Last month, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands provided a status update for several projects occurring on Maui. As this edition of Ka Wai Ola focuses on the island of Kauaʻi, we’ll explore DHHL initiatives impacting current and future Kauaʻi beneficiaries.
Two of DHHL’s proposed homestead developments for Kauaʻi have completed their final Environmental Assessments, an early but critical step in the Department’s development that is a result of extensive planning and beneficiary consultation. The Department has completed its engineering and design process for additional lots in Hanapēpē and recently awarded Anahola residential vacant lots to beneficiaries on the Kauaʻi Island waiting list.
The legislature’s recent passage of a $600 million allocation of funding to the Department will help to advance homestead development projects on Kauaʻi and throughout the state.
Puʻu ʻŌpae
A Final Environmental Assessment (EA) with a Finding of “no significant impact” for the Puʻu ʻŌpae Homestead Settlement in Waimea, Kauaʻi, was published at the onset of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The Puʻu ʻŌpae settlement plan focuses on the development of a kuleana homestead on the ma uka Waimea lands of Kauaʻi. The project area consists of approximately 1,421 acres, 231 acres of which are under DHHL License No. 816 by the Ke-kaha Hawaiian Homestead Association.
Planning for Puʻu ʻŌpae began with the 2011 DHHL West Kauaʻi Regional Plan, which identified the development of an agricultural and water plan for the restoration and use of the Puʻu ʻŌpae area as a priority project. The land was selected as an ideal location for Kuleana Homesteading because of constraints due to the physical characteristics of the land, including topography, drainage, accessibility, proximity to water, wildfire risk, and proximity to natural and cultural resources.
Anahola Homestead Settlement Plan
The Final EA for DHHL’s Anahola Homestead Settlement Plan in the Kawaihau District of Kauaʻi was published last year. The plan focuses on the development of a 462-acre Kuleana Homestead on the windward side of Kauaʻi within the traditional ahupuaʻa of Anahola and Kamalomaloʻo that will ultimately be awarded as kuleana subsistence agriculture and pastoral lots to beneficiaries on the Kauaʻi Island agriculture and pastoral waiting lists.
Hanapēpē Homestead Community
DHHL identified the Hanapēpē Homestead Community in the 2004 Kauaʻi Island Plan as one of three priority areas for new residential and agricultural homestead development. The homestead community, which currently consists of a 47-lot residential subdivision known as Phase 1, is envisioned to be the Department’s largest residential and agricultural community on the west side of Kauaʻi.
Engineering designs have been completed for Phase 2 of the Hanapēpē Homestead Community which is expected to consist of up to 75 residential homestead lots and the expansion of existing homestead lots along Moi Road.
Upon project completion, the Hanapēpē Homestead Community is proposed to offer 440 new residential homestead lots and up to 111 new subsistence agricultural homestead lots.
Piʻilani Mai Ke Kai
In April, the Department offered 51 residential vacant lots within its Piʻilani Mai Ke Kai Subdivision in Anahola. DHHL hosted the lot selection meeting at the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School as its first in-person gathering since the onset of the pandemic.
DHHL’s residential vacant lot offering is among a variety of options provided to beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and allows a family to construct a home that best fits their needs on a homestead lot that has been developed with roads and utility infrastructure.
I welcome you to track DHHL construction projects on Kauaʻi and across the homelands by monitoring the Department’s website, dhhl.hawaii.gov.
