While the county Planning Department and state agencies consider the alignment of a historic trail skirting Moloa‘a Bay “a done deal,” hikers and longtime residents insist the landowner has pushed the path makai of its traditional route. Community members fighting
While the county Planning Department and state agencies consider the alignment of a historic trail skirting Moloa‘a Bay “a done deal,” hikers and longtime residents insist the landowner has pushed the path makai of its traditional route.
Community members fighting to protect the path voiced their concerns at a county Planning Commission hearing last month, hoping officials will review the matter before voting Tuesday at the Mo‘ikeha Building on an after-the-fact permit for structures at Moloa‘a Bay Ranch.
The Aspen-based company, owned by Tom McCloskey, has pending amended special management area permits for a portion of an irrigation pond, pumphouse and rockwall. The application also proposes planting naupaka on the mauka side of the coastal trail easement to delineate the property line.
County planner Michael Laureta’s report Wednesday says that the applicant has resolved the alignment and location of the coastal trail issue with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
But a Jan. 22 letter to Planning Commission Chair Steven Weinstein from state Office of Hawaiian Affairs Administrator Clyde Namu‘o expresses concern over “the current and ongoing destruction of what is believed to be components of an ancient trail, associated with constitutionally protected traditional and customary Native Hawaiian practices for religious and subsistence use in the Moloa‘a region.”
The state office says it has not been properly consulted regarding the identification, significance assessment and mitigation of the path, a piece of Hawaiian history and culture.
It would be “negligent in upholding the public trust” if the commission fails to intervene, the letter states.
The Planning Department report says Hawaiian gathering rights were addressed in a limited cultural impact assessment, which was included in a final environmental assessment that found “no significant impact.”
Residents born and raised on Kaua‘i, such as Lucia Laidlaw and Loke Perreira, told the commission at its Jan. 22 public hearing that the trail as registered by the Board of Land and Natural Resources is inaccurate.
The surveyed path on the map does not match the historic trail Laidlaw said she recently hiked. In some segments, the registered route crosses a crumbly edge — not the pasture land her father and uncle traversed when transporting limu on the backs of donkeys.
“Moloa‘a means a lot,” Laidlaw said. “The memories hurt … and the changes that I have seen and the response to proposed changes.”
Much of the traditional route is overgrown and there are indications that someone has intentionally pushed the path closer to the sea.
Andy Kass, an avid hiker from Kapa‘a, said he used a GPS tracking device to map the historic route in September 2005. He returned to walk the path on Friday and noticed several deviations from the original.
Kass found himself standing in overgrown foliage when he stood in the trail’s coordinates from two years ago. Several feet makai was a new path, he said, marked by signs posted by the property owner.
In one instance, he said, it seemed that sawed off tree branches had been dragged onto the historic path to open up another route closer to the coastline.
“Getting the landowner to recognize the original trail is paramount,” Kass said.
Moloa‘a Bay Ranch in its 2005 permit request sought to build a fence along the trail — running 10 feet from its edge — but has abandoned that plan in favor of a vegetation border.
Residents said at the public hearing that the irrigated property would cause the proposed naupaka to grow in a way that would infringe on the trail and disrupt an “incredible historic asset.”
It would take over, North Shore resident Caren Diamond said, noting the plant’s potential to spread 30 feet in a year and shoot 10 feet high with irrigation.
Attorney Bill Tam, representing Moloa‘a Bay Ranch, said the landowner is bound to an agreement to maintain the trail and this would include making sure the naupaka does not cross the path. The vegetation would help hikers stay guided, he added.
Moloa‘a Bay Ranch paid $19,000 to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and $25,000 to the county after the Planning Department in January 2001 cited it for making illegal improvements to the property.
“Frankly, we have to apologize to the Planning Department for our mistake,” Tam said.
Concerned about approving an after-the-fact permit, Commissioner Ted Daligdig said at the meeting that the county should require the landowner to re-apply because substantial changes were made to the application.
“It can’t just be Band-aided over like it is all the time,” resident Elaine Dunbar told the commission. “This is a recurring situation in Kaua‘i. This has got to stop.”
But Planning Department officials said Moloa‘a Bay Ranch is down-scaling its project and determined it need not re-apply.
“How hard do you want to swing the bat on these guys?” Laureta said, adding that the answer is up to the commission.
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
