Residents of Honolulu depend on government agencies to provide clean water, prevent sewage spills and ensure the safety of homes from floods, falling boulders and unstable soil.
A recent commentary by George Atta, director-designate of the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP), claimed that its role in issuing building and grading permits for two single-family Hao Street homes in Aina Haina is merely "ministerial" ("City followed law in issuing Hao Street development permit," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Feb. 27 Opens in a new tab).
DPP’s narrowly tailored "ministerial" role raises serious concerns for all communities. Despite substan- tial evidence of unstable slopes (adjacent to Wailupe Stream), archaeological sites and a state-recognized Wailupe Valley historic trail, a developer received DPP building and grading permits for a gated-community at the mauka end of Hao Street.
After the permits were issued, DPP repeatedly rejected all stop-work requests, despite significant evidence of ancient cultural sites. A careful review of this parcel’s history reveals that during the 1996 City Council hearings concerning a proposed cemetery, the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs recommended an archaeological inventory survey (AIS). Also, the director of DPP’s predecessor, the Department of Land Utilization, in an Oct. 15, 1996, letter acknowledged concerns regarding unstable soils, drainage, water quality and the "location of archaeological sites."
After the recent disclosure of ancient archaeological sites, the state Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) recommended that an AIS be completed. Before completing this study, however, the developer started grading, and destroyed an ahu (altar) and a sentinel platform overlooking Wailupe Valley.
DPP is the only agency authorized to issue a stop-work order to halt all bulldozing, grubbing and grading. To date, neither DPP nor SHPD has demonstrated any willingness to stop ongoing destruction of ancient cultural sites.
In 1999, the City Council appropriated $5 million to buy this and an adjoining 85-acre parcel, so that both could be jointly downzoned from urban to preservation. For years, the community trusted that this particular parcel had been purchased and downzoned by the city. To this day, not a single city official can explain why this parcel is still zoned residential and is now owned by a private developer.
A DPP employee recently mentioned that the 1998 city DPP permit application 98/Z-6 downzoning files were "lost" — while the city’s downzoning permit application remains "pending" for the past 15 years.
For decades, both the community and the city had consistently opposed development of this parcel — which remains outside the urban growth boundaries of the East Honolulu Sustainable Communities Plan — due to steep slopes, unstable clay soils, excessive water runoff, archeological remains, probable contamination of the Wailupe Stream and traditional access to the Wailupe Valley Trail.
Until residents raised the issue of trail access, DPP’s approved plans included a secured gate blocking trail access. Residents recently discovered that the Wailupe Valley trail is an ancient ahupua‘a trail. If DPP had complied with the state’s disclosure laws and provided the requested DPP public records, the community would have provided valuable information concerning pending Wailupe Stream flood mitigation plans, identification of cultural sites and timely evidence about Wailupe Valley’s ahupua‘a trail.
DPP’s disregard for the concerns of the community and our host culture is an issue not only for Aina Haina, but for the entire island.
