OHA narrows land-transfer due diligence, adds Wailupe to review; city to buy conservation easement

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs told its Board of Trustees on a virtual meeting that it has narrowed a multi‑property land‑transfer review to two priority sites and added Wailupe (Wailupe Valley) to its acquisition pipeline after public testimony.

Laurie Walker, co‑lead on the land‑transfer project, said the agency has developed a four‑phase due‑diligence process and is negotiating with a third‑party consultant to perform parts of that work. "We have developed a robust process," Walker said, and the consultant's initial proposal was "much higher than we had anticipated," prompting staff to "value engineer" the scope and assume more internal responsibility for some tasks.

The nut of the matter is timing and cost: Walker said the consultant will be asked to focus first on two properties — identified in the meeting as the highest priorities — while the agency continues internal work on the others. She also said the board will be asked to approve any start of paid due‑diligence work: "Once we start incurring costs for the due diligence process, we'll bring it to the board to do a formal request for approval to proceed," Walker said.

Why it matters: trustees will decide whether OHA will take perpetual ownership of culturally sensitive parcels and whether limited staff resources and consultant budgets are sufficient to vet property transfers and protective easements.

Trustees and staff discussed how title transfers would be completed depending on the current owner. Walker said the agency's acquisition preference is to obtain land in fee simple. For state‑owned parcels, she said transfers would occur via executive order; for county‑owned parcels, OHA expects a relatively simple title transfer through the county mayor's office. For Wailupe specifically, Walker said the City and County of Honolulu is pursuing purchase of a conservation easement on roughly 3 acres, and the city would write OHA into the deed so OHA would be the landowner while the city holds the easement.

Community testimony prompted the Wailupe addition. An online testifier who identified himself as Al, speaking for Carolina Maderas, urged OHA to help protect the area's kupuna and unmarked burials and called for stronger legal protections against desecration: "There should be stronger stronger laws to protect ... kupuna from ever ever happening like Road over here," he said. Another testifier, Kumela Ayu, who said she was raised in Wailupe Valley, thanked trustees for considering the property and described local stewards' restoration work: "This is just a beautiful opportunity for all of us to collaborate together to protect our EV and our native plants," she said.

Staff also reported coordination with the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and county offices. Kuike (staff community lead) said he asked DLNR for an attorney‑general opinion about transferring Kahana Valley leases and reported commitments from DLNR this fiscal year to repave Kahana Valley roads, conduct tree mitigation across the valley and refurbish the community center. "DLNR has stated that this fiscal year, they will be repaving all of the roads in Kahana Valley ... and refurbishing, repainting the community center there," Kuike said.

Trustee Chelsea Lindsey asked whether proposed transfers would be fee simple, leases or executive orders; Walker replied the agency's general preference is fee simple, with the transfer mechanism depending on the landowner. Walker said there is currently no purchase price for OHA on the properties under review.

Next steps: staff will continue negotiating the consultant contract, finalize a narrower scope for the consultant focused on the two priority properties, coordinate with city and county processes for Wailupe and Kahana, update steward groups so they can revise city applications as needed, and return to the board for formal approval before incurring due‑diligence costs. The board adjourned after a roll‑call vote.

Ending: The agency provided no timeline for final acquisitions; Walker said city review and council approvals for conservation easements can take "anywhere between 6 months to over a year."