STAR-BULLETIN / 2002
A judge has ruled that a Kona developer repeatedly violated state law regarding Hawaiian burials. John De Fries, president of 1250 Oceanside Partners, stood at a pavilion on the company's 1,550-acre Hokuli'a residential project in March. Behind him is the landmark hill Puu Ohau.
Judge says developer KEALAKEKUA, HAWAII >> From 1998 to this year, the developer of an upscale, 1,550-acre residential project in Kona repeatedly violated state law regarding Hawaiian burials, a judge has ruled.
broke burial law
He faults the state and Hawaii County
for not stopping wrongdoingBy Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comKona Circuit Court Judge Ronald Ibarra issued the ruling Thursday against Oceanside1250 Partners, developer of the Hokuli'a project nine miles south of Kailua-Kona. The project consists of 730 one-acre house lots valued at up to $2.8 million each and an 18-hole golf course.
The wrongdoing listed by the judge in findings of fact included the puncturing of a lava tube that had been determined to be a burial cave, then filling it with rock debris, and the payment by the former president of the Oceanside of $1,000 to a state regulator, allegedly to benefit the regulator's church.
State and Hawaii County agencies that were supposed to regulate the project engaged in a "pattern of conduct" that permitted wrongdoing, Ibarra ruled.
But Ibarra stopped short of granting a request by the plaintiffs to terminate work on the project and to impose fines, said attorney Alan Murakami of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which represents plaintiff Protect Keopuka Ohana.
Instead, Ibarra ordered Oceanside to prepare a detailed plan on how it will deal with all burial sites on their property. The original archaeological survey of the project area found 31 burial sites, but later work found another 40 sites with at least 73 individual remains, he wrote.
Ibarra also gave the State Historic Preservation Division 60 days to identify cultural practices, such as burial practices, among descendants of people buried on project lands.
Ibarra ordered Oceanside to stop all "ground alteration" by Jan. 17 and prohibited a resumption until the burial plan and cultural practices study are complete.
Oceanside president John De Fries estimated that would cause the company a five-week delay.
"Five weeks is an expensive delay, but it's not going to kill us," De Fries said. "I'm grateful that the judge did not feel it necessary to stop the project."
De Fries said infrastructure for the first 230 lots is 80 percent complete, and about three dozen homes are in preparation, but no residents can move in until the first phase of a new highway through the project is completed in mid-2003.
Among the wrongs done by Oceanside was failure to allow descendants to conduct ceremonies when their ancestors bones were removed, Ibarra wrote.
The bones of a baby were identified as pig bones and were taken to Honolulu without notifying descendants, he wrote.
Oceanside 1250 Partners had an initial burial plan, but a less-strict "interim" plan was substituted by the state Archaeology Branch, Ibarra wrote. The state had no authority to make the substitution, and doing so allowed the state to "usurp and subvert the Legislative scheme," he wrote.
The state's inaction has "allowed Oceanside to avoid sanctions and penalties" for violations, Ibarra wrote.
The state Historic Preservation regulator who took the $1,000 payment from Oceanside also drank beer with an Oceanside vice-president on site, Ibarra wrote. The behavior of state officials indicates "concurrence" with the development rather than independent oversight, he wrote.
Ibarra ordered Oceanside to allow plaintiffs to monitor the project until the state and county can hire staff "without conflict of interest" to do monitoring.
County planning director Chris Yuen said the county has tried to hire a Kona inspector, but the only qualified applicants refused to work in Kona.
Gilbert Coloma-Agaran, head of the Department of Land and Natural Resources which includes Historic Preservation, said the state was not a party to this part of the extensive lawsuit.
State Historic Preservation Division
County of Hawaii
