The environmental groups, families and neighbors working to stop construction on the Puʻu Poʻa bluff and the Woods. First among them is Save Open Space Hui, the heart of this movement. We support their work, and every group is one click away.
Protect Princeville is an independent group of neighbors. We don’t speak for these groups, and unless we say so, a group listed here has not endorsed Protect Princeville.
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Save Open Space Hui
The heart of this movement. The Mull and White families took on Starwood in court when it mattered most, and the hui they founded has led the way ever since.
We are humbled by them.
Save Open Space Hui was founded by the Mull and White families, the two Princeville households who took Starwood to court to protect our golf course and open space, and won. Officially formed in February 2022, the hui keeps watch on Starwood’s threatened development of Princeville’s zoned open space, and shares many of the records, court filings and the timeline behind this fight. Its members are all volunteers.
Two Princeville homeowners who sued Starwood in 2021 over whether the Dedication allows glamping and other overnight accommodations on the golf course, with the Woods Course first in line for glamping, and won. Every owner in Princeville owes them thanks.
Aug 2023: the court ruled that the Dedication does not permit glamping or other overnight stays on the golf course.
Oct 2023: they amended their case to add that the CC&Rs renew the Dedication automatically every five years (Article VIII, Section 2), and to raise the anthrax burial grounds under the Woods.
2025: after a trial, the court found that the Dedication protects the whole 27-hole golf course, and that there are anthrax burial sites on the Woods Course.
The judgment bars housing and overnight accommodations on the course, and any ground-disturbing work without testing, oversight and court approval.
Starwood has appealed. The appeal is pending, so the fight is not over.
Sources: Mull & White v. SOF-XI Kauai PV Golf, Fifth Circuit Court, 5CCV-21-0000063 (the full list is on the 1 Homes Developments page); SOSHui.org, including its “About SOS Hui” page (Jan. 6, 2026).
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Protecting the Bluff at Puʻu Poʻa
On the bluff beside the 1 Hotel, next to Puʻu Poʻa and above Hanalei Bay, Starwood’s hotel wants to build luxury homes and an event pavilion. On May 26, 2026, the Kauaʻi Planning Commission let these four community groups intervene in its review, so they can submit evidence and present expert testimony. See what is proposed →
Mālama Kuaʻāina
North Shore · since 2012
A nonprofit founded in 2012 to preserve Kauaʻi’s public trust resources, with a special focus on the North Shore. It uses advocacy, education and legal means to protect healthy beaches, the coast and beach access, and it weighs in on land use decisions.
Its founding director, Caren Diamond, has worked on beach protection and access on Kauaʻi since 1999.
“Our coastlines are not sacrifice zones for luxury development.”Caren Diamond, Executive Director
The community association for the Hanalei, Waiʻoli, Waipā, Waikoko, Wainiha, Lumahai and Hāʻena ahupuaʻa, once known as the Hanalei-to-Hāʻena Community Association. It has worked to protect shoreline access, prevent inappropriate development on the Hanalei River Ridge, and keep cruise ships and mega-yachts out of Hanalei Bay.
“If approved in its current form, this project would set a troubling precedent for future development proposals that threaten the unique environmental and cultural character of the Hanalei region.”Carl Imparato, President
A Kauaʻi group that has stood up for native seabirds for years. In 2010, with Earthjustice as its lawyers, it joined a lawsuit against the St. Regis Princeville, alleging that the resort’s bright lights were killing and injuring rare Hawaiian seabirds. Starwood Capital bought that resort in 2018 and rebuilt it as the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay.
“Intervention became necessary to ensure our voices—and the resources we are fighting to protect—are fully considered.”Makaʻala Kaʻaumoana, Vice-Chair
One of Hawaiʻi’s oldest wildlife organizations, dedicated since 1950 to protecting native Hawaiian plants, animals and ecosystems for future generations. It has more than 5,500 members, has been an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation since 1970, and joined the 2010 seabird lawsuit against the same resort.
“Expanding development in an area with documented excessive seabird impacts without adequate safeguards is unacceptable.”Jonee Peters, Executive Director
Sources: each group’s own website. Every quote is from Earthjustice, “Community Groups Granted Intervention in Review of Luxury Coastal Development on Kauaʻi’s Historic Hanalei Bay” (May 27, 2026). The 2010 lawsuit: The Garden Island, “Environmental groups sue St. Regis over seabirds” (May 6, 2010). The 2018 purchase: Kauai Now, “Sustainable luxury resort built into cliff along Hanalei Bay opens on Kauaʻi” (Feb. 16, 2023).
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Earthjustice
“We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.”
Earthjustice is a national nonprofit environmental law organization, and it represents its clients free of charge. Its Mid-Pacific Office in Honolulu has worked for more than 30 years to protect Hawaiʻi’s natural and cultural heritage. It won the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court precedent that water is a public trust, and it has protected Hawaiʻi’s seabirds from power lines and light attraction.
Earthjustice attorney Elena Bryant represents the four groups before the Planning Commission. Earthjustice also brought the 2010 seabird lawsuit against the St. Regis Princeville, the resort that is now the 1 Hotel.
“Hawaiʻi law requires agencies to actively protect public trust resources—not simply accept unsupported claims by developers.”Elena Bryant, Earthjustice Mid-Pacific Office
Sources: Earthjustice’s “About” and “Mid-Pacific Office” pages; Earthjustice announcement of May 27, 2026; The Garden Island (May 6, 2010).
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Organizations We Support
We support these groups and the work they do for Kauaʻi. Listing them here doesn’t mean they endorse Protect Princeville.
Hanalei Watershed Hui
Hanalei · since 2000
A community nonprofit that cares for the ahupuaʻa of Hanalei, Waiʻoli, Waipā and Waikoko, guided by Hawaiian principles of stewardship. Its work includes water-quality monitoring, trail restoration, replacing aging cesspools along the Hanalei River, and teaching watershed stewardship.
Its executive director, Makaʻala Kaʻaumoana, testified at the 2025 Mull & White trial. The court’s findings record her testimony that the silver oak trees were known to mark the anthrax graves.
A nonprofit formed after the April 2018 floods, “building strong networks and partnerships to drive impactful actions to mālama our Kauaʻi north shore community to thrive.” It launched the North Shore Shuttle in 2019, and with Hui Makaʻāinana o Makana it runs the shuttle and reservation system that limits daily visitors to Hāʻena State Park.
Sources: hanaleiwatershedhui.org/about; hanaleiinitiative.org; The Garden Island, “Hanalei Initiative to launch North Shore Shuttle” (June 13, 2019); Hawaiʻi Public Radio (Sept. 13, 2021), on the Hāʻena State Park reservation system; sierraclubhawaii.org; Mull & White v. SOF-XI Kauai PV Golf, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (July 14, 2025) ¶¶108–109.
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In Their Own Words
We’re gathering stories from neighbors and ʻohana about why Princeville’s open space, the Woods and the bluff matter to them.
Share your story
Do you have a story about the open space, the PHCA, buying your home, Starwood or the 1 Hotel? Email it to us at [email protected]. Sharing it costs nothing, and with your permission, we may share your words here. See the questions first →
For Kānaka Maoli and kamaʻāina ʻohana: the moʻolelo of Puʻu Poʻa
In its April 2026 motion, the 1 Hotel’s owner told the County that on the bluff top beside the hotel, “no protected rights can exist” because the land is “fully developed,” and that there have been “no observed uses, or requested uses” of it by Native Hawaiians. The same motion admits the plateau was a kilo iʻa, a lookout for watching schools of fish, currents and tides.
If your ʻohana has moʻolelo, memories or practices tied to Puʻu Poʻa, the bluff, Hanalei Bay or the land under the 1 Hotel, from fishing and gathering to the places your kūpuna held sacred, those stories matter now. The community groups protecting the bluff, represented by Earthjustice, can submit evidence and testimony to the Planning Commission. Our community is stronger when our groups stand together.
