Maui Council panel OKs
land grant

WAILUKU » A Maui County Council committee has agreed to allot $1 million for the Trust for Public Land to purchase and preserve a culturally rich section of East Maui coastline.

The Trust for Public Land hopes to turn over Muolea Point to the county by the end of the year.

The 70 acres of rocky shoreline at Muolea Point had once been used as a summer home by King David Kalakaua. The site adjoins a parcel of 430 acres held by the Ho'onipa'a No Hana Foundation, a Hana-based land trust that wants to establish a cultural preserve on the lands.

The East Maui community has agreed to come up with a management plan to take care of the land.

The Budget and Finance Committee's vote on Thursday sends the last piece of funding needed to the full Council for approval.

The Trust for Public Land had been waiting for the Council to approve the grant after it had been left out of the 2004-05 budget.

The trust has already committed to buy the land with a $4.05 million short-term loan. The group had received most of the remaining $3 million for the purchase -- a federal grant last year of $2.1 million and additional funding from the state and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Another grant -- $172,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- was announced last week.