Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 9, 1 September 1991 — Court voids sale of Punaluʻu road [ARTICLE]

Court voids sale of Punaluʻu road

In a consent decree filed by the First Circuit on Aug. 6 State Court Judge Simon Acoba ruled that the State Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) has no power to sell off the coastal segment of the government beach road fronting the hotel resort at Punalu'u, Ka'u to a private hotel landowner. "This case is an important victory for rural community residents who are struggling to protect access to valuable coastal resources in the face of mounting resort and golf course development in relatively pristine areas of Hawaii's coastline," according to Alan Murakami of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, an attorney for the Punalu'u Preservation and Culture Committee. In ruling that the state did not own the roadway in the first plaee, the court voided a purported 1986 BLNR transfer of the road. Judge Acoba approved a consent decree executed by the State Board of Land and Natural Resources, C. Brewer Properties, ine., and the Punalu'u Preservation and Culture Committee agreeing that a .7 mile stretch of an old government beach road paralleling the coast at Punalu'u, Ka'u on the Big Island did not belong to the State of Hawai'i. Accordingly, the Board of Land and Natural Resources had no power to sell this roadway to C. Brewer Properties, ine. as it attempted to do in a quitclaim deed in 1986. Punalu'u Preservation and Culture Committee spokesperson, Pele Hanoa, hailed the ruling as a victory for the residents of Ka'u who have feared the loss of this important coastal resource to a Japan-based hotel and golf course developer, Sazale Corp. In 1972, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the requested sale of this stretch of unpaved beach road to C. Brewer's predecessor in title, Hawaiiana Investments, ine. For unknown reasons, the conveyance documents were never finalized until 1986. The sale was supposed to be subject to legislative disapproval during the 1987 session. However, the BLNR inexplicably did not seek a review of the conveyance until the 1988 legislative session. Despite an attempt by then State Rep. Andrew Levin to disapprove the sale, the legislature failed to reject the conveyance at that time. In 1988, the Punalu'u Preservation and Culture Committee filed a lawsuit in the First Circuit seeking to invalidate the sale because of the procedural defects in processing the conveyance. During the course of the lawsuit, it became evident that the stretch of the old government road at Punalu'u was part of the county inventory of highways it maintained since at least the 1940s. Given this evidence, the parties agreed to a court ruling that voided the purported transfer of the roadway by the Board of Land and Natural Resources. "The problems raised in the suit reflect the need for greater public scrutiny of coastal road tranfers by either the state or county governments, where they have significant effects on loeal communities," Murakami said. However, the County of Hawai'i ean still take action to dispose of the road. "We cannot rest just yet," declared Pele Hanoa. "We will be watching the county so that it does not ignore the wishes of the community when important coastal resources are at stake. Loeal communities must fight to protect access to important natural resources or they will lose their cultural base," she implored. "I hope the state will leam from this experience and work with communities before making such decisions on important natural resource areas," said Keola Hanoa, daughter of Pele Hanoa and an active member of the Punalu'u Preservation and Culture Committee.