Talk now, avoid court later over Hanalei project

On paper, it hardly looks like a fair fight: A loose coalition of surfers, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and other conservationists versus one of the richest men in the world. We’ve learned, however, never to underestimate the grass roots on Kauai. Remember the Superferry? Or Monsanto and its GMOs?

This time the issue igniting community ire is the Hanalei Plantation Resort, a luxury hotel and residential community being developed on 65 acres of land owned by a company controlled by billionaire Pierre Omidyar and his family.

The eBay founder makes his primary home in Honolulu and is better known in the islands as a major philanthropist, new media pioneer and advocate of sustainability. But his investment arm also makes him a big player in the hotel and hospitality industry. Ohana Real Estate Investors LLC aims "to achieve superior long-term returns through the development and ownership of luxury hospitality assets and to make strategic hospitality related acquisitions," says its website.

OREI’s portfolio includes three luxury resorts already open in California and Utah, with three more properties in development, including the resort on Kauai, which would include 86 luxury bungalow units and 34 home lots. A draft environmental impact statement for the $160 million project is expected to be released this spring, with the developers hoping to get the permits they need and begin construction on the Hanalei River Ridge by 2016.

The development company pledges that the development will integrate sensitively into the scenic landscape and respect the area’s close-knit community. The stated goal is for the resort to "be rooted in culture, mindful of ecology and uniquely Hanalei."

Opponents aren’t buying that, and insist that the development will forever mar the view plane and disrupt the locals’ use of popular Black Pot Beach down below. A public meeting about the project last year drew more than 500 Kauai residents, most of them opposed to the development.

The two parcels slated for development are zoned for resort use, and there was a Club Med resort there decades ago. Most structures were demolished, though, ahead of the planned construction of a new hotel that never got built. That project was halted in the 1980s, and the most ardent opponents hope that the Hanalei Plantation Resort will meet the same fate, as it moves through the archeological inventory survey, cultural impact assessment, biological survey, traffic impactment assessment and water-quality assessment that will be done as part of the EIS.

The activists say they are prepared to fight on every front. Clearly Omidyar has the resources to outlast them in the legal arena, but the court of public opinion is another matter entirely. Protesters have deftly used inexpensive online media such as Facebook, YouTube and WordPress blogs and websites to state their case and spread their message — which includes appeals for Omidyar to engage directly with them.

That’s actually not a bad idea, before both sides get so dug in that any room for compromise is lost. There might be ways to mitigate impacts to the view plane, for example, that don’t involve scotching the whole deal. The Hanalei grass roots are demanding to be heard on this issue. As the Garden Island has shown before, collaboration now beats confrontation later.