Trust to discuss preservation of Kane'ohe ridges
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau
KANE'OHE — From the Oneawa Ridge between Kane'ohe and Kailua to the Pu'u Pueo Ridge between Waikane and Hakipu'u, Kane'ohe Bay is known for its spectacular ridges that connect the Ko'olau Range to the ocean.
What: A meeting scheduled by the Community Trust for Kane'ohe Bay When: 9 to 11 a.m. tomorrow Where: Kokokahi YWCA, 45-035 Kane'ohe Bay Drive in Kane'ohe Topic: The geology, ancient and cultural history, near-shore and marine components of the bay; the nuts and bolts of land use and zoning.
These ridges have at times become a battleground between neighbors who want to exercise their rights to build and others arguing to protect view planes.
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Public forum
Since its formation in 1997, the Community Trust for Kane'ohe Bay has been working to eliminate such disputes and preserve the ridges through education and planning.
At a public forum tomorrow, the trust will release the preliminary findings of a study on four major ridges and seek public comments, said Amy Luersen, chairwoman of the trust.
Luersen said the study was fostered by a disturbing discovery: Conservation district land isn't protected from development. So one thing the study looks at are lots that are split-zoned urban/conservation and trying to determine the chances for development.
The need for a Kane'ohe land trust arose out of community battles over land development, said Luersen, who has seen her share of controversy as a member of the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board for 10 years.
"I didn't want to spend my whole life fighting with people," she said, adding that a land trust offers peaceful options to landowners who want to protect key views or accesses and at the same time receive tax or estate planning benefits.
When a battle over a housing development in He'eia Kea ended with the developer's offering to give the community land in exchange for support, the community decided it had to find the mechanism to accept land, Luersen said. The Kane'ohe land trust, a nonprofit group operated by a 15-member board, fills that need.
Land trusts also can ensure access to important areas such as the ocean along Kane'ohe Bay and become stewards of property where the trust is responsible for raising any money needed to maintain the area, Luersen said.
Successful on the Mainland, land trusts have proliferated in the Islands in the past two years, said Teresa McHugh, project manager for the Trust for Public Land Hawaiian Islands field office.
"What's driving the formation of land trusts is citizens who are concerned about their community and lands they'd like to have protected for public use or conservation," McHugh said.
About a dozen land trusts exist in Hawai'i, she said.
The Trust for Public Land, which operates as the conduit for placing private land under public care, helped the Kane'ohe land trust form. The public land trust also granted the Kane'ohe trust $7,500 to conduct its study of four ridges: Oneawa, Pu'u Pueo, Ma'eli'eli in Kahalu'u and Pu'u Kauai between Ka'alaea and Waiahole valleys.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
