Judge keeps work ban at Princeville's abandoned Makai Woods Golf Course

The injunction at Princeville’s abandoned Makai Woods Golf Course stayed in force, keeping Starwood Capital Group from resuming ground-disturbing work beside more than 130 residential properties while the appeal moves forward. Judge Stephanie Char denied the company’s request to reopen the site for certain work, a decision that keeps residents’ public-health concerns and the broader land-use fight alive on Kauai’s North Shore.

Starwood, which bought the golf course and a nearby hotel in 2018, had asked for permission to do maintenance work, prepare a safety plan and regain access for utilities and emergency repairs. The court said the record did not justify changing the original injunction, but it also clarified that routine lawn mowing, landscaping and general upkeep may continue. That means the site is not locked down completely, but any work that disturbs the ground remains barred.

The dispute centers on a claim by Princeville residents Lorraine Mull and Frances White that the former golf course sits over cattle burial sites linked to anthrax outbreaks from more than a century ago. Their homes overlook the property, and they argue that digging, grading or other construction could expose buried remains and create a health risk for nearby families. Historical records cited in the case refer to anthrax outbreaks in the Princeville and Hanalei area in 1890 and again in 1917-1918, when about 300 cattle died. One filing says those animals may have been buried on the original Princeville Ranch, which was once about 10,000 acres, including roughly 3,000 acres used for grazing.

The case has been building for years. The lawsuit was filed in 2020, then expanded in 2023 to add the anthrax issue after it first sought to block a luxury camping resort and then a broader redevelopment plan for the former golf course. Starwood has said there have been no reported anthrax incidents on the land in more than 50 years, and in July 2025 a ruling favored the plaintiffs by tying the golf-course dedication to the community’s CC&Rs. That ruling found the golf restriction could renew in five-year increments unless 75% of owners vote otherwise, even though the original 1972 dedication described the land for golf and ancillary recreational uses through February 28, 2026.

Tuesday’s ruling in Līhue preserved that legal roadblock while the appeal continues. For work to restart beyond maintenance, Starwood would need the injunction lifted or modified, or a higher court to overturn the ruling that has kept the property in limbo.