Trust has funds to buy Ka Iwi parcels

A fundraiser has pushed private donations over a $500,000 goal to help complete a 40-year effort to protect the scenic Ka Iwi Coastline from development by financing the purchase of the last pieces of privately held land.

On Thursday night the fundraiser held in Waimanalo raised $21,600, bringing the private donation total to $500,000, which resulted in a total of $4 million to buy the two parcels.

"In less than 10 weeks we raised $500,000," said Phil Estermann, who has fought for 30 years against development of the area along the 7-mile stretch of highway along the coastline since he joined the fight in 1985 in the Save Sandy Beach effort.

"For more than 40 years, the community’s taken one stand after another. Now it looks like we can put the final piece in place. … It’s a culmination of years of concern for a lot of people."

Previous attempts by landowners to develop the area, including building cabins, have been thwarted, and the city and state have previously acquired most of the land along the coast.

However, the last two privately held pieces of property along the Ka Iwi Coast became available when the property’s mainland landowners went into bankruptcy. So the Trust for Public Land got a contract with the court in June to buy two parcels totaling 182 acres of mauka land between the Hawaii Kai Golf Course and Makapuu above Alan Davis Beach for $4 million.

The acquisition by the Trust and the Ka Iwi Coalition ensures the seven miles of coastline from Portlock to Waimanalo, including the Ka Iwi Scenic Shoreline, will remain protected for recreational and scenic purposes, as well as protection for Hawaiian cultural sites and habitat for native birds.

It includes Hanauma Bay, Koko Crater, the Halona Blowhole, Sandy Beach and Makapuu.

After securing $1 million from the state Legacy Land Conservation Program and $2.5 million from Honolulu’s Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund, a balance of $500,000 remained.

Now the Trust for Public Land can buy the parcels and transfer them to Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, the parent organization of the Ka Iwi Coalition, which will provide stewardship for the area under a city conservation easement and deed restrictions by the state.

Fundraiser organizers Kalani Kalima and his wife, Kari, got involved after Kalima stopped to ask about why people were waving signs while driving home through Hawaii Kai.

After he was told "they only had two months to save this mountainside," he promised to help.

He took the matter to his group, Na Kua’aina o Waimanalo. "Everyone was all in favor of saving our mauna (mountain)," said Kalima, a schoolteacher. "We all have our Mauna Kea."

With just 20 days to prepare, the group of "10 humble families" vowed to raise funds as best they could, secured a location, got local musicians and vendors, and requests for donations for their silent auction were met with a flood of items from poi pounders to some items worth thousands.

"I thought we’d get about $7,000," Kalima said of the fundraiser. "Once we started getting the word out on the radio, in the newspaper, the word spread farther than what we usually do — social media like Facebook."

When the Waimanalo, Kailua and Hawaii Kai communities showed up, Kalima was amazed. "We didn’t know the true scope of how everybody would react to our efforts in trying to save our mauna."

"This is something that touched everybody," he said. "It’s not just a Hawaiian thing, a Waimanalo thing. This was a people thing. It was something deep-seated. This is one of the few places that is undeveloped. This is one way to support something greater than themselves."

Estermann recalls the 15-year community struggle to keep Kaiser Development Co. from developing a resort at Queen’s Beach. "The community stopped the development, but Kaiser tried to bring it back on a reduced scale," he said. "That’s when I got involved."

Queen’s Beach was purchased under Gov. Ben Cayetano’s leadership from Bishop Estate, he said.

The Save Queen’s Beach group evolved into the Save Sandy Beach group. That’s when Estermann joined. In 1987 the controversy over the proposed development across from Sandy Beach erupted, and Estermann coordinated efforts with the Save Sandy Beach initiative. It got on the ballot in the 1988 general election, and the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of stopping the development.

In 2002 the city purchased the parcels at issue in the 1988 Sandy Beach Initiative election.

"Then in 1989, we tried to get our voting rights back, because the Supreme Court had taken our voting rights away. They said only city and county councils can make decisions on land use issues, not the public," Estermann said.

"People just feel strongly about this coastline," Estermann said. "Not only have people come out to testify at City Council meetings; they’ve voted. They contributed money back in the 1988 campaign. This time the strong concern is obviously still there. It’s a huge accomplishment for the broader community and Oahu in particular."

Elizabeth Reilly, head of Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, said the fundraising campaign will continue till the end of the month.

"Any money that comes in builds a strong foundation for stewardship," she said, including property taxes until tax exemption requests are approved, insurance, an archeological inventory and a management plan.

When the announcement was made at the fundraiser they had reached their goal, Reilly said, "people were hugging, crying, high fiving people."

"It was so euphoric," she said, adding she hopes "they feel that every time they drive this coast. It’s been decades in the making."