Plans for another artificial wave pool on the south shore of Oʻahu are raising concerns and a legal challenge from a group of ʻEwa Beach residents and Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners.
A coalition of groups led by Nā Kiaʻi O Wai Hā announced their plans to occupy the future site of the Honokea West Surf Village.
Healani Sonoda-Pale, one of the group’s leaders, said the goal of their occupation is to bring attention to the proposed wave pool.
“This wave pool that they want to build will be 5 acres large and will require 7 million gallons of fresh, potable water during a water crisis caused by the U.S. Navy Red Hill spills,” Sonoda-Pale said.
“There are burials on this area that they want to build this wave pool. Less than a mile away is ‘One’ula, a very important limu bed. We’re here today to occupy this space to bring attention to what’s happening here," she continued.
Sonoda-Pale said the group’s occupation at the entrance to the property on Coral Sea Road will be an opportunity for the community to get educated on what is at stake and how they can help protect Honouliuliʻs precious natural, historical and cultural resources.
The $100 million, 20-acre Honokea West Surf Village is proposed for an area of graded coral flats that was once the Barbers Point Naval Air Station.
Waterman Brian Keaulana, the project’s leading local advocate, said developers have studied the cultural and environmental issues at the site for more than 10 years. He said if anyone found something, he’d shut it down.
Nā Kiaʻi O Wai Hā sued over the project last year arguing the landowner, Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority, and the developer, Honokea Kalaeloa, LLC, did not adequately disclose and mitigate significant impacts on natural, cultural and historical resources of the area.
According to the lawsuit, the proposed site for the 5-acre wave pool is home to fragile habitats for native organisms, iwi kūpuna (traditional Hawaiian burials), and an underground cave system.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 28 in First Circuit Court.
