Honokea West still deciding what to do about proposed Surf Village
Posted on Jun 17, 2024 in MainIsland News
Honokea West still deciding what to do about proposed Surf Village
By Diane Ako / June 15, 2024
Honokea West still deciding what to do about proposed Surf Village. Courtesy Na Kia’i o Wai Ha.
HONOLULU (ISLAND NEWS) — The team behind Honokea West‘s proposed Surf Village is still deciding if it wants to move forward with the plan. That’s after a judge on May 29th said the court wouldn’t accept its Environmental Assessment and told the group to provide a new one.
Honokea West also lost rights to enter the property. The Hawaii Community Development Authority announced that and more at its most recent meeting June 5th. “I have communicated to HK Management legal counsel that all discussions between parties related to the ground lease and permit shall cease immediately.”
Healani Sonoda-Pale of Na Kia’i o Wai Ha says the wave pool would destroy a culturally important area.” It supports these important fisheries and the limu beds that feed the whole of the leeward coast and support cultural practices and cultural gathering rights for sustenance for native Hawaiians,” she says.
But Honokea West owner Brian Keaulana, himself from a well-known, revered Hawaiian surf family, has described the Surf Village as a chance “to showcase not only our Hawaiian culture but our ocean culture. It’s not only about surfing, it’s about the values we can project.”
He says it would boost the economy multiple ways. He’s been a longtime movie stunt coordinator due to his water expertise and says, “Just thinking from a filming aspect, you have a controlled environment. But it also creates the opportunity to teach the next generation to have a career in the film industry.”
So often, the conflicts in our Islands pit locals against newcomers, Hawaiians against foreigners. But here’s a fight in which both sides claim the same land and culture.
Sonoda-Pale says her group stands on the shoulders of those who have come before, so their guidance also comes from the elders. “When you talk to the kupuna of that place, when you listen to what they’re saying, they’re saying that projects like these need to go elsewhere. It was a poor use of our water.
“We disagree with Brian Keaulana and his corporation on the fact that this was going to enhance our culture and our cultural practice of surfing. I think he was misguided and that this wasn’t a good idea from the very start.”
That is not how Keaulana sees it. “We are not divided by land, we are connected by water,” he views it.
It remains to be seen, though, if the two sides can bridge their differences.