West Hawaii residents concerned about the area’s plethora of historical resources will have an opportunity to air their voices as the state begins work on a new five-year preservation plan May 17 in Kona.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources State Historic Preservation Division has contracted Honolulu-based SMS Hawaii to develop a 2012-17 State Historic Preservation Plan. With the community’s help, the plan will help set statewide priorities and guide actions of the state division for the next five years, according to the department.
Residents should be prepared to discuss a variety of topics including, but not limited to, priorities for the division and individual communities, key participants, existing resources and identifying needed resources, according to the department. It will address buildings, structures, objects, prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, designed and vernacular landscapes, traditional cultural properties and underwater historic resources.
The three-hour Kona meeting is slated to begin at 5 p.m. May 17 at Kealakehe Intermediate School’s cafeteria. Hilo’s meeting will be held at 5 p.m. May 15 at Waiakea High School.
West Hawaii Today was unable to reach the preservation division’s Administrator Pua Aiu and Hawaii Field Office Archaeological Branch Chief Theresa Donham as of press time Friday. Michael Vitousek, an archaeologist based in Kona, referred calls to Aiu.
The plan is needed to comply with federal National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund grant requirements, according to the department. The last National Park Service-approved plan came in 2001. A draft completed in 2009 was not approved by the service.
According to a March 19, 2010, letter to former-DLNR Chairwoman Laura Thielen, the service designated Hawaii a “high-risk grantee.” It noted the action “is not taken lightly, and comes only after multiple attempts to help the SHPD correct serious deficiencies identified in audits going back as far as 2002.”
The letter indicated the service makes the annual matching grants to states to carry out preservation responsibilities delegated by law. It noted Hawaii has “significant operational problems” in several mandated activities, including survey and inventory, review and compliance, National Register of Historic Places and Historic Preservation Planning, among others.
Not having an approved plan, such as the one currently being undertaken by the state, could jeopardize the state’s matching grants in excess of $1.1 million, according to the letter. The service in the letter provided a 24-month time line for the state to show progress toward meeting grant requirements.
A draft of the five-year plan is anticipated for release by the end of August. SMS expects to finalize the plan by Oct. 30.
An online survey has also been created allowing for participation outside the public meetings, said SMS Hawaii President Faith Rex. She also noted a website, hawaiihistoricpreservation.com, has been established to provide an array of information to the public including background on the federal grant and laws and project updates.