Question: Whatever happened to Koloa Camp in Kauai, one of the last remnants of Hawaii’s first sugar plantation?
Answer: Landowner Grove Farm installed a metal gate to block entry to the camp after the company evicted tenants, according to former resident Carole Patt.
Grove Farm evicted eight residential and five agricultural tenants to make way for Waihohonu, a proposed 50-unit development of single-family homes.
Some former tenants still question the timing of the eviction because Grove Farm has yet to file for permits for the development. The Kauai County planning department said Grove Farm has not yet filed for any permits for Waihohonu.
Patt, who lived at Koloa Camp for 13 years with her husband, John, said the rustic neighborhood represented the early sugar plantation days. Local developer Peter Savio offered to buy the property to preserve the site and help tenants buy their lots, but Grove Farm rejected the idea.
The old wooden houses were part of the first sugar plantation in Hawaii. Ladd & Co. established the plantation in July 1835 after it obtained a 50-year lease under King Kamehameha III and Gov. Moses Kaikioewa for property that spanned more than 950 acres east of Waihohonu Stream.
The structures at Koloa Camp were part of Japanese Camp C during the early plantation days.
In November, Grove Farm issued eviction notices, ordering tenants to leave in March. The eviction date was extended to provide tenants more time to make alternative living arrangements. The last tenant left at the end of July.
Patt said her husband had requested there be no evictions until the company obtained permits. She added the proposed development is not ideal because the site is prone to flooding.
“They shouldn’t be developing there,” she said. “They should leave it alone.”
The couple moved into a home in Koloa.
Grove Farm had said it plans to raise a section of the site with 8,000 cubic yards of fill.
When the Star-Advertiser called Grove Farm for a telephone interview to inquire about when it plans to file permits for the proposed development, Vice President Marissa Sandblom responded in an email that the company is “working expeditiously to move the project forward.”
“We are planning on relocating the structures so they may be renovated and reused to benefit the community,” Sandblom said. She added that the company is working with a contractor to relocate trees and plants from the site.
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This update was written by Rosemarie Bernardo.
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