In a recent ruling issued by Judge Ronald Ibarra concerning the Hokulia subdivision in South Kona. Judge Ibarra issued a final judgment that Hokulia is to restore the "circle-island" ala loa trail and that the trail is public property under the Highway Act of 1892.

Though it's too early to know if this decision will affect "lateral access" concerns here in North Kohala, the existence and location of the ala loa trail along the North Kohala Coastline as been an ongoing issue for some time. Surety Kohala, over the years, has never acknowledged the existence of this trail and establishing public access along the circle-island ala loa trail has been difficult since there are no maps in existence predating 1892.

Judge Ibarra's ruling is important because it has found that the state has a duty to protect the ala loa "found on all the islands" and "must take whatever action is necessary" to reclaim this trail - "even if the trail cannot be found on a map".

In a recent letter ( October 4, 2002), County Of Hawaii Planning Director, Mr. Chris Yuen wrote to Kako'o concerning a public access question we had earlier inquired about. In this letter Mr. Yuen wrote:

"In trying to obtain public access we first try to determine whether any legal public access exists by virtue of documented public roads and trails. In the area of ......... the closest indication to a public right-of-way is an unlabeled road or trail in a 1904 map that goes from the bend in the main government road at Waikama Gulch to very close to Akoakoa Point. Unfortunately, without any proof that this unlabeled road or trail was in existence before the date of this map this is still too late to qualify as a public road under the Highways Act of 1892."

With Judge Ibarra's ruling we are hopeful that the County need not take the position "that unless a road or trail could be located on a recognized map, they ( the County) would not fight for it".

There are still a few coastal Surety Kohala subdivisions that do not have any recognized "lateral access" along the coastal area where the cirlce-island ala loa exists. Now that the County Of Hawaii has a "legal basis" for obtaining lateral access for the public, we are hopeful that the Planning Department will make a determination to reclaim the ala loa in these areas.

Even though no one alive today knows exactly where the path of the ala loa trail was located along the Kohala Coast, lateral public access should be granted. Kako'o suggests a good starting point for determining the location of the ala loa would be similar to the "metes & bounds" the County has worked out in an earlier Chapter 34 agreements with Surety Kohala and Parker Ranch.