Editorial: Zuckerbergs on Kauai

2021 turned out to be a good land-buying year for Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan, with the billionaire power couple adding twice last year to their Kauai holdings. Whether their presence ultimately turns out to be good or bad for other Kauaians remains to be seen.

Already, there’s been evidence of both good and not-so-good since the Facebook/Meta co-founder and his wife started buying Garden Island land. A quick recap: Their initial purchase, in 2014 for $100 million, was for roughly 700 acres in the Pilaa area that included vast ocean frontage; last April, they paid $53 million to add 600 adjacent acres, to create a contiguous “Ko‘olau Ranch” estate on agricultural and conservation land; then in November, they spent $17 million for another 110 acres, upstream of the other sites. That last acquisition includes the notorious Ka Loko dam, which in 2006, under then-landowner James Pflueger, overtopped amid 40 days of downpours and killed seven people.

For the Zuckerbergs, it’s been their earlier acquisitions that have courted controversy, according to reporting by the Star-Advertiser’s Andrew Gomes. One flashpoint emerged when the couple built tall rock walls on their Pilaa property, blocking ocean views from the area’s main road; another, more-troubling criticism surfaced when some public beach users claimed harassment by the Zuckerbergs’ security staff. Indeed, public access to Hawaii’s shorelines is a legal right — so any attempt in this state to privatize such access deserves pushback.

And then there was public ire over Zuckerberg’s use of “quiet title” lawsuits in 2016 to force owners of several small uninhabited parcels within his Pilaa property to sell their land at auction. Though he apologized for the forced-sale attempt and withdrew as a plaintiff, Zuckerberg would work with a local resident with ties to the targeted sites to ultimately complete a forced auction and acquire about 2 acres embedded in his estate. Such maneuverings attracted headlines nationally — and stirred local-vs.-outsider sentiments, even charges of “neocolonialism.”

But the Zuckerbergs also have been positive community contributors. In March, the couple gave $4.2 million to a jobs program for Kauai residents who lost jobs during the pandemic, and in November, Kauai Habitat for Humanity said it received $4.85 million in affordable-housing grants for projects in Waimea, Anahola and Waipouli.

A statement from the couple said they operate “a working ranch, promote conservation, produce sustainable agriculture and protect wildlife and look forward to expanding their efforts.”

Such intentions would seem to align with public- interest goals. Whether and how they come to pass, though, will bear close scrutiny, as this influential couple carry out their strategic moves.