Communication No. 2019-17- Flaherty Alii Parkway Testimony

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Communication No. 2019-17 decision on burials Associated Press KAILUA-KONA >> Hawaii County is asking the Hawaii Island Burial Council to reconsider its decision to preserve ancient Hawaiian burials in the path of the proposed Alii Highway south of Kailua-Kona. Officials want to relocate any remains so the federally subsidized road can be built. The advisory council voted in July to leave in place the grave sites found in the path of Alii Highway's first phase, which stretches between Keauhou and the future Lako Street extension. The county has asked the council to reconsider the decision when it holds a public meeting on the matter tomorrow in Kailua-Kona. The Alii Highway is the costliest public works project in Hawaii County history. It passes through some areas that were well populated by Hawaiians by the 1600s. The burial council's decision may have delayed the highway's first phase for at least three years because the county does not believe it can obtain all necessary permits by an October deadline to obtain $40 million in federal highway funds that the county had qualified for in 2002. Securing the federal funds is a three-year process. Meanwhile, an archaeological survey reported that more remains have been uncovered in another section of the right-of-way in an area within the second phase of the highway's proposed alignment, which would go from the Lako Street intersection to the intersection of upper Hualalai Road and Queen Kaahumanu Highway. An Aug. 19 letter from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to archaeologist Alan Haun reveals that additional testing on a pair of sites within the county right-of-way for the Kahului-to-Keauhou Parkway confirmed the presence of human remains. The letter was provided to West Hawaii Today by Protect Keopuka Ohana, which is opposed to the relocation of all native Hawaiian burials. The group is demanding the latest finds be classified as previously known and is asking the burial council to deny the county's request for reconsideration of its July 27 decision. "The County of Hawaii has not provided any new information to the council that was not previously disclosed," said Protect Keopuka Ohana spokesman Jim Medeiros.