The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named Lanai City one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, saying that Castle & Cooke, which owns much of the town, wants to "make way for large-scale development."
Castle & Cooke President Harry Saunders says his company also wants to preserve the charm of Lanai City, although it perfers a different approach. He laughed when he heard that he was planning large-scale development.
In a press release from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., trust President Richard Moe said, "Lanai City is a jewel, the last remaining intact plantation town in Hawaii. Its remote location protected the city from the intense development pressures seen in other parts of the state, and, as a result, it's been a haven for visitors anxious to experience an authentic and natural slice of paradise. We cannot afford to lose this unique chapter of Hawaiian history and heritage."
Since 1988, the nonprofit trust has placed 211 places, ranging from bridges to shopping districts to abandoned factories, on its endangered list, and it says only six have subsequently been lost. It does not provide money to save places, but Brian Turner in San Francisco, its western region law fellow, said Tuesday that the trust advocates for and draws attention to places and encourages owners "to make the right decision."
Although all of Lanai City was put on the trust's list and, separately, the County of Maui is trying to get part of it placed on the state registry of historic locations, the focus of the trust's alarm is the small portion around Dole Square, the business district.
Saunders describes this as a mixture of residences, businesses and former residences converted to businesses that is still a living town. "Lanai City is not solely for the tourists," he said. "It serves as a core for the culture and the people of Lanai."
He says the trust's description of C&C's plans overdramatize it.
According to the trust, C&C plans to demolish or alter 15 to 20 historic buildings. Saunders says the total is 11, and that not all are on the square. Some, he said, are "shacks."
As for alterations, he notes that many have been altered more than once since Lanai City was built in the 1920s and '30s. If they and the businesses they house are to continue to survive, they need repairs and, in some cases, expansion or modification. Others do not meet modern building codes or health regulations, Saunders said.
He and Taylor both use the same words for the future of the buildings: adapt and reuse.
The Historic Hawaii Foundation nominated Lanai City for the national organization's alarm list and is supporting the county's action to place it on the historic register. Saunders says C&C and other landowners involved were not consulted about that plan, and that at a public hearing earlier this year, the reaction to the nomination was mixed.
Castle & Cooke would prefer to use the county Business-Country Town zoning guidelines, which he says could get Lanai City to the same goal as the trust's, but with more flexibility.
Cost is a factor. Under historic designations, some alterations - even minor
ones - could require environmental assessments or environmental impact statements, which might be a burden on some owners, Saunders said.
Kiersten Faulkner, the executive director of the Historic Hawaii Foundation, said in a telephone interview from the Mainland that it is "encouraging" to know that C&C also embraces adaptive reuse as a way of preserving buildings of character.
If the desire is to help existing businesses meet their needs for change and growth, she said, "there is a way to do that that respects the historic character."
Although C&C owns most of Lanai, it no longer owns most of Lanai City. About two-thirds of the residences have been sold to their occupants. This transfer has been going on since the '50s, although it is complicated because part of Lanai City's charm consists of tiny houses on tiny lots - not normally eligible for subdivision because they don't meet code - "existing but nonconforming uses," in the lingo of the Maui Planning Department.
County Council Member Sol Kaho'ohalahala, who holds the council's Lanai residency seat, said that he is concerned.
In a telephone interview Tuesday from the Mainland, he noted that Lanai City was not the original settlement on the island. Earlier, when Lanai was a ranch rather than a pineapple plantation, urbanism on the island consisted of a ranch house at Koele, nearby residences (including some his family lived in) and other outbuildings. "That's all been changed," Kaho'ohalahala said.
And when the physical surroundings change, he said, "it is hard to recapture" the feel for a place.
He, too, favors adaptive reuse and preservation of what's left.
Turner says he hopes Castle & Cooke will "embrace the past as a method of economic development for the island."
* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.
