OHA to Take Control of Kahana Valley Living Park?
by Andrew Walden
Will Governor Josh Green transfer control of the 5,281 acre Ahupua’a o Kahana ‘living park’ on O’ahu from DLNR to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs?
According to one Valley leasee, OHA is planning a Kahana community meeting for October 24 to discuss exactly that.
Hiding behind the fiction of being outside the law, OHA stashed assets and funneled funds to insiders via wholly-owned LLCs. OHA’s first and oldest LLC, Hi’ilei Aloha, controls Waimea Valley tourism operations.
Will OHA transfer control of Kahana Valley to one of its LLCs?
Would Waimea Valley be a model for Kahana Valley?
If so, the State’s original 1965 vision of the valley as a tourist attraction would finally be realized.
OHA CEO Stacy Ferreira did not respond to a request for comment.
OHA Trustee Keli’i Akina did respond, saying:
OHA conducted a site visit at Kahana Valley on March 28, 2024. It was an opportunity to hear from long-term tenants about the future custodianship of the property. The tenants appeared to favor transferring that kuleana to OHA from DLNR. No commitments or intentions were expressed by OHA.
Other than the scheduling of the March 28th site visit, there has been no trustee action or agendizing of discussion of this matter. Trustees are awaiting recommendations from the OHA Administration once it completes its due diligence.
Personally, I am not aware of any talk of development other than the possibility of supporting good stewardship of the land by its long-term residents.
The BLNR briefing also outlines the possibility of lease-to-fee conversion:
State Parks should work with Kahana lessees to revise and amend the Kahana leases to provide more economic flexibility and potential economic benefits to lessees. Changes to the terms of the Kahana leases may include an option of nominal monetary lease rents in lieu of the currently required 25 hours per month of participation in cultural programs for each Kahana family. This lease amendment process will also further explore the possibility of lease to fee conversion as an option for Kahana lessees. State Parks will retain expert legal counsel to assist with this lease amendment process….
Is OHA trying to head off acquisition by Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA)?
An April 28, 2023 BLNR informational briefing calls State Parks implementation of the ‘living park’ plan ‘challenging’ and mentions:
On March 11, 2023, Rep. Quinlan and the Department hosted a meeting with the Kahana Valley Residents to provide an update on proposed short and long-term paths forward for the Kahana residents and the Department. The residents expressed appreciation to Rep. Quinlan, the Department and CNHA for meeting with the community and providing them a path forward that may be more appropriate for the residents than the Living Park managed by State Parks.
Kahana Valley has been a political football for nearly 60 years. The BLNR briefing report explains:
Between 1965 and 1969, the State acquired the Kahana Ahupua’a for development as a state park. Initial plans were for a large-scale commercial park that catered to tourists. In 1986 the Attorney General confirmed that to legally reside within a State Park, residents must conduct interpretive and management actions as part of programs — ostensibly to interact and be part of an educational element for out-of-state visitors. In lieu of monetary rent and in exchange for gratis, 65-year leases, the residential households must perform 25 hours of interpretive services per month to the park to preserve, restore, and share Kahana’s history and rural lifestyle with the public.
In 1987 (Act 5) the Legislature authorized the Department to issue long term residential leases. In 1988 (Act 238) the Legislature appropriated funds to Hawaii Housing Finance Development Corporation (HHFDC) to provide low interest home construction and mortgage loans for the lessees. In 1993, the Board issued 31 leases to the existing families living in Kahana and required the residents to perform 25 hours of interpretive services per month. Many of the residents applied for loans from HHFDC.
By 2009 the original Kahana residents had accepted leases and relocated to the two new residential subdivisions established by State Parks. Since the land is zoned Conservation, a CDUP was executed for the subdivisions with lessees located out of the stream’s primary floodplain. There were six original houses that were in the floodplain that had not been demolished and were subsequently re-occupied by some of the descendants of the lessees. There were some residents that were in arrears in their mortgages to HHFDC and non-compliant with their interpretive hours and the Department sought to evict some of non-compliant residents. Because of considerable controversy surrounding the Department’s plans to evict occupants who remained on the property within [?] the park, the Legislature enacted Act 15, SLH 2009, which was vetoed by the Governor, and then subject to a veto override. Act 15 established a two-year moratorium on evictions of Kahana residents and authorized the issuance of long-term leases to qualified persons who participated in interpretive programs for Kahana and have continuously lived there since before 1987 or hold long term leases. Act 15 concluded that until a master plan is adopted, persons living in Kahana shall not be evicted if they are contributing at least 25 hours of service each month. After over eight years of Kahana Planning Council (KPC) meetings, a master plan was not developed. The KPC was repealed by the Legislature in the 2020 Session….
Because both OHA and DLNR are departments of the State of Hawaii, the Governor has the authority to transfer land between them by executive order. This would not be the case with CNHA, although CNHA could manage the valley within a framework of State ownership.
A September 14, 2024 letter to Kahana Valley lessees contains a “Statement of Intent Regarding Land Transfer to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.’ The letter informs lessees, “OHA has started discussions with Governor Josh Green’s Administration and the Hawai’i State Department of Land and Natural resources (DLNR) regarding the potential land transfer of the following parcels (See Attachment A)….”
The letter is larded with sovereignty rhetoric and implies that OHA is somehow separate from the State of Hawaii, writing: “OHA is committed to realizing the vision of Ea through the acquisition of these parcels from the State of Hawaii….”
The irony is that the land transfer by executive order is possible only because OHA, like DLNR, is a department of the State of Hawaii. If OHA were genuinely independent of the State of Hawaii, as Trustees (with Akina dissenting) recently re-asserted, then Governor Green would not be legally able to effectuate the land transfer by executive order. Fortunately for OHA, Hawaii courts have found that OHA is indeed a department of the State of Hawaii. According to one source, the Attorney General has already provided the Governor with a legal opinion supporting this conclusion.
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DOCUMENTS:
BACKGROUND: