Federal report on restoration of Mokuula is nearly complete

Federal report on restoration of Mokuula is nearly complete

The Maui News
Wednesday, October 15, 2003

By LEE IMADA, News Editor

WAILUKU - The preliminary report on the restoration of a sacred Native Hawaiian inland island and surrounding pond in Lahaina is expected to be completed by mid-November, but a decision on funding by the Army Corps of Engineers won't be made until February. Paul Mizue, chief of the civil and public branch of the Honolulu Division of the Army Corps of Engineers, indicated confidence that the Mokuula island-Mokuhina pond project would be funded. He noted, "This is a liberally funded program," with tens of millions of federal dollars available for projects nationwide.

In a phone interview from Fort Shafter, Oahu, on Tuesday, Mizue said the project cap is $7 million - $5 million from the federal government and $2 million from the county.

Prospects of restoring Mokuula, the island that once held a royal palace, and Mokuhina, the surrounding fishpond, came up during a Maui Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday.

The Friends of Moku'ula was requesting acceptance of an environmental assessment for a proposed 84-stall parking lot and 1,800-square-foot hale.

Akoni Akana, executive director of the group trying to restore the landmark at Malu-ulu-o-Lele Park, told the commission that a parking lot on the site had to be removed for archaeological purposes but the county wanted the stalls replaced because of the high demand in the area. The new, larger lot is planned for the Shaw Street side of the site, away from the congested Front Street corner where the current lot is on an archaeologically "pre-disturbed" site, an old dump, Akana said.

The Native Hawaiian hale will be a permanent fixture to be used for presentations currently held in the cramped offices of the Friends of Moku'ula, Akana said.

The environmental assessment for the parking lot and landfill showed no significant impacts, and the commission voted to accept the report.

The $1.25 million project with county and private funding still requires a special management area and other permits. The group hopes to begin work next July with completion a year later.

During discussions on the application, Commissioner Diane Shepherd asked Akana: "Is it (Mokuula) feasible to restore?"

Mizue said after the preliminary report is completed in mid-November, it will go to the division headquarters at Ft. Shafter for review and approval. The next steps are a feasibility study/environmental restoration report and a construction study.

The Army Corps has been handling ecosystem and wetland restoration programs since 1990, said Mizue. Every project is unique, he added.

Mokuula's restoration is "unusual because of the archaeological significance of the area" and the development of a cultural and tourist attraction, Mizue said.

Akana envisions Mokuula more like a colonial Williamsburg than the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Oahu.

"We don't want to see the Laie kind of thing, the 'at twelve o'clock the Hawaiians climb the tree' kind of thing," he told the commission.

The restoration of Mokuula and Mokuhina is "doable," said Akana. The only question is how authentic the restored site will be.

Mokuula was the spiritual and political center of the Hawaiian kingdom for 300 years until 1845, when the capital of Hawaii was moved from Lahaina to Honolulu by King Kamehameha IV.

Archaeologists have confirmed the existence of a royal palace and mausoleum on Mokuula, according to the Friends of Moku'ula Web site.

"The full details of how to restore the wetlands has not been determined," said Mich Hirano, planning consultant with Munekiyo and Hiraga hired by Friends of Moku'ula.

This is more like an archaeological dig than planned projects that usually appear before the planning commission, Akana said after the meeting.

In the process of doing the work, major archaeological items may be uncovered, which may require special treatment, handling and change of plans.

Phase I is planned, but the rest of the project hinges on the Army Corps of Engineers report.

Akana said he has seen costs for the whole project range from $10 million to $40 million but "we don't know."

It might continue after that, to be carried out by the next generation, he added.

Akana said he envisions himself, after the island and pond work is done, as an old man in a chair on Mokuula, chanting, drool rolling down his cheek, with people saying, "He's the one who started this."