WAILUKU — Maui County Council members praised efforts to restore Mokuula, the sacred home of Hawaiian royalty in Lahaina, and unanimously recommended spending $425,000 to support the project.

But Council Member Wayne Nishiki Tuesday questioned whether Mokuula island, the one-acre former residence of high chiefs of Maui, would be kept "kapu to outsiders" by the Friends of Moku'ula Inc.

The Friends, a nonprofit dedicated to historical and cultural preservation, acquired a 35-year lease and license to occupy parts of Malu-ulu-o-Lele Park. The group intends to excavate the archaeological site dating back to the 16th century and unearth a royal compound and a mausoleum.

During a Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Nishiki referred to a Web site called "Sacred Sites International Foundation," which details the Mokuula project as "one of the most exciting developments in sacred site preservation."

The Sacred Sites Web site reported: "The island area will be strictly for sacred and secular ceremonial use by Native Hawaiians; however, it may be open once a year to invited outsiders."

Nishiki asked Akoni Akana, executive director of Friends of Moku'ula, about the exclusion of "outsiders."

Akana said the island is Hawaiian and needs to be interpreted by Hawaiians. The more the island is exposed to people, the more difficult it will be to preserve it, he said.

Native Hawaiians can't walk through Pineapple Hill residences in Kapalua, he said, because it is private property.

Akana said his group wants to have one sacred site where "we try to limit that to the Native Hawaiian population."

He pointed out that the rest of the project area or 14 acres would be open to visitors who could walk through hales and be introduced to Native Hawaiian lifestyle.

Akana said most of his organization's supporters are non-Hawaiians who back plans to set aside one area for Native Hawaiians only.

Nishiki said he remained concerned about the potential for discrimination in the group's plans. He pointed out that the group's lease with the county has a standard covenant against discrimination.

It says, "That the use and enjoyment of the premises shall not be in support of any policy which discriminates against anyone based upon sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, race, color, religion or disability."

Nishiki asked county lawyers to study whether the group's plans to bar "outsiders" from Mokuula island would be a problem and to report back in writing.

Other council members went out of their way to support the project.

Council Member JoAnne Johnson, who holds the council's West Maui residency seat, said a county contribution of nearly $500,000 toward the project is a great investment.

Council Member Alan Arakawa said Lahaina town lacks a true Hawaiian cultural area. He said the county's investment should come back to taxpayers as revenue.

Council Member Charmaine Tavares said she was parks director in 1992 when major archaeological discoveries were made. She went to Mokuula to see the sites first hand.

"It was totally chicken skin," she said.

Tavares said the Mokuula project is the most significant cultural preservation work being done in the state.

In a separate matter, committee members recommended accepting a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior for an expansion of the Lahaina Recreation Center.

The expansion would open up ball fields and other new recreational areas in former sugar cane fields mauka of Lahaina town to make up for open space lost as Malu-ulu-o-Lele Park is dedicated to the Mokuula restoration project.

Council members said they didn't want to spend county funds to develop a park without having clear title to the property now owned by Amfac. They decided to accept the federal funds, but they added a proviso in the budget amendment bill that bars spending the money until a clear title is provided to the county.

The bills move on to the full council for two readings before being forwarded to the mayor for final action.

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