OHA, Aina Haina group ask city to halt site work

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Aina Haina Community Association are asking the city to stop grading work on property in Aina Haina owned by developer Jeff Stone until an archaeological inventory survey is conducted.

Community members raised concerns that sacred cultural sites on the property were recently disturbed during grading work.

In a letter Thursday to the city Department of Planning and Permitting, Kama­na‘o­pono Crabbe, OHA chief executive officer, said, "We believe that an AIS should be conducted of the entire parcel, based on information provided by knowledgeable community members and that appropriate mitigation strategies be developed prior to the implementation of the parcels development."

Crabbe and the community association requested that work on the property stop until the survey is completed. The Aina Haina group sent its letter Friday.

Stone plans to build two single-family houses at 1055 and 1057 Hao St. near the beginning of Wai­lupe Loop Trail. The Planning Department had said the developer met all requirements for the building and grading permits.

Stone could not be reached for comment, but Fabri­zio Medosi, principal of Pacific Atelier International LLC, an architectural firm hired by Stone for the project, said the survey will not be done.

"The work we’re doing right now is all permitted," he said, adding that the State Historic Preservation Division can only recommend the developer conduct a survey.

Concerned community members contend the property contained an ahu (altar) site with a stone platform and surrounding pohaku (stones). Aina Haina resident Danny Loui saved a guardian stone, a protective entity, before the site was bulldozed Tuesday. Loui said his request to the developer to preserve the site was ignored.

Duane Medeiros, a descendent of the Hewa­hewa family of Wai­lupe Valley, said the platform stone that was destroyed by the developer was a vantage point of the ahupuaa trail that connected the ocean and the mountains.

An inventory survey of cultural sites was supposed to have been completed before work started, Loui said. He added that concerns were raised to the Historic Preservation Division but were ignored.

In a statement via email, Historic Preservation Division Administrator Pua Aiu said the division sent a recommendation to the city that a survey be completed by the developer. Preservation officials visited the site twice in February.

George Atta, director designate of the Department of Planning and Permitting, said he recently told concerned community members that verification of cultural sites on the property is required before the city can decide whether it can remedy the matter.

"The site hasn’t been officially inventoried in the past," he said. "It wasn’t mapped."

Atta said the Planning Department could issue a stop-work order if the Historic Preservation Division informed them of an archaeological site at risk.

"While SHPD does not have the authority to issue a stop work order since this is a city permit, it is the official agency regarding historic sites and its request would be a good enough basis for the city to issue a stop work order," Atta said in a statement sent via email.

State law requires contractors to immediately suspend work and notify police and the Historic Preservation Division in the event of any artifacts or human remains uncovered during construction.