FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    January 3, 2005

Release No.  M-1-06

MAYOR, COUNCIL CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCE $1 MILLION

CITY COMMITMENT TO PUPUKEA-PAUMALU  ACQUISITION

            Mayor Mufi Hannemann and City Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz today announced the City has committed $1 million to help the Trust for Public Land acquire 1,129 acres of land in Pupukea-Paumalu on Oahu’s North Shore today.

            The acquisition of the land from Obayashi Corp. will prevent development of the site, which lies between Paumalu Gulch and Pupukea Heights and borders the Pupukea Boy Scouts Camp and the Paumalu Girl Scouts Camp.

            “The City Council appropriated $1 million for the acquisition in 2004, and we are pleased to announce that we have encumbered those funds,” said Hannemann. “The Trust for Public Land, the community and the landowner have worked hard to put the pieces in place to protect this land, and we at the City are happy to partner in this effort.

            “This land is a spectacular backdrop for the surf meets that occur at Pipeline and other beaches makai of it, and the view from the heights is fabulous,” said Hannemann. 

            Dela Cruz said, “We all want to see this land protected.”

            Josh Stanbro, Hawaii project manager for the non-profit Trust for Public Land, said his organization will work to acquire the land in 2006 and then partner with the City Department of Parks and Recreation and the Parks Division of the state of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources to permanently protect the historic area.

            Obayashi once planned a luxury residential development of several hundred homes on the site, which overlooks North Shore beaches from Sunset to “Log Cabins.” In granting preliminary approval for the project, the City had imposed very restrictive requirements on Obayashi, in the form of a unilateral agreement.

            Community sentiment to find a way to permanently protect the area rather than see it developed   prompted the Trust for Public Land as well as City, state and federal officials to get involved in acquiring the land from Obayashi, said Stanbro.

            “We wanted to achieve a win-win situation for all parties, and now with the City’s strong support, we will move forward with a solid plan to do that,” he said.

             U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye helped secure a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant of $2 million for the conservation acquisition and the U.S. Army Environmental Center has committed up to $3 million in grant funding to help acquire and protect the Pupukea-Paumalu site.

            Once the acquisition takes place, the mauka portion of the site will be turned over to the state as a park reserve. The City would get use of a small portion in the makai portion, for possible expansion of the Sunset Beach Neighborhood Park. Community organizations will partner in stewardship of the land.

            Stanbro said the Trust for Public Land and the North Shore Community Land Trust have raised over $800,000 in private donations to preserve and care for the area for the future. 

  Contact:

            Josh Stanbro, Trust for Public Land, 524-8564

            Bill Brennan, 527-6928

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767