Re: Community support, Articles and By Laws, and Archaeological surveys.
In 2014, following my 2013 retiring after Directing nonprofit educational Kalani Honua (aka Kalani) for 38 years, as KH Secretary and Director Emeritus I joined with new Executive Director L J Bates and board President Toni Thomson in submitting to the State's Land Use Commission (LUC) a special permit application for a 120 acre Kalani Retreat . The application, recommended by Jeff Darrow (Planning specialist, now Director) in the Hawai'i County Planning Department, had 464 signatures on letters from supporters of educational retreats, including Kalani Honua, requesting that the Legislature pass Senate Bill SB2944 and House Bill HB1919, to help Hawaiʻi thrive. Despite the leadership of our district's Senator Russell Ruderman and Legislator Faye Hanohano, the Department of Agriculture decided that the Counties' Special Use designations should remain limited to a maximum 15 acres. Additional supportive community organization leaders included UHH-HCC-CCECS faculty (Mary Matayoshi, Bill Steiner, Jackie Johnson, Trina Nahm-Mijo), the DOE (Naomi Morita, John Wollstein, Lokomaika’i Snakenburg), the County (Mayor Herb Matayoshi and Sydney Fuke), the Kalapana Community Organization (Kini Pea, Bill Carse), Nona and Keola Beamer, Kekuhi Kanahele, G-Girl Keli'iho'omalu to name a few.  The current Ku Kalani application mirrors our team's LUC application, yet reduced to the 14.9-acre special use of Ku Kalani’s 18.719 acres. It requests approval for Ku Kalani to augment the ahupua’a community cooperative provisions for education, employment, safety, supplies and services in tandem with increased agricultural production and growth in the area’s population and student-faculty-staff participation. All improvements are related with agriculture on all acres, including the 3.5-acre preserved Heritage Field & Mango Forest, which will be available to Hawaiian heritage specialists to guide continued agricultural and educational use. Throughout the 14.9 Ku Kalani special use acres, about 12 acres provide Kauhale (Retreat Unit) and Kūpuna accommodations for resident and visiting students, faculty and staff while the Ala Kai Community Services area's 3 acres has Ola Kino Pono areas (Fire Dept, offices, sports courts) emphasizing safety. wellness, and recreation, and the Hale ʻĀina area provides for gathering, dining, and grocery shopping.  Because the project, if approved, will, over the next 15 years, gradually provide Ku Kalani facilities and services, this report is to effectively plan to effectively plan for and meet the needs relevant to the growth of coastal Puna. for and meet the needs relevant to the growth of coastal Puna. 
See attached: Supporters of Educational Retreats; Ku Kalani Articles and Bylaws; Archaeological surveys 1997 by Kennedy and 2014 by Haun;
Grant of utility Easement; and DLNR SHPD acceptance of preservation plan: