The company behind the $100 million Victoria Ward Village Shops redevelopment project in Kaka'ako is being told by the state to leave 30 sets of iwi, Hawaiian burial remains, where they've been found.

That decision by Historic Preservation Division chief Melanie Chinen could severely hamper, if not derail entirely, General Growth Properties' plans for a 17-story residential tower on the 'ewa-makai portion of the six-acre parcel.

The decision was spelled out in a letter sent Monday from Chinen to General Growth executive John Behling.

"The burials can be left in place without exposing them to harm if the condominium structure proposed for the burial ground is relocated or redesigned to avoid this area," she wrote.

General Growth officials, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, previously warned that it would be difficult for them to redesign the project with the burials left in place.

Chinen has not yet ruled on seven other sets of iwi that have been found on the site, including those unearthed in the diamondhead-mauka section, where a Whole Foods store is planned.

SHPD and the O'ahu Island Burial Council have been wrestling with the growing number of remains located on the Ward site, a source of concern for a majority of the region's cultural descendants — people who can prove their ancestors once lived within a certain ahupua'a, or traditional land division — who believe their traditional Hawaiian cultural practices dictate that the iwi be preserved in place.

Under state law, it is up to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, ostensibly through its historic preservation division, to determine the fate of any inadvertent discovery of human skeletal remains and burial goods more than 50 years old.

In all, some 45 sets of iwi have been unearthed. General Growth previously had been given permission to relocate 11 sets previously found. Some of the cultural descendants have filed a lawsuit asking that they be returned to where they were found.

Reached yesterday, Chinen declined to comment, citing the pending litigation brought by the cultural descendants.

Besides making a determination on the 30 sets, Chinen recommended in her letter that at least some of those already relocated from the 'ewa-makai portion be reinterred "near to their initial discovery locations."

Wrote Chinen: "We believe this action would bring a culturally appropriate closure to this issue and provides GGP the opportunity to publicly demonstrate its good will toward native Hawaiian cultural values."

Chinen also asked that other remains "currently curated by the state from the Ward area" be placed with the 30 sets.

A dispute erupted over iwi found during construction of the Wal-Mart/Sam's Club complex on Ke'eaumoku Street. That issue has not yet been resolved, and the iwi have remained in a trailer on-site since 2004.

Opponents of a planned major expansion at Turtle Bay Resort cite the discovery of ancient burial remains as a reason for the city to hold up permits necessary for the project to move forward. In that case, Chinen advised that the developer rethink its plans, although it legally is not obligated to do so. So far, it has not.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.