each.

McKenna also has given away more than 25 cars as door prizes to encourage students to attend "Project Grad" alcohol- and drug-free graduation celebrations at Hawai'i high schools.

Bremner said the issue came to a head when McKenna leased the top floor of the Kailua garage in 2004 from Kane'ohe Ranch Co. Ltd. Bremner and Libby Tomar, also a Kailua resident, had asked the city for a ruling on whether that was a permitted use for the parking lot.

A September ruling by the city Department of Planning and Permitting said McKenna was parking — not storing — as long as the cars did not remain there for more than 10 days, Bremner said.

Keep It Kailua monitored the garage and the Daiei parking lot for four months and found that the cars remained at the lots for more than two months at a time, he said.

"When informed of these facts, the DPP agreed that the usage was storage, not parking, and that resulted in the violation notice at Daiei," Bremner said.

McKenna said he is mystified as to why the community group is criticizing his company. Recently, Tomar filed a complaint against the dealership for parking cars at the Mazda store on Oneawa, he said.

"I don't have the faintest idea what these people want and what they're doing," McKenna said. "They're just creating havoc for us."

Tomar said the point is to follow the zoning code that bans car storage in business areas.

"Basically I just don't like to see so many cars in Kailua," Tomar said, calling the town "Car-lua."

She said she's concerned about sending the wrong message to kids that the focus of life is the automobile, and that she thought more should be done to promote walking in the town.

Ivan Matsumoto, supervisor of the city Commercial and Multifamily Code Enforcement Branch, said an inspector investigated the situation.

"It's not supposed to be for storage of vehicles for a business that is not there," Matsumoto said, adding that the inspector is still looking into the parking- garage issue but that he didn't know any details about that. "There is a ruling that allows them to have short-term storage there."

If McKenna doesn't comply, fines and possible prosecution could result. Matsumoto said that in the past, the city has fined dealerships $50 a vehicle for violations.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.