WAILUKU - The Friends of Moku'ula and Maui Nui Botanical Gardens Inc. were granted leases of county land to begin their long-awaited projects approved in separate actions by the Maui County Council on Friday.

"We're thrilled to be working with the county," said Lisa Schattenburg-Raymond, president of Maui Nui Botanical Gardens. The group plans a six-acre garden for Native Hawaiian plants and educational programs at Keopuolani Park. "We're excited about this new partnership," she said. Members of The Friends of Moku'ula (http://www.mokuula.com) broke into applause when their lease was approved. They will be allowed to begin work on the Lahaina parcel where a royal home of the Hawaiian alii was once located. The group hopes to restore an ancient fishpond and island that were covered in 1913 and replaced with athletic fields.

Councilman Dennis Y. Nakamura made the motion to grant the Moku'ula lease.

"With all the commercialism (of Lahaina), we need a sense of place for our local people and the culture of the Hawaiian people," he said.

Council Member Charmaine Tavares said it was a much-needed addition of pre-contact Hawaiian history not often represented in West Maui. In the Lahaina Historic District, the missionary era and whaling period are usually emphasized.

"That's the wrong impression of what Hawaii is all about," said Tavares. "We had a great history before that (Western influence)."

Akoni Akana, executive director of The Friends of Moku'ula, promised Budget Chairman Wayne Nishiki that, after an initial grant of $425,000 from the county to serve as matching funds for other grants, the group would not ask for more taxpayer funds.

"We're sure of that," said Akana. He said the organization wasn't looking for county money, "but county support."

The lease to a portion of the land at Malu Ulu O Lele park was the missing document needed to qualify the group for a federal grant, he said. They will re-apply for it in January.

Schattenburg-Raymond's nonprofit organization was formed in 1994 to take over the space occupied by the former county zoo and botanical garden.

A final roadblock was cleared with a compromise between the county and the United Public Workers union over maintenance work for the park land.

Corporation Counsel James Takayesu told the council that county workers would continue doing park maintenance until the nonprofit raises private funds for the work to be done independently of the county. Takayesu explained that other amendments in the lease give Maui Nui the option of applying for county grants or funds for capital improvement projects.

Despite the problems in obtaining the lease, Schattenburg-Raymond said she thought the group "emerged with a much stronger relationship with the county, and it will make for a better project."

She said the gardens should become an attraction for tourists and an educational resource for residents and students. Because new permits are required to erect a temporary office trailer, the program won't begin in earnest for several months, she said, but plants from the old gardens will be re-labeled, and cleanup projects will start in the near future.

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