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A Native Hawaiian group and two of its members have filed a lawsuit in 2nd Circuit Court against the director of the county Department of Public Works, the county and Maui Lani Partners over the extension of a grading permit.
Malama Kakanilua, formed to protect bones, burials and historic and archaeologically significant sites, and members Clare Apana and Kaniloa Kamaunu maintain that the county renewed Maui Lani Partners' grading permit for its phase 9 site for one year for unspecified "good cause" and without review or concurrence from the State Historic Preservation Division, which is contrary to state law.
The Kahului site is north of Maui Lani Parkway. The suit was filed last week in Environmental Court.
In a letter responding to Malama Kakanilua's concerns, the county said it had requested comment from the state division, but had not received a response, according to an announcement of the lawsuit.
The grading permit at center of the suit is for an area at Maui Lani where a Honolulu TV news telecast last year reported that a contractor was removing and shipping truckloads of sand to Oahu. That practice soon stopped on the parcel, but it set off community protests.
On Friday, Maui County spokesman Rod Antone said he could not comment on the pending litigation.
Leiane Paci of Maui Lani Partners said in an email: "There has been absolutely no grading activity or any other activity in Phase 9 since the court hearings last year. The county conducts regular site inspections on the property, and their field reports can confirm that the project is on hold and no activity is occurring."
A spokesperson for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which includes the State Historic Preservation Division, said it could not comment on pending litigation.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Lance Collins, said the best outcome from the suit would be to have the county rescind the permit extension and have Maui Lani Partners "go through the normal permit process" if the developer wants to continue grading work.
This would include a review by the Historic Preservation Division.
In the suit, the group said it asked Department of Public Works Director David Goode, who is not specifically named in the lawsuit, to rescind the grading permit. But the request was denied. A letter from the county said there was good cause in the matter and a lack of response from the state Historic Preservation Division.
Collins said the suit also was brought to court because the county extended the grading permit less than a week after 2nd Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza filed a written preliminary injunction on earth-moving activities on the Maui Lani property. The filing was in November, and the written preliminary injunction includes restrictions on Maui Lani's grading activities.
(Maui County was not party to that litigation.)
The injunction stems from a lawsuit last year regarding earth-moving work in the same Maui Lani area.
The suit, also filed by Malama Kakanilua with Apana and Kamaunu, said Maui Lani was in violation of state historic preservation laws, county grading permits and county zoning laws.
Cardoza originally ruled on the matter last September. He ordered developers to follow the archaeological monitoring plan approved by the state and abide by other restrictions.
The ruling required the property owner to allow plaintiffs to have an observer on Maui Lani's Phase 9 site to view any ground-disturbing activities. Maui Lani also must notify the plaintiffs at least 48 hours before there's ground disturbances or soil removal from the Phase 9 site, the written ruling said.
Collins said that, since the preliminary injunction last September, the group has not been called out to monitor work, he said. But group members have taken photos at the site periodically, and footprints have been found.
In January, Mayor Alan Arakawa signed a bill establishing a six-month moratorium on mining of Central Maui inland sand to provide time for a sand inventory study.
The measure included exemptions for some landowners and others, including Maui Lani Phase 9, which is not affected because the project has current grading and grubbing permits.
* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.