Ongoing Efforts to Prevent Runoff from Flooding Kāneiʻolouma Heiau

By Kamakana Ferreira, OHA Lead Compliance Specialist

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is considering advocacy options regarding possible drainage impacts to the Kāneiʻolouma Heiau and complex from the Kauanoe o Kōloa Project, a 280-unit luxury condominium subdivision, in Kōloa, Kauaʻi, due to concerns that the Kauaʻi Planning Commission approved the project’s master drainage plan (MDP) in December 2023 without fully considering recommendations from the project’s Ka Paʻakai Analysis and possible impacts to the heiau.

Previous landowners obtained a Class IV Zoning Permit in 2006. However, the land has changed ownership several times since then. Notably, Condition No. 26 of the permit required preparation of a MDP to include all lands ma uka of Poʻipū Road, including Kāneiʻolouma Heiau.

In 2023, the current developer, Meridian Pacific, tried to amend the condition to limit the drainage study to lands that they own as they felt changes to the area from other development projects since 2006 hindered any ability to adequately develop an MDP for the area as originally intended. However, Save Kōloa and Friends of Māhāʻulepū (FOM) successfully jointly filed a petition for a contested case as intervenors.

Through working with the county’s engineers, Meridian then sought to gain approval of a revised MDP on Dec. 5, 2023. The planning commission heard the matter on December 12.

Out of caution, Save Kōloa and FOM filed a second petition to intervene on the approval of the MDP, providing a written statement from an independent hydrologist that argued the MDP did not adequately consider cumulative impacts and failed to model existing water flows in the area accurately. The request was denied.

During the meeting, one commissioner noted that everything in the MDP was “theory” and that “it’s just a wait and see what happens” situation. Other commissioners appeared to share this sentiment as well as the developer’s drainage engineer.

Engineers also testified that the Weliweli subdivision was built without any requirements for any kind of drainage plan or detention basin and that currently, drainage dumping into Kāneiʻolouma Heiau was only coming from this area.

It was argued that the MDP would not change the current flow of water to the heiau because the intent of the plan is to maintain existing flows, not alter them. However, because more water runoff will likely increase with the new project, the developer’s engineer explained that a detention basin would hold the water and release it slowly over time to maintain current flows in the area. Thus, Kāneiʻolouma could experience longer periods of drainage runoff at the current flow rate.

Despite uncertainties amongst commissioners on foreseeable impacts, and the pending contested case hearing (that was scheduled for February 2024), the planning commission approved the MDP. OHA believes it is unfortunate that the project’s 2022 Ka Paʻakai Analysis recommendations were not discussed directly in this case.

With the commission’s approval of the MDP, the contested case brought by Save Kōloa and FOM was deemed moot.

Beneficiary concerns in the area are not new. In the mid-2000s, OHA successfully intervened in a contested case against The Villages of Poʻipū project which also threatened Kāneiʻolouma Heiau and the area’s historic and cultural landscape. And in 2006, Hui Mālama o Kāneiʻolouma founder Rupert Rowe advocated with other Kōloa community members for consideration of drainage impacts to Kāneiʻolouma Heiau, which led to Condition 26 requiring an MDP.

Due to overwhelming community concerns, OHA engaged directly with the County of Kauaʻi Planning Department in April 2022 to request copies of any permit applications and approvals in the area. Previously, these permit applications were not being consistently sent to OHA for review.

The deputy planning director initially shared that a cultural impact assessment for the project was done circa 2006, but later said they could not find a cultural impact statement for the older permits. OHA was informed that the county would instead now recommend a Ka Paʻakai analysis prior to final action of the planning commission for a subdivision permit application.

Presumably in response to community concerns, the developer hired a contractor to complete a Ka Paʻakai Analysis for the project in June 2022. Several beneficiaries testified about the Kauanoe project at OHA’s June 2022 Kauaʻi Community Meetings.

Again, despite the Ka Paʻakai Analysis being completed in 2022, OHA notes that it was not directly discussed during open session of the planning commission meetings when they took up approval of the MDP in 2023. Recommendations from the Ka Paʻakai Analysis – which included follow up monitoring and taking a cumulative impact approach – would have indeed been useful to their discussions since there were obvious concerns about unforeseeable impacts.