Groups join to save Maui land
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
The Trust for Public Land has joined a Hana, Maui, foundation in a fund-raising drive aimed at raising $4 million to save Mu'olea Point on the East Maui coast from development.
The groups say they want to acquire a 70-acre property that is rich in natural and cultural resources. They have until March 31, and if the effort is successful, the Trust for Public Land will purchase the property and convey it to Maui County, which will own it in perpetuity, said Theresa McHugh, project manager with the trust's Hawai'i office.
The Ho'onipa'a No Hana Foundation will then hold a conservation easement that restricts development and requires a local voice in land management in the future, McHugh said.
The land, on the coast between Hana and Kipahulu, was once a place of respite for Hawai'i's royalty. King Kalakaua maintained a summer home there until his death in 1891, and it was passed to his sister, Queen Lili'uokalani, the last Hawaiian monarch.
Today, the land is used for pasture. The property's archaeological features include the remnants of a fishing village and a heiau. Hana residents fish on the coastline, and endangered monk seals bask on the shore. Native 'o'opu and 'opae are found in the Ala'alaula Stream at the property's edge.
McHugh said landowner Hanahuli Association Ltd. approached the trust about buying the property, but set a deadline of the end of March before offering it to another buyer.
The land was appraised at $4.5 million, but offered to the trust for $4 million.
With rural zoning, the owner could develop up to 140 homes on the land, said state Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (Hana, Moloka'i, Lana'i), a member of the Ho'onipa'a No Hana Foundation board of directors.
In addition to private donations, the trust is hoping to obtain $2 million in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration money set aside for coastal land preservation, McHugh said.
Development would irreparably scar the landscape and likely sever the community from a piece of its past, she said.
"This is a compelling piece of land and a compelling project,'' McHugh said.
English said the Ho'onipa'a No Hana Foundation hopes to combine the 70 acres with a 430-acre mauka property previously donated to the group by Judith Kliban Bixby, part-time Hana resident and widow of B. Kliban, who was famous for his cat cartoons, and actor Bill Bixby.
The group has awarded a contract to Counterpart International Inc. to create a strategic and financial plan for ongoing management of the mauka property. A plan should be ready by midyear, English said.
