Homes to be rebuilt in lower Puna

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

KALAPANA, Hawai'i — After more than a decade of waiting, Native Hawaiian families who lost their homes to lava from the long-running Kilauea eruption have hope of re-establishing residences in lower Puna.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources signed an agreement yesterday with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to establish the 150-acre Kikala-Keokea subdivision on state-controlled land.

The signing ceremony was held at the famous Painted Church of Kalapana, which in 1990 was moved out of the path of an oncoming lava flow and is now a community center.

Under the agreement, about $2.7 million, including $1.35 million in OHA money, will be spent on infrastructure to support the new community. The money will be used to extend waterlines into the area, upgrade existing roadways to county standards, address drainage concerns and install fire hydrants.

The project was authorized by the Legislature in 1990.

The eruption, which began in January 1983, has destroyed more than 200 structures. Many of the families forced to move because of the lava flow have been living with relatives elsewhere on the Big Island or camping on the beach.