STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2427

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3221

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 3221 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COCO PALMS RESORT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Board of Land and Natural Resources to acquire the land commonly referred to as the Coco Palms Resort located on the east side of Kauai, Hawaii.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Kauai Planning and Action Alliance, Kilauea Neighborhood Association, Kauai Public Land Trust, Wailua-Kapaa Neighborhood Association, Trust for Public Land, and over sixty individuals.

     Your Committee finds the Coco Palms Resort location in Wailua on Kauai's eastern shore is of historical importance.  The resort is thee ancestral home of Kauai's alii (royalty).  Since the thirteenth century, the area around the mouth of the Wailua river was an important royal center where high chiefs and chiefesses conducted business and entertained visitors.  The area includes a group of sites now designated as the national historic landmark known as the Wailua Complex of Heiau.  Within this complex are some of the oldest heiau, which is a place of refuge and birthing of chiefs, in Kauai.

     The Coco Palms Resort site currently contains approximately 12.63 acres zoned RR‑20 (resort) and 19.29 acres zoned open, and includes adjacent lands owned by the State and leased by the Coco Palms Resort owners.  The latter includes the historic coconut grove, the former tennis courts, and a small segment at the entry to the property.  Mauka of the property is conservation land which extends back into the valley and consists of extensive wetlands.

     Your Committee finds that recently, the cancellation of development plans caused by a real estate market downturn combined with many development challenges, resulted in the property being placed back on the market.  Proposed residential development of Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' property in the immediate area has created additional interest in converting the Coco Palms Resort property to a public, historical, and cultural preserve.

     Your Committee understands that the acquired lands are to be utilized as a public resource and a public or nonprofit entity shall be selected to manage and operate a public historical park and cultural education center that would serve to preserve and benefit the native Hawaiian culture.  In this regard, the Board of Land and Natural Resources must communicate with and seek partnerships to support the purchase and operations by entering into discussions with major public and private nonprofit organizations.  Working in conjunction with these organizations the Board must also conduct community outreach meetings designed to ascertain community needs and desires in regard to the project.  To this end, citizens advisory group must also be established, composed of native Hawaiian practitioners familiar with the history of the area, residents of the Wailua and Kapaa area, those residents who have historically been associated with the Coco Palms Resort as former employees, and Kauai state legislators.  This advisory group will be responsible for developing recommendations on the long-term vision, goals, operational nature, and scope of a community-based, Hawaiian-centered, public historical park and cultural education center facility.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3221, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3221, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair