Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
JUNE 3, 1968
Waimanalo villagers will soon receive notice from their landlord to vacate the area so it can be cleared.
Sunao Kido, acting chairman of the State Board of Land and Natural Resources, said the villagers will be given "reasonable time" to remove improvements from the State Property.
If they don’t, he said, "We will have no choice but to raze them."
The Health Department has condemned a number of the 249 homes in the village area.
Most of the villagers have moved into the State’s new residential development in Waimanalo, but some have rented out their old homes.
Kido said he realizes it is not desirable to have empty homes in the area.
"But we have to clear it," he said. "And as they vacate, we don’t want the homes filled up."
The Land Department, meanwhile, is conferring with the Hawaiian Homes Commission on the possibility of providing about 19 lots in the Waimanalo core development for Hawaiian families.
This would complete the first increment of 153 lots in the State’s $8 million plan to transform Waimanalo Valley into a major urban center.
The development has moved slowly because it hinges on funds appropriated by the Legislature — and the department has no money to continue the work.
It also lagged for a long time while sewage and effluent disposal problems were being solved. However, a sewage treatment plan has now been completed.
Kido said the sequence of development might be altered to give the villagers more time to vacate the area — but otherwise the old master-plan will be followed.
It envisions a multi-use (project), the original plan for the 7,000-acre area.
And if any changes are proposed, he said, they will be presented to the Waimanalo residents for comment.
Kido pointed out that there has been no major change in modern development of homes, apartments, resorts and commercial and farm sites.
