State’s pledge to
Hawaiians of
Kalapana nears
fulfillment

The appropriations to develop
new land will help some
displaced families to rebuild

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By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

It has been a decade since the state promised four dozen Hawaiian families displaced by Kilauea's lava flows through Kalapana in 1990 that they would get a new place for their tightly knit community to continue their traditional lifestyle.

A law that went into effect yesterday is the latest attempt by the state to keep that promise by paying for the needed water, roads and other infrastructure.

"To me, I see it as a completion of something we promised a long time ago," said Sen. Jonathan Chun (D, South Kauai-Niihau), chairman of the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee. "I know it meant a lot to the people 10 years ago, and I think it still does."

A 1938 federal law intending to preserve the unique way of life at one of the last Hawaiian fishing villages on the Big Island provided that native Hawaiians in Kalapana be given leases for home sites and fishing rights in the area.

In 1990 the unstoppable rivers of lava that Kilauea began sending out in 1983 wiped out Kalapana, turning much of the once lush coastal landscape into barren rock. More than 180 homes were destroyed, including 58 owned by native Hawaiians.

A 1991 state law opened the way for the native Hawaiians displaced at Kalapana to set up a new community two miles away in the Kikala-Keokea homestead area adjacent to the Kalapana-Kapoho Beach Road with long-term leases on 1-acre lots.

Forty-eight families who accepted the offer have been waiting patiently for the state to ready the property and are anxious to get back on the land, which is similar to the Kalapana area they lost, said Kimo Peleiholani-Blankenfeld.

"We've just been waiting. My mom said as soon as the bill passes, then we'll be able to start working," said Peleiholani-Blankenfeld, whose mother, Edleen "Aunty Tootsie" Peleiholani, has been pressing lawmakers for years.

Most of the families remain scattered throughout the Kalapana area "and have stayed in touch, keeping our community alive," he said.

Some have been planting crops on their designated lots in Kikala-Keokea, and others have begun preparing driveways and made other preparations, said Peleiholani- Blankenfeld.

The site "allows the Kalapana families to develop the land in a manner that will enable them to continue their traditional way of life by raising small animals, planting subsistence crops, growing herbal medicines and gathering additional food resources from the nearby oceans and uplands," according to the 1991 law.

It also appropriated $1.75 million for low-interest loans of up to $35,000 for building homes that were exempt from zoning and building codes provided they meet the minimum requirements for health and safety. To date, only one loan has been granted.

Making the building costs as low as possible for the families through relaxed building and zoning codes jeopardized any chance of getting the homeowners insurance required by the banks to qualify for the loans, Chun said.

Those loans also were jeopardized by the lack of adequate infrastructure to sustain a community, he said.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources recently completed roads and waterlines to the subdivision and, with a new appropriation approved by lawmakers, will be able to put roads and waterlines in the subdivision, Chun said.

A similar bill was approved last year, but Gov. Ben Cayetano vetoed that measure because of questions over its language and the legality of its appropriation.

Those concerns were resolved in this year's bill, Chun said.

The new measure appropriates $1.75 million from the state to be matched by up to $1.35 million from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to complete the needed infrastructure.

If there are no further complications, the Hawaiians could start building and moving in about two years, Chun said.