Kahalu'u wetland use debated

By Eloise Aguilar
Advertiser Windward Bureau

KAHALU'U — A farmer says he is turning a pasture in Kahalu'u into a taro loi, but Councilman Steve Holmes calls it destroying a wetland.

Sitani Suguturaga looks over his newly tilled land off Waihe'e Road in Kahalu'u. The property is at the center of controversy over possible wetland destruction. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Suguturaga said when he purchased the land, he wasn't aware that it was a wetland, but he has since begun treating it as a wetland and is seeking the necessary permits. He's cleaned the streams running through the property, cleared trees and brush, and has begun tilling the land.

"We're not doing anything that is bad," Suguturaga said. "We're doing what was done in the olden days, and it's going to help the environment."

Suguturaga has filed for a permit to switch the use of the land from ranching to wetland taro farming with the Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over wetlands, said Alexander Kufel, Corps public affairs specialist.

The farmer has been in regular contact with the corps about what he can do on his land, Kufel said.

"Apparently, he's trying real hard to do the right thing," Kufel said.

However, Holmes said the farmer needs more than Corps approval, such as a shoreline management area and stream cleaning permit.

The councilman said Suguturaga is proceeding without those permits.

"He's running amok in there," Holmes said. "He's in there draining the wetland, digging trenches, putting in a road, putting in structures. Basically destroying the wetland."

Holmes said he's reported Suguturaga to the city building department, which cited the farmer for erecting a fence without a permit.

In 1993, the state identified the property as wetland, Holmes said, and in a 1994 resolution, the City Council supported public acquisition of the marsh.

In 1996, Congresswoman Patsy Mink, working with the support of Holmes, persuaded Congress to add Waihe'e Marsh to the O'ahu National Wildlife Refuge Complex. She was expected to secure federal financing to acquire and rehabilitate the wetland, Holmes said.

Holmes said he had hoped the wetland would be run for educational purposes, and he would still like that to happen.

"That was my vision," he said.

In a master plan for the property, Suguturaga identified the area next to Kamehameha Highway as a location for fishponds. He said the fishponds are part of his long-range plan, however, because he doesn't know much about fishponds.

Behind the fishponds Suguturaga has planned the wetland taro loi. He'll also grow other crops and vegetables.

To help finance the property, Suguturaga said, he will subdivide a hilltop portion of the land zoned R-3, for 10,000 square-foot lots, and will build five houses, selling four.

Suguturaga is in the landscape business and grows taro at two other locations, employing mostly family members. A Hawai'i resident for about 20 years, he said he spent the last four years in Fallbrook, Calif., raising his family and farming.

In Fallbrook, in northern San Diego County, Suguturaga said he took in problem teenagers and helped them turn their lives around. He said he'd like to do the same thing here, but not as a business.

Dan Bender, chairman of the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board, said only one person has called with concerns about Suguturaga, while another neighbor praised him. A woman was worried that he was going to build a juvenile delinquent rehabilitation center, Bender said.

"One neighbor thanked him for cleaning the stream, because every time it rained his property flooded," he said.

Sen. Bob Nakata, D-23rd (Kane'ohe-La'ie) said he's trying to make Suguturaga understand that he must seek information about what agencies he needs to contact for his project. As a whole, the community supports taro-growing there, Nakata said, but Suguturaga must abide by building regulations.

"We think it's worth working with him, but he needs to work with us, too," he said.