Posted on: Friday, December 27, 2002

Royal burial hill goes to court

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

Foes of the Hokuli'a luxury residential subdivision upslope of Kealakekua on the Big Island have gone to court in an attempt to protect sacred burials on Pu'u Ohau.

The Protect Keopuka 'Ohana filed a motion last week asking the Big Island Circuit Court to enforce a 2001 settlement agreement between the group and the state addressing the issue. Judge Ronald Ibarra continued the hearing until Jan. 31.

"We are asking for this extraordinary relief because the state appears to be dragging its feet on forcing (developer 1250) Oceanside (Partners) to build the 6-foot-high wall at the base of the pu'u,'' said Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation attorney Alan Murakami.

Pu'u Ohau, commonly called Red Hill, rises 230 feet at the shoreline in the middle of the 1,500-acre project that includes a golf course, 700 residential lots, a member's lodge, club house, pavilion and tennis courts.

Recognized as sacred to Native Hawaiians in the project's archaeological survey conducted by Cultural Surveys Hawai'i, the hill is believed to hold the crypt of the grandmother of Queen Lili'uokalani and King Kalakaua as well as scores of other royal remains.

In 1999, the Hawai'i Island Burial Council recommended that a 6-foot wall be constructed around the base of the hill for perpetual protection of the historic site. Representatives of 1250 Oceanside Partners agreed to build a wall.

At dispute today is where the wall is to go. Oceanside officials contend the placement of the wall could still allow for the sale of a handful of multimillion-dollar hillside lots.

State Historic Preservation Division officials could not be reached for comment this week, but they previously said they were still trying to figure out where the wall should be placed. In October, they asked the developer to hand-clear some of the hillside lot areas to re-identify previously known archaeological sites and identify new ones.

In October 2001, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources issued a cease-and-desist order following reports of clearing on the hill. The order noted the confusion over where the wall should go.

As part of its litigation over the project, the Protect Keopuka 'Ohana entered into a settlement agreement in October 2001 that left such enforcement issues to the state. In the agreement, DLNR is required to enforce placement of the wall after consultation with the burial council.

The group has sent several notices to the state demanding action on the issue in accordance with the settlement agreement, but nothing has happened, said Jack Kelly, vice president of the Protect Keopuka 'Ohana.