The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is making last-minute changes to its spending plan for the $600 million the agency needs to encumber by the end of June.
The revised plan puts a pause on several projects that have been in the pipeline for years and instead focuses on developing newly acquired land.
The department is moving forward on a majority of the two dozen projects it currently has in the queue.
But Kalani Fronda, head of DHHL’s Rapid Development Team, said nine of those projects are being deferred in favor of land development.
"The focus is on acquiring new lands with characteristics suitable for residential use closely connected to existing infrastructure. The objective is to spend the $600 million by the required time, have that encumbered and resulting in the construction of 2,000-plus homes," Fronda said.
DHHL’s oversight body, the Hawaiian Homes Commission, approved revisions to the spending plan last Wednesday to ensure all $600 million is set aside by June 30.
But this new plan did not initially include projects on Molokaʻi, which frustrated Molokaʻi Commissioner Zachary Helm.
"It's really unfair cause every island will be getting funded through Act 279. So how can you leave out Molokaʻi? And there was only two projects that was part of this proposal. ... So if we don’t get funded and we gotta wait for the (Legislature) in 2025, it’s not a guarantee we’re going to get funded," Helm explained.
Kauaʻi Commissioner Dennis Neves expressed his dissatisfaction with the initial revisions, which puts a pause on plans in Anahola to award more than 100 unimproved homestead lots known as "kuleana lots." Instead, DHHL is moving forward on developing new land closer to Līhuʻe.
"We don’t need a brand new community. We’re not going to wait six, seven years to get a brand new community. I don’t care if the county thinks it’s great. That’s good for them. We like where we’re at. We have a large community. We have land there that should be developed," Neves said.
After some deliberation, DHHL was able to call back funds previously allocated to a project in Wailuku, Maui, to restore funding for Anahola, Hoʻolehua, and Nāiwa.
Fronda said the deferred projects won’t necessarily be scrapped altogether, but DHHL is looking for other funding sources beyond the $600 million the agency received under Act 279.
