DHHL unveils draft environmental assessment for Wakiu homestead master plan in Hana

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands presented a draft environmental assessment and draft master plan on Jan. 22 for the Wakiu (Wai'kiu) homestead tract in Hana, Maui, a roughly 656-acre block of state trust land the department received after the 1995 settlement of outstanding claims. Andrew Choi, DHHL planning program manager, said the department will publish a public draft this month and open a 30-day comment period before revising the document and returning to the Hawaiian Homes Commission for final action in March or April.

The draft master plan combines housing and community uses and, according to DHHL staff, would create about 178 homestead lots configured around identified cultural and natural resource areas. Choi said the plan includes multiple homestead types — including Kuleana lots designed for quicker occupancy with minimal infrastructure — subsistence-agriculture parcels, pastoral areas mauka of the road and a proposed Kupuna housing site that could reach "up to 60" units in one configuration. The plan also reserves areas to preserve existing hala forest stands and includes community uses such as gardens, a greenway, small-scale commercial and an on-site cemetery that testifiers urged be larger than currently shown in the draft.

Why it matters: Hana has an above-average Native Hawaiian population, limited housing supply, and high home listing prices. DHHL staff framed the master plan as a beneficiary-driven, "bottom-up" process intended to increase long-term occupation of Hawaiian home lands while protecting the cultural…