Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 3, 1 March 1989 — Trustees Blast Waikane Condemnation Plan [ARTICLE]

Trustees Blast Waikane Condemnation Plan

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has strongly condemned two recent government decisions involving both public and private lands. At its January 30, 1989 board meeting, OHA Trustees unanimously adopted a recommendation supporting efforts of the Kamaka family to retain 187 acres of ancestral land in Waikane Valley on Oahu. The land is part of a parcel leased to the military as a World War II training area. In that lease, the government promised to clear the property of all unexploded ordnance. Now, the government says it is unable to remove the unexploded shells and wants to condemn the land and fence it off. The Kamakas have rejected the government's $735,000 offer for the property. Their attorney says it is worth closer to $10 million. OHA Trustee Clarence Ching, chairman of the committee on operations and development, said the Kamakas don't want to sell the land at any price. "These are unique Hawaiian lands. They have been in the family since 1862, and their ancestors are buried there." Further, Ching said, "To allow the federal government to condemn this property for a fraction of its true value sets an extremely bad precedent. It gives the feds an excuse to piek up any pieee of private or public land whieh has been used for military purposes just by saying it is no longer safe for civilian use." Ching likened the use of the federal government's supremacy powers to that used in the United States' 1898 expropriation of government and crown lands owned by the Kingdom of Hawai'i. These lands, now called "ceded lands," were taken without compensation to the Hawaiian people. The OHA Board also objected to a proposed settlement in whieh the State would allow a group of Diamond Head residents to retain the mauka third of a disputed strip of beachfront land known as 01d Government Road. The landowners extended their front yards into the road when it fell into disuse, planting lawns and building walls and fences. In 1968, the Hawai'i Supreme Court ruled that the State owns all the land involved, and in 1987, landowners were notified they were subject to fines of $500 a day and imprisonment if they did

not relinquish the property. However, no action was taken at the time and the dispute continues. Ching pointed out that the land in question is ceded land and that OHA is legally entitled to a percentage of any ineome generated from such lands. He said it is difficult to understand why the State is proposing a compromise when it clearly owns the property and is not subject to adverse possession claims. Ching called the compromise offer another example of government insensitivity to the rights of the Hawaiian people.

» In August, 1986, OHA urged the state land board to "initiate immediate action to recover back rents that are owed and remove all encroachments from the subject area." OHA's letter to then Land Board Chairman Susumu Ono stated: "In an effort to advocate for the preservation of beach access on behalf of all Native Hawaiians and the general public, we strongly recommend that the Board of Land and Natural Resources consider setting aside this beach area, after all encroachments are removed, for beach park purposes."