Anahola Regional Plan update approved by Hawaiian Homes Commission

At its December meeting, the Hawaiian Homes Commission approved the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ update of the Anahola Regional Plan for Kaua’i.

The Anahola Regional Plan sets forth five priorities crafted with beneficiary input. Those priorities include Surface Water Resources Management, the Hō‘ākeolapono Trades Academy and Institute, a Makai Management Plan, an Anahola Place-Based Education Network and a Mauka Farm Lot Plan.

Within the Department’s tiered Planning System, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ Regional Plans focus on individual homestead communities and regions.

There are 23 Regional Plans across the state that are prepared through extensive beneficiary consultation and are approved by the commission. The plans provide a platform for beneficiaries to identify key issues facing their community, prioritize solutions and play an active role in implementation.

The plans are intended to build a sense of community and capacity, stimulate partnerships for development and improvements, and give beneficiaries within the region an opportunity to work together and collaborate with the department in planning for their future. 

“Regional plans are authentic representations of the vision and values of these Hawaiian communities,” said Chair William J. Ailā, Jr. “Beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act in Anahola have prioritized what they would like to work on with DHHL in their community and the plan provides a unified direction for homesteaders, the department and the commission in the Anahola region.”

DHHL’s staff and consultants met with representatives from Anahola homestead associations and leaders of community organizations in September 2021. Beneficiary consultation meetings followed between December 2021 and October 2022 and the Department presented a progress report on the Anahola Regional Plan Update to the Hawaiian Homes Commission in August 2022.

In October 2022, a beneficiary review draft of the Regional Plan Update was published online and a fifth and final open-house, beneficiary consultation meeting about the draft plan was held. Beneficiary comments were collected at that meeting and adjustments to the draft plan were made as a result. 

DHHL’s Anahola Regional Plan was last updated in 2010. To view the Anahola Regional Plan update, or learn more about DHHL’s planning system, visit dhhl.hawaii.gov/po/kauai.