State rescinds
Waiahole transfer

The housing director apologizes for
not understanding the area's long struggle

The state's top housing official apologized to Waiahole Valley residents yesterday for approving a transfer of land that could have left them without homes or farms.

Stephanie Aveiro said she realized she had made a mistake as soon as she convinced the Housing and Community Development Corporation to approve the transfer of state land in the valley to the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands last November.

During a meeting yesterday, the corporation's board corrected that mistake by voting to rescind the transfer.

Aveiro apologized to some 50 residents and members of the Waiahole-Waikane Community Association who were at the meeting.

"It was truly a lack of understanding of that valley on my part, and the mission that was started 30 years ago. In case you don't know it, I'm a Maui girl, and literally I must have been thinking about 30 years ago, because I really had no sense of that mission" to retain the rural and agricultural character of Waiahole, Aveiro said.

The residents' association president, David Chinen, cited a lack of communication. He invited state housing officials to form a joint committee with residents to discuss issues and decisions regarding Waiahole.

"Hopefully they'll take advantage of that," he said.

Yesterday's vote had long been anticipated.

As part of its plan to transfer Waiahole Valley lands to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the housing corporation had issued eviction notices to residential lessees who had yet to build a home, and to agricultural lessees who were not actively farming the land. But the corporation rescinded the eviction notices almost as soon as they were mailed, following public uproar.

After the Nov. 14 corporation board vote, Hawaiian Home Lands Director Micah Kane told Waiahole residents that his department would not go where it was not wanted.

Waiahole Valley was part of a larger transfer agreement with Hawaiian Home Lands that included state housing projects on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. Hawaiian Home Lands has accepted transfers of the housing projects in Kapolei, Lahaina and Kealakehe but not Waiahole Valley.

In the past state legislative session, lawmakers in the state Senate and House unanimously approved a joint resolution opposing the transfer of Waiahole Valley land to Hawaiian Home Lands.

The state bought Waiahole Valley in 1977 for $6.1 million from Elizabeth Loy Marks, who tried to evict the 100 families living and farming there to make way for a housing development. The residents' fight against eviction was a rallying cry for 1970s anti-development protests.

After years of negotiation and disputes, the residents signed long-term leases with the state in 1995. The people living and farming there today are the original residents and their children who fought off eviction. Earlier this year, the housing corporation agreed to sell residents half of the leasehold interest in their leased properties to help finance mortgage loans.