Maui’s only veterans cemetery is quickly running out of space, and veterans fear it could run out of room by early next year if expansion work is not resumed soon.

The $6 million project to improve and expand Maui Veterans Cemetery in Makawao has been on hold since last month. Work stopped after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was found to be noncompliant with federal historic preservation laws. The department is in the process of reviewing how the project will affect the neighboring Makawao Cemetery and a spokesman said Friday that the review should be completed “very soon.”

The state Department of Defense oversees veterans cemeteries in Hawaii, and it has been the lead agency in planning and designing the expansion project.

“We’re doing everything we can to serve our veterans,” said state Department of Defense spokesman Lt. Col. Charles Anthony. “Right now, it’s a matter of when we can resume construction.”

Makawao Cemetery Association officials, however, maintain that state Defense Department officials have been “arrogant,” unwilling to iron out disputes with representatives of the neighboring cemetery and have been deceptive by telling the public that the association’s lawsuit is blocking the burial of more veterans.

As of last month, the cemetery had 44 open burial sites, and officials believe that continues to be the number of plots available. Ballard Family Mortuary officials said they arrange about 12 burials a month at the cemetery.

“We’ve done the calculations and the cemetery could be filled by March or April at this rate,” said Mitch Skaggerberg, president of the Maui County Veterans Council, on Friday. “I’ve been here 40 years, and we’ve never been faced with this challenge before. To turn away veterans – it’s never happened. We need to do something very quickly.”

The association’s federal lawsuit could delay work at the veterans cemetery, Anthony said.

The case is expected to be back in court next month.

Anthony said that he could not comment on what might happen if the cemetery were filled before expansion work is completed.

“I don’t think I can even answer that,” he said. “It really depends upon the hearing and how things progress. I really can’t comment on a hypothetical.”

Camille Lyons, president of the Makawao Cemetery Association, said that the state could inter veterans in newly acquired expansion lands. The association has been trying to work with the state for the past three years, but officials tell her she is “doing a disservice to our veterans and families,” she said.

“How dare they say that to me,” she said Friday. “Out of my budget, I give every month to our veterans. My father-in-law and friends are buried in the veterans cemetery.

“They’re sort of making it out that we’re preventing them from having burials, but our only argument is against Lot 1. That’s the only reason we’re fighting it,” she said.

Lot No. 1 is the shared parking lot that lies between the two cemeteries, Lyons said. Last month, association members sought a temporary restraining order to stop construction work at the lot. That work would have uprooted two large Cook Island pine trees.

The association maintains that the project would degrade the historic charm of Makawao Cemetery, where notable burials include Henry Perrine Baldwin, who co-founded Alexander & Baldwin, the parent company of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.

State Deputy Attorney General Amanda Weston said that the first construction work was grading the road between the two cemeteries so soil could be used for the new burial sites. Lyons said that the dirt excavated for the new burial sites was given away so dirt from the parking lot was needed for the burial expansion work.

“I’m tired of the whole thing,” Lyons said. “They have room to bury people. They have a whole new 10 acres. To give this line that they’re running out of burial space is a joke in my book.”

In response, Anthony said that all construction has been halted, and the state cannot build new burial sites for veterans. He added: “I don’t understand how they would think that.”

“There’s no shared lot,” he said. “That parking lot is part of the veterans cemetery, and the MCA has been allowed to use it, but it’s not a shared parking lot.”

In the midst of the feud, veterans are confused and worried about whether their fellow service members will have a final resting place. Many cannot imagine their brethren being left in storage or put in another cemetery, only to be exhumed when expansion work is completed.

“I think it’s unconscionable that there’s a risk for veterans not having a place to bury them and very high risk that they’ll be stacked up like cordwood,” said Michael Covich, president of Concerned American Veterans. “The issues of (burying) veterans are more important than shrine status, trees, gates or repairs to the parking lot. The main concern should be having a place to respectfully (bury) our veterans.”

Skaggerberg said that the dwindling cemetery space has become his top priority, and the veterans council is aware that burials will accelerate because of the aging population of Korea- and Vietnam-era veterans.

There are more than 10,000 veterans in Maui County, he said.

“The first effect is on our families for our veterans passing away,” Skaggerberg said. “They would be faced with the challenges that they should not have to deal with: ‘Do we bury them someplace else and dig them back up or store them someplace?’

“What other options we have, I don’t know, but none of them are good.”

Skaggerberg and Covich are critical of the state Department of Defense for its handling of the cemetery and the association’s lawsuit.

However, at least one Maui County veteran supports the agency and its work.

“I’m a 100 percent behind the VA, and I think they’re doing a tremendous job,” Korean War veteran Fred Ruge said. “I think that the VA has been very fair to the Makawao Cemetery Association and I think it’s really sad that they took this to court.”

Skaggerberg said that he hopes to host a community meeting of 100 to 200 veterans next month to talk about the cemetery issue and to create a plan to address concerns.

“It’s really getting the veterans together and hearing our voice first, and then we’ll be much closer to coming up with a solution without waiting the next five or eight months,” he said.

* Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.