OHA considers The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs is considering the purchase of cemetery plots.
buying cemetery
The agency's trustees want
OHA's future discussed
to provide plots for Hawaiians,
most likely at a discountBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com
"We're very excited about this," said Rowena Akana, OHA trustee. "This is a very good project."
OHA trustees at a Halloween -eve board meeting on Kauai will vote on whether to pursue a legal review of buying a cemetery, based on a recommend- ation yesterday by its Land Committee.
Officials at Paradise Memorial Park in Kamilonui Valley, Hawaii Kai, have submitted four proposals over the past year that offered the agency a portion of a 68.3-acre site.
Basically, OHA would sell plots bought from the park to Hawaiians, most likely at a discounted rate. The park would maintain OHA plots for a fee.
Paradise Memorial has already obtained all the necessary government permits to develop the property for a cemetery.
There is roughly a ratio of 1,000 cemetery plots per acre.
Outgoing trustee Charles Ota first raised the cemetery idea more than 18 months ago when he suggested OHA and the state Hawaiian Homes Commission combine resources to create cemeteries on homestead lands for Hawaiians.
That idea was seen as similar to what the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl is for military veterans.
Akana said that joint effort never materialized. Under this proposal, OHA would buy a yet unspecified number of acres from the park for plots for Hawaiian descendants and their families.
Akana, who has been at OHA for 12 years, said she has seen numerous requests to the agency from Hawaiians looking for help in finding a resting place for deceased family members.
OHA hired an independent consultant, John Child & Co., last fall to review Paradise Memorial Park's proposal. The firm reported the average annual plot sales for the top three major cemeteries on Oahu ranged between 1,800 and 2,400 plots. It found the average price of cemetery plots and endowment care ranged between $2,750 to $3,410.
Also, the report showed an inventory of 52,359 plots available at major Oahu cemeteries and an additional 337,000 plots for expansion.
Overall, the firm concluded that the cemetery's plan was incomplete and recommended OHA conduct a legal study to design a counterproposal to protect its interests.
OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona agreed trustees need much more information before deciding whether it is a good idea to buy cemetery property.
"My personal opinion is, when you enter into stuff you're buying, I think you should have full information," Apoliona said yesterday.
The board is expected to review the legal issues of the proposed purchase in January, after trustees reorganize leadership following the Nov. 5 general elections. It is at that time that trustees will decide whether to proceed with the cemetery purchase.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs