Board Talk

Land Board Raps Mo`omomi Hui for Unpermitted Shoreline Slab

“No treat me like one criminal. No treat me like I did something wrong…. I did something that is good for the community. And I think I better stop myself before I get one heart attack,” Kelson Poepoe told the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on August 22. That day, the board’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands had recommended that the conservation group Hui Malama o Mo`omomi, where Poepoe serves as resource manager, be fined $2,000, plus $300 in administrative costs, for constructing a 150-square-foot concrete slab at the shore of Mo`omomi without a Conservation District Use Permit.

In his testimony before the board, Poepoe explained that he installed the slab in 2001 to protect the shore, which was being chewed up by vehicles taking boats in and out of the water. In written testimony, he stated that more than 1,000 native Hawaiians living in the nearby Ho`olehua Homesteads, who rely on subsistence fishing, benefit from the ramp.

“The cement slab is just one of many actions taken by the Hui to accomplish its mission of fixing problems along the Mo`omomi coast….We do not expect help from state agencies in addressing such problems because we have never received any help that has been requested in our 14-year history of community-based resource management,” he said in written testimony.

The Maui County Fire Department and other island residents testified that the slab is the only place along the island’s northwest coast where fishing and rescue vessels can safely enter and exit the water. In the end, the board voted not to impose the recommended $2,000 fine, but decided that the hui must still pay the $300 in administrative costs.

Because the OCCL stated that it does not believe the slab is interfering with sand movement, the board also approved the office’s recommendation that the hui either remove the slab or apply for an after-the-fact CDUP within six months.

Before voting on the matter, at-large member Tim Johns told Poepoe that the hui’s community- based management was a model for the state.

“I don’t want you to think we don’t appreciate the work that you’ve done over there. But we’ve got to look at the rules as well…. You guys have your rules and when people break them, you talk to them and tell them, ‘You can’t do that.’ We’ve got to deal with that as well,” he said.

At its August 22 meeting, Land Board member Tim Johns told the Division of State Parks’ Steve Thompson, “It goes without saying, but it’s unfortunate that the board has to go through all these gyrations because you guys haven’t done your job.”

“It’s embarrassing,” Big Island Land Board member Rob Pacheco added.

More than a year ago, the DLNR’s Division of State Parks was supposed to have developed a Request for Proposals/Request for Qualifications for a new manager for He`eia State Park, on the windward coast of O`ahu. It hasn’t, and the delay has pushed the non-profit Friends of He`eia, which currently occupies the park and relies on grants to fund its educational programs, to the brink of collapse.

For decades, Friends of He`eia has leased the park’s visitor center and exhibit hall where it has taught more than 100,000 students about nature and Hawaiian culture. But after two other groups expressed their interest in taking over the job in 2003, the Land Board directed State Parks to develop the RFQ and RFP to select the best manager. To make sure Friends of He`eia’s work could continue while the division prepared its documents, the board extended the group’s lease twice. The most recent extension was set to expire on August 31.

According to a report by parks administrator Dan Quinn, the law prohibits the board from granting another extension, but does allow the board to grant a month-to-month revocable permit for up to one year. Parks representative Steve Thompson told the board that the RFP/RFQ documents are being reviewed by the Department of the Attorney General and that it would likely be several months before a new manager is selected.

In her testimony before the board, Friends director Carol McLean lit into the Parks Division for its foot-dragging. Despite her having called the division every two weeks about the status of the selection process, little had been done, she said. The delay has put the organization in the position of taking reservations for the hall and looking for interns for the upcoming school year while its tenancy is uncertain, she said. To plan its educational schedule and hall rentals and to apply for grants, her group needs more than a one-year lease or permit, she said.

“I used to have ten people working for me….We cannot pay people. I have been a volunteer for years now,” she said, adding that if Friends of He`eia was not there, “the place we currently have, the classroom and visitor’s center, will be inhabited by thieves, drug dealers, and homeless people, exactly like the place in front of the park…. We recently asked seven cars doing suspicious things to leave so we can lock the gate.”

“My board is tired, I am tired…My board wants to quit because of the shabby treatment by the [parks] division,” she said.

Unable to do much else at its August 22 meeting, the Land Board granted the group a one-year revocable permit. However, Johns said that at a future meeting, he would suggest that the new lease not start until after the Friends of He`eia permit expires at the end of August 2009. The board also directed the division to provide an update on the status of the RFP/RFQ process, as well as a report on the possibility of directly issuing an educational lease with a concession component or a conservatorship contract to the group.

West Wind Works, LLC, of Oregon has received preliminary approvals to develop a wind farm at Kahuku in North O`ahu. At its August 8 meeting, the Land Board granted a request by its Land Division to withdraw 232 acres from the Kahuku Agricultural Park, approve in principle a direct lease to West Wind for a wind farm, and approve a right-of-entry to allow the company to conduct tests on the site, which is adjacent to land where UPC Wind plans to develop a 30-megawatt wind farm.

Keith Avery, president of West Wind Works, told the Land Board that if it can secure a lease for the land, his company will be able to participate in Hawaiian Electric Co.’s efforts to generate 100 megawatts of power from wind. A Land Division report states that direct negotiations for a lease will start once West Wind is issued a conditional use permit and begins negotiations with HECO for a power purchase agreement, among other things. The report also states that West Wind plans to erect ten wind turbines, which will produce up to 25 megawatts of electricity.

Avery, whose previous efforts under different companies led to the development of the wind farm at Kaheawa, Maui, added that if the state succeeds in purchasing nearby Turtle Bay resort, he would want to see a wind farm constructed on the property’s mauka lands.

At-large board member Tim Johns, who also sits on HECO’s board, recused himself from voting on the recommendations.

On September 12, the Land Board approved a habitat conservation plan (HCP) and incidental take license (ITL) for the construction and operation of seven meteorological towers on Lana`i that will collect the data necessary to determine whether or not the island’s northwest tip is a viable site for Castle & Cooke, Inc.’s proposed $750 million wind energy project.

Under the plan, Castle & Cooke’s towers may injure or kill seven to 14 Hawaiian petrels (`ua`u), and up to two Newell’s shearwaters (`a`o), two Hawaiian stilts (`ae`o), and two Hawaiian hoary bats (`ope`ape`a) over a two-year project period. All four of the species are federally or state-listed as threatened or endangered. If more than 14 petrels are taken within two years, the plan requires Castle & Cooke to remove the towers.

All but one of the towers were erected last year. In accordance with the plan, Castle & Cooke will pay the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife more than $250,000 to manage the natural resources in the area.

According to news reports, Castle & Cooke seeks to erect as many as 125 wind turbines on Lana`i, which could generate 300 to 400 megawatts of electricity. Using underwater cables, the wind farm has the potential to supply a significant portion of O`ahu’s power needs.

At the same September meeting, the Land Board also voted to release for public review a proposal by Maui’s Kaheawa Wind Project to amend its HCP and ITL to add six meteorological towers, two on the existing wind farm site and four on an adjacent property where the project’s parent companies – UPC Wind Partners, LLC and Makani Nui Associates, LLC – plan to erect more turbines.

Land Board member Tim Johns recused himself from voting on both items.

According to a settlement agreement approved by the Land Board on September 12, Maui Snorkel Charters has agreed to pay the DLNR a total of $386,297 for damaging coral when its boat sank within the Molokini Shoal Marine Life Conservation District in 2006, plus $10,618 in administrative costs. The agreement requires an initial payment of $260,618, with subsequent annual payments of $50,000 a year for the next two years and $36,297 in 2011. The company will also receive credit for suspending its operations for 2 ½ months after the fall 2006 incident.

After approving the settlement, Maui Land Board member Jerry Edlao told Maui Snorkel’s Jeff Strahn, “I know this has been real hectic for you guys and everybody else, but something had to be done and I believe that we were able to…learn from this and in the future we can avoid this kind of situation.”

(For more details on this incident, see the “Board Talk” column of in the May 2008 edition of Environment Hawai`i)

— Teresa Dawson

Volume 19, No. 4 — October 2008