Key senator opposes Windward land deal
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer
Following pleas by dozens of residents and farmers, the head of a Senate committee will recommend against land transfers in Waiahole/Waikane valleys from the state Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
A vote on the issue by the committees on Water, Land and Agriculture, and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing will take place today.
The committees held a joint meeting Monday afternoon on Senate Concurrent Resolution 178, which opposes the land transfer. After more than two hours of testimony Sen. Russell Kokubun, chairman of Water, Land and Agriculture, said he will recommend approval of the resolution. Kokubun, D-2nd (S. Hilo, Puna, Ka'u), said he also would recommend an amendment to the resolution calling for the two agencies to undo an agreement for a land transfer that took place in December.
More than 70 farmers and residents from the two valleys squeezed into a Senate committee room to plead their case, sometimes through tears and as a group, in song.
HCDCH manages 92 leases for property in Waiahole and Waikane Valley, which was purchased by the state in 1977 to stop urban development there. The agency also controls land there that is not leased out. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has 20 leases there.
Robert Fernandez, who spoke of the ethnic and cultural diversity in the valleys, said he and others feared the land would eventually be given to Hawaiians, at the expense of the other cultures.
HCDCH wants to transfer the land to Hawaiian Home Lands because it has the experience to manage the water resource there, said Stephanie Aveiro, executive director of HCDCH.
David Chinen, president of the Waiahole-Waikane Community Association, said many of the people are concerned about the possible development of the water in the valley for use on the Leeward Coast.
Micah Kane, director of Hawaiian Home Lands, said DHHL would improve the water system for its beneficiaries and others.
"We're not interested in evicting families," Kane said.
