Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 8, 1 August 2013 — Hawaiians on Lānaʻi hoping for say in island's new plans [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians on Lānaʻi hoping for say in island's new plans

By Harold Nedd

LĀNA'I CITY, LĀNA'I — As billionaire Larry Ellison makes gestures to tourism and population growth on Lāna'i, Native Hawaiians are among residents worried about how the plans he is drawing up could alter the island's laid-back character.

Their anxiety was apparent during a recent trip to Lāna'i for the Board of Trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, whose overnight visit on July 17 included a tour of a seven-acre beachfront site, where a third resort on Lāna'i is planned within easy sight of Maui's western shore. The project fits into Ellison's broader ambitions to renovate the high-end aeeommodations of Four Seasons Resort Lāna'i at Mānele Bay, buy Island Air to help boost visits from affluent world travelers, and double to 6,000 the population of the island, whieh has no traffic lights, one gas station and about 30 miles of paved roads. Among those closely watching the groundwork being laid for the island's future is Ciso

Lagmay, 57, who four years ago opened his short-order restaurant in Lāna'i with a $24,000 business loan from OHA. "We want people to visit Lāna'i," Lagmay said. "But we also want them to leave. Right now, everybody is one big family. My hope is that we don't go from no traffic lights and SEE LĀNA'I ON PAGE 22

Neighbor lsland meetings 0HA's Board of Trustees and Community meetings on the Neighbor lslands continue on Kaua'i this month with two meetings scheduled as follows: • Community meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14 at Wilcox Elementary School cafeteria, 4319 Hardy St. in Lihu'e • Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. at ūueen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, 4530 Kali Road in Lihu'e For more information, please eall Kaliko Santos or Noalani 0ba at (808) 241-3390. The Community and B0T meetings will wrap up on Hawai'i lsland in September. More details will be announced in Ka Wai Ola and on www.oha.org.

Albert Morita talks with trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs during their July 1 9 visit to Lāna'i for a community meeting and regular board meeting. - Photo: Aliee Silbanuz

LĀNA'I Continued from page 10

no crime to all condominiums or become another Waikīkl." Albert Halape Morita, chairman of the Lāna'i Culture and Heritage Center, whieh has received more than $1 million in grants from OHA since 2009, acknowledged that it is hard for a lot of residents to comprehend Ellison's plans to build a third resort on the island. "While many of the plans are conceptual, the details are what we don't know," Morita said. "But building the infrastructure for doubling our populahon brings me a lot of anxiety. It could mean competition for pienie areas." Diane Preza, 49, a kindergarten teacher on Lāna'i, also expressed concerns about the inevitable changes that population growth and tourism will bring to an island, where Axis deer roam free in the hills and empty beaches are accessed only by Jeep Wranglers and other four-wheel drive vehicles able to navigate miles of dirt roads thick with red dust. "Dirt roads are part of this island," said Preza, who treasures the island's undeveloped isolation. "Inaccessibility is not a bad thing. The magic of this island is that you ean go to the beach and not see a lot of people. I would hate for the island to lose too mueh of its identity." Responding to a question from OHA Trustee Peter Apo about plans to double the population on Lāna'i, Kepa Maly, who described himself during a community meeting as part of Ellison's executive team, said: "There are discussions about getting the populahon up to around 6,000. This is a lifetime investment for Mr. Ellison, who wants to prove that he ean take a small island community and demonstrate cultural sustainability. The goal is to keep the community engaged. If we ean do that, I don't see our efforts going wrong." ■ For more coverage, visit www. officeoflim>aiianaffairs.tinnbh:com.