Man cuts up
historic Lahaina
plantation home

The plantation manager's house
is partly on his land, partly on an
Amfac parcel; he faces fines

By Gary Kubota
Star-Bulletin

WAILUKU -- A Lahaina landowner faces daily fines from the county Building Department for cutting and moving parts of a historic plantation manager's house without a permit.

Joseph Fedele didn't have a permit to cut and move the building, county Land Use Administrator Ralph Nagamine has charged.

The county ordered the landowner to stop work in early February.

Nagamine said Fedele will be assessed $100 tomorrow, and $50 a day thereafter until he obtains a permit.

The house belongs to Pioneer Mill, but a portion of the land under it was sold to Fedele.

Earlier this year, Fedele cut the house into three sections and placed the parts that were on his property onto the land owned by Pioneer Mill.

Attorney Richard Rost, representing Fedele, said his client had a legal right to do what he was doing and Pioneer Mill's parent company, Amfac/JMB Hawaii Inc., violated its agreement with him.

Fedele said he planned to move all of the house onto the property, but when it came time to do it, Amfac representatives wouldn't give him permission.

"His position is, everybody knew what was going on and if there is any fault, they're as culpable as him," Rost said.

Pioneer Mill has filed a lawsuit in Maui Circuit Court, asking Fedele to repair the original structure.

Pioneer Mill attorney Craig Nakamura said when Fedele bought two parcels from Amfac, the firm agreed to pay him $100,000 because the house encroached on a portion of his property.

Nakamura said Amfac was willing to have the entire house moved onto the Amfac property but did not approve cutting it into parts.

The house sits within the Lahaina National Historic Landmark district.

"It's individually significant as an early example of a plantation home," said Carol Ogata, an architect with the State Historic Preservation Division. Ogata said that in the past the division has indicated it would prefer to have the building preserved.

Near the house, constructed in 1918, is the site of the first Catholic Mass in Hawaii, held on Jan. 24, 1841.

"The way I see it chopped up now, I'm not so sure it's going to be put back together again," said Keoki Freeland, executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. "It's very unfortunate."

Freeland said when he lived in the house as plantation manager from 1990 to 1996, the one-story dwelling had three bedrooms, an office, two bathrooms and a large kitchen and dining room.