Hawaii’s natural environment and the owners of Turtle Bay Resort are both richer following completion of a long-brewing deal Friday to protect 629 acres of North Shore land from development.
The deal, which involves paying the resort’s owner $45 million to protect the land for public use in perpetuity, follows two years of tough negotiations that led to the state Legislature’s approval earlier this year and Gov. David Ige’s signature in June.
“Today marks the formal beginning of a partnership that will forever preserve this precious stretch of land for generations to come,” Ige said in a statement issued Friday after the written agreement was recorded at the state Bureau of Conveyances following payment.
The preservation arrangement gives the state ownership of 53 acres fronting Kawela Bay and an easement prohibiting development on 568 acres that includes land occupied by and surrounding the resort’s two golf courses. The city will acquire ownership of 8 acres for beachfront park use, and the resort will forgo developing 650 homes.
Of the $45 million, the state paid $35 million. The city paid $7.5 million. And the Army, in partnership with The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit, paid $2.5 million.
The resort will limit future development to both sides of its existing 443-room oceanfront hotel, and plans to add up to 100 homes and two hotels with a combined 625 rooms.
State officials said the easement provides eight miles of public hiking trails, at least 80 public parking spaces and four miles of undisturbed coastline. An additional 29 acres could be added to the agreement within two years at a cost of $3.5 million if money is available.
Doug Cole, executive director of the North Shore Community Land Trust, said the community is forever grateful to everyone who helped preserve the area. “Thanks to this excellent collaboration, future generations will enjoy this special place forever,” he said in a statement.
There were some small changes in the amount of land covered in the agreement due to survey measurements. Previously, 635 acres was anticipated to be preserved.
“Today is a victory for everyone who believes in private-public partnerships and the ability to find solutions that fairly and wisely balance the interests of landowners, the environment and the community,” Drew Stotesbury, the resort’s CEO, said in a statement. “Everyone wins with this conservation agreement.”
