KULA - Some members of the Maui/Lanai Islands Burial Council tussled last week with a developer who wants to build a 21-lot agricultural subdivision behind the Kula Community Center, despite the belief that hundreds of iwi, or human remains, may be hidden within the mountainside's shallow volcanic soil.
In separate incidents this summer, a home gardener and then a worker grading a road inadvertently uncovered two Native Hawaiian burial plots within the boundaries of Kula Ridge housing projects proposed by Maui architect Clayton Nishikawa.
During a confrontational meeting of the council Thursday at the community center, state Department of Land and Natural Resources State Historic Preservation Division officials said the agricultural site contains 309 mounds and more than 1,000 archaeological features.
"There are some very defined mounds out there, and they scare me to death," said Nancy McMahon, an archaeologist and deputy state historic preservation officer.
The discovery of human remains several months ago at the 272-acre Kula Ridge Mauka project led the burial council to vote unanimously Thursday to demand that Nishikawa halt work and redo extensive - and expensive - archaeological inventory studies.
It's uncertain, though, whether the council has the authority to make such a requirement, and council members said they will seek a legal opinion from the state Department of the Attorney General.
Nishikawa argued that his private contractor, Scientific Consultant Services Inc., already completed two significant archaeological studies, with multiple revisions, as well as a preservation plan. He noted that in more than 2 years, the consultant has sought and received approval by the State Historic Preservation Division for its work.
On Thursday, Nishikawa sought a compromise from burial council members. He proposed putting in place a voluntary monitor during construction as well as seeking the advice of Native Hawaiian cultural advisers to put together a plan that's acceptable to the council.
"What I would like to do is work out a positive solution that would be respectful to everyone in the community," he said.
But burial council Chairman Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. said Nishikawa's proposal was insufficient.
"We're not going for it," Maxwell said. "I have no faith in (SCS principal investigator) Mike Dega."
Maxwell, who grew up in Kula, said the gulch on the property, Keahuaiwi, literally translates into pile of bones, or bone shrine. He said he believes most, if not all, of the mounds contain human remains.
Nishikawa said the mounds were most likely used for agriculture. Nishikawa also told the council that he stopped grubbing the land and grading for roads in May when the bones were discovered.
Burial council members were also perturbed because they were expecting to do a site inspection Thursday.
But Nishikawa said he was advised by his insurer not to allow the council members on the property because the area is an active construction site and grazing pasture with cows and bulls. He asked members to wait until next month and then sign forms that indemnify him against any liability.
The second discovery of human remains occurred at a pre-existing home in the proposed Kula Ridge development, which is on 48 acres adjacent to the proposed Kula Ridge Mauka agricultural subdivision.
"I'm very concerned with your company being so lackadaisical," Maxwell told Dega and Nishikawa. "If we know the iwi are there, why are you digging? It's very hard to understand."
McMahon said members of her staff had contacted Attorney General Mark Bennett's office asking if they could require an addendum to SCS's archaeological inventory studies. She said the attorney general advised the State Historic Preservation Division that it could ask but not compel the developer to conduct one.
Burial Council members said that the state preservation staff members admitted they'd made mistakes in their oversight.
"They dropped the ball," Maxwell said. "They (state historic preservation officials) say this fell through the cracks, but that's bull. We've been notifying her all along about our concerns."
Nishikawa said he too had sent letters - including to the State Historic Preservation Division and Maxwell - in July seeking information about the site's history. He never heard back, he said.
In October 2008, Maui County Council members unanimously rejected Nishikawa's 116-lot Kula Ridge development, which was proposed as a fast-track affordable housing project on land zoned for agriculture. (The Kula Ridge Mauka project already has appropriate zoning since it is an agricultural subdivision in an agricultural zone.)
Council members said they had concerns that the subdivision across Lower Kula Road was too dense for its footprint and would promote urban sprawl and traffic congestion. Councilors also were concerned that the roads were too narrow and didn't have enough sidewalks. Also, Kula Ridge had no guaranteed long-term source of water.
Nishikawa initially said he would not resubmit plans, but he said Thursday that he would bring them back soon to the county council.
The biggest remaining issue was water availability, he said, but he now has an agreement to seek his own source of water with a private well developer.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
