Burial Council rejects iwi kupuna plan at Hawaiian Paradise Park

HAWAIIAN PARADISE PARK (HawaiiNewsNow) — The Hawaii Island Burial Council voted down the burial treatment plan for iwi kūpuna discovered at Hawaiian Paradise Park.

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Before the vote, council members addressed media coverage of past complaints over lack of quorum and a stalled burial treatment plan.

The iwi were discovered in 2023 during mailbox construction at Hawaiian Paradise Park, within the ahupuaʻa of Waikahekahe Iki. A cultural descendant, Keoni Kealoha Alvarez, said there were eight sets of human remains.

Council member Desmon Haumea pushed back on media coverage of the quorum issue.

“To go on social media and do this. That’s ridiculous. It’s embarrassing. We have nothing to do with quorum,” he said.

“We listen to the community. We look at the burial treatment plans. We try offer manao. That’s all we do. We are volunteering over here. We are not getting paid for this s***,” he added.

The council had enough members for a vote, under a new law that determines quorum by the number of appointed council members rather than by the total number of seats.

The council voted down the burial treatment plan for the iwi. Part of the debate centered on how wide the buffer zone should be.

Jon Loehndorf of the Hawaiian Paradise Park Owner’s Association said expanding the buffer zone would affect existing infrastructure.

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“Moving the buffer 50 feet as requested would impact existing infrastructure that’s already there,” Loehndorf said.

Council Chair Cayla Crivello said she voted against the current burial treatment plan because it divided the community rather than bringing people together.

“It’s dividing them so much that they are making threats and they are screaming at each other and community members are enraged in the way that they’ve shown themselves to be the last couple meetings,” Crivello said.

“It’s a very disappointing thing, but more it’s a personal attack that I believe it’s on me rather than the focus on protecting the iwi kūpuna,” Alvarez said.

Palikapu Dedman of the Pele Defense Fund said the unresolved situation affects the broader community.

“That’s the problem. We’ll never get it fixed and it just prolongs things and miles of people gotta wait for decision,” Dedman said.

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