More monkeypod trees were removed from the parking lot of the Koloa Post Office Saturday, adjacent to the Shops at Koloa project, but that hasn’t stopped community members from holding protests in support of the trees. The People for the
More monkeypod trees were removed from the parking lot of the Koloa Post Office Saturday, adjacent to the Shops at Koloa project, but that hasn’t stopped community members from holding protests in support of the trees.
The People for the Preservation of the Koloa Trees boycotted the Foodland grocery store in Waipouli for the second time yesterday. The first boycott of the store was held Thursday.
“We feel the time is urgent to get the developer to the negotiation table to save most of the monkeypod trees,” Linda Harmon, member of the People for the Preservation of the Koloa Trees, said in a press release. “We think the tenant stores of the new mall can apply pressure on the developer to spare the trees.”
Businesses that will be tenants in The Shops at Koloa include ABC Markets, Starwood Timeshares, Jim Saylor Jewelers, Kahuna Burgers and the Foodland family of stores that includes Beard Papa’s, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Malama Market and Oasis Lifestyle.
According to Harmon, because the tenant stores have not applied pressure to the developer to spare the trees, her group is asking shoppers to avoid the stores altogether.
“We believe the pressure of the pocketbook will be very effective in getting the attention of the tenant’s to act on the trees’ behalf,” Harmon said in the press release.
But the Koloa Community Association, of which Harmon is also a member, disagrees with how the People for the Preservation of the Koloa Trees is handling the situation.
“The Koloa Community Association does not endorse the Foodland protest,” Davis-Briant said. “I think it is a negative approach and could make them (the tenants) not support the association.”
Davis-Briant said she can’t see attacking the local businesses because they have nothing to do with the big picture.
“We just want to be able to talk to the companies and ask for their support in the situation,” she said.
Koloa Community Association President Louie Abrams agrees.
“We can’t participate (in the boycott),” Abrams said. “We didn’t think it would better the situation and we didn’t want to jeopardize the legal cases.”
Abrams said he would rather talk with the companies than boycott them.
“They (People for the Preservation of the Koloa Trees) are as concerned as we are, they are just doing it in a different way,” Abrams said. “Everyone’s entitled to their say.”
Abrams just hopes there will be some trees left.
“We don’t know which trees will be staying,” Abrams said. “There are some orange fences around some of the trees, we are assuming those are the ones that will stay.”
After an unsuccessful attempt by the Koloa Community Association and Kapa‘a resident and attorney Ted Erum to protect the monkeypod trees by petitioning the Kaua‘i County Arborist Advisory Committee to declare the trees as “exceptional,” Erum filed a lawsuit against the Knudsen Estate.
The lawsuit asks the court to permanently stop the estate and its trustee, Stacey Wong, from removing the monkeypod trees from the site. But a federal court settlement last October allowed the estate and the developer, Nelson Companies Inc. to remove and relocate the monkeypod trees as long as similar trees are planted.
According to the settlement, The Shops at Koloa must retain all original 37 monkeypod trees once the project is completed.
Because of the federal settlement, Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano denied the temporary restraining order, but set a March 13 hearing to consider the motion for a preliminary injunction.
On Wednesday, Erum flew to Honolulu to file a TRO in federal court in an attempt to stop the removal of the trees.
As of press time, the federal court has not made a decision.
• Rachel Gehrlein, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or rgehrlein@kauaipubco.com.
