Four families still looking for new homes are all that remain of some 17 tenant households at an old sugar plantation camp in Koloa, Kauai, where landowner Grove Farm Co. is planning a housing development.
Some tenants and former tenants say they’re disappointed with the way they were treated by the company.
"I believe that from the very beginning the way they went about it was all wrong," said Doreen Jacintho, who moved out May 5. "In my personal opinion it’s extremely disrespectful."
As the last tenants depart a place known as "Japanese Camp C," residents say the company failed to make enough of an effort to hold talks and look for an alternative site for the housing development, even though the Kauai County Council and the state Senate adopted resolutions asking Grove Farm to explore options.
Grove Farm said alternatives were unfeasible and that it needed to build the homes soon to take advantage of low interest rates.
The company plans 50 homes at Waihohonu on 12 acres. The homes will be priced at "affordable or market-level prices."
The new two- and three-bedroom homes will be above the flood level, with better roads and septic systems, compared with the old homes, which are more than 100 years old, below flood level and have cesspools, the company said.
Marissa Sandblom, vice president of Grove Farm, said the property, within walking distance of Koloa town, will provide opportunities for homeownership.
"There is a demand for housing, and now is an ideal time for people to buy a home," she said. "With interest rates at historic lows, we believe that the faster we can move on getting the homes available for purchase, the greater the opportunity for island homebuyers."
John Pratt, a tenant, said he’s still looking for a new place — a search made more difficult because he operates a T-shirt production business at his home.
"The difficulty is not just affordable housing," he said. "It’s affordable rentals."
Jacinto is paying $1,050 a month for a one-bedroom studio in Omao, about $250 more than she did for a house in Koloa. She is also continuing to dispute her eviction, saying she never received legal notice.
Kepa Kruse, whose family plans to move by June 10, said the old homes were part of sugar plantation history. "It breaks my heart because I don’t think it’s the respectful way for my community to end," Kruse said.
The plantation at Koloa, established by Ladd & Co. in 1835, was the first successful Hawaii sugar plantation, according to the National Register of Historic Places.
Some 980 acres of land at Koloa was leased from King Kamehameha III at an annual rent of $300.
Ownership of the company has passed to other owners, including Koloa Sugar Co., and it merged with Grove Farm Co. in 1948, according to the National Register. Grove Farm was bought in 2000 by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL.
