County delays eminent-domain vote on Pāhoa road widening plan

Hawaii County put a halt to its eminent-domain push for Government Beach Road after hearing from the Lum family, postponing a decision that would have authorized taking 3.74 acres in Keonepoko Iki, Puna. The delay gives county Public Works staff and Lum Family Enterprises until Aug. 5 to keep negotiating, but it does not settle the larger fight over how far the county can go to widen a rural road in the name of public safety.

Resolution 567-26 would let the county condemn portions of Tax Map Key Nos. (3) 1-5-009:012 and 058 for widening the road corridor to 50 feet. County records say Hawaii County already has a 10-foot right-of-way in the area but needs an additional 40 feet for the planned improvements. The route is an 8-mile, 10-foot-wide dirt road that links Hawaiian Shores to Makuu Point, passes six private properties, and borders the Nanawale Forest Reserve.

The request came from Public Works Director Wesley R. Segawa on April 24, 2026, and the Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee approved it 9-0 on May 19. The full council then advanced the measure on first reading June 3 by a 7-1 vote, with Dennis “Fresh” Onishi voting no. On June 18, council members postponed the second reading 8-0 after Wayland Lum, Erland Lum, and other supporters argued the county had not made the family aware of the plan until a friend spotted it in the newspaper after the May 19 meeting.

For the Lums, the proposed taking is tied to more than a strip of road. The family said their grandparents, Eric and Mary Mydell, bought more than 300 acres in the 1920s, and Erland Lum told the council the road was carved along the natural terrain with a pickaxe. The family said Government Beach Road has long been part of that stewardship, making the county’s move feel like a challenge to ancestral land as much as a transportation project.

The dispute also carries a legal history that now looms over the August vote. County and news records show the county paved outside the right of way in 2014 during an effort tied to a volcano egress route, and that action was later found null and void in September 2020, returning ownership to Lum Family Enterprises while leaving the existing roadway in place. Onishi pressed staff on whether that earlier county work created the current problem and whether the fight in court would mostly come down to compensation. The resolution cites authority under Hawaii Revised Statutes sections 46-1.5(6), 46-61, 101-2, and 101-13, and if the sides do not reach a deal first, the county appears headed toward condemnation litigation.