The Hawaii Supreme Court gave a Kauai man another chance Thursday to challenge the Kauai Planning Commission’s final approval of a residential subdivision development in Koloa.

The high court reversed lower-court rulings dismissing the case and reinstated the lawsuit by Theodore K. Blake, a Koloa resident and Native Hawaiian trying to preserve the historic trail known as Hapa Road.

The road is an unpaved lane connecting Koloa town with Poipu.

Blake, 64, is challenging the Eric A. Knudsen Trust’s Phase 1 of the Village at Poipu development, which covers 208 acres.

The high court’s decision gives Blake a chance "to show how the process for protecting historic sites has not been working," said David Kimo Frankel, lawyer for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., which represents Blake.

"It ensures that citizens have access to the courts to protect historic sites before they are lost," Frankel said.

The lower courts had dismissed the suit with rulings that essentially held that Blake’s claims weren’t "ripe" for a judicial ruling.

But in a 33-page opinion written by Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald, the high court held that the planning commission’s 2009 approval of the development in the island’s south shore area was a "final agency action" sufficient to warrant a court decision.

Blake’s lawsuit contends that the state and county failed to meet their public trust obligations regarding historic sites, the county failed to protect Native Hawaiian rights, and that the Knudsen Trust negligently failed to preserve Hapa Road and its adjacent walls.

Frankel said that if Blake prevails and the planning commission’s approval is overturned, the subdivision cannot be built.

Blake, whose family has lived in Koloa for generations, said in a statement the ruling represents a renewed opportunity to "fulfill my cultural obligation" in protecting "the cornerstone of the foundation of our Hawaiian culture."

"Today is a good day," he said.

Lawyers for the Knudsen Trust were not available for comment.