Fire at Hawaiian landmark reignites land fight : Residents of a rustic town see threats in the loss of their general store and plans for a golf course.

When Hasegawa General Store collapsed in a suspicious predawn fire last month, Hana felt like it had lost a member of the family. Townspeople came all week to pay their respects.

“Part of the heart of Hana died with that store,” sighed Bob Vogele, head of the Hana Community Assn.

For three generations, Hasegawa General Store has been this remote Hawaiian town’s lifeline to the world, supplying everything from poi to pick axes. Overnight, it was gone. Torched, too, was the town’s gas station, in a separate but simultaneous arson.

The store was treasured for its service as well as its cluttered atmosphere. “Controlled chaos,” explained Neil Hasegawa, whose great-grandfather started the business in 1910.

“Organized confusion,” corrected his father, Harry, standing near the charred ruins. “At least that’s the picture we wanted to create. Of course we knew where everything was.”

Despite such good cheer, a Hasegawa trademark, the fires left an uneasy feeling in this close-knit town. The blazes underscored a concern that change may be coming to Hana, whether residents are ready or not.

“It couldn’t have been a local fellow,” said Henry Kahula, a minister who managed the gas station. “If Hana people don’t like you, they look the other way when they see you. They wouldn’t do anything malicious like this.”

Cut off from the rest of the world by more than 30 winding miles of cliffhanging road, Hana prides itself as “the last Hawaiian place.” Its roughly 1,000 people, most of them native Hawaiian, are known for their hospitality, as well as their dedication to “keeping Hana Hana.”

So far, they have been remarkably successful. While resort development on a large scale has touched almost every Hawaiian island, this lush outpost on Maui’s eastern tip has retained its rustic lifestyle. Hana’s sugar plantation gave way to ranching and a small hotel after World War II, but little has changed since then.

Cattle still outnumber people. Cowboys on horseback amble by the gas station. Mangoes litter the roads. Despite renovation and expansion last year, the Hotel Hana Maui still has just 97 rooms, its shake-roof bungalows blending in with their surroundings.

Efforts to remake Hana in a more modern image have been beaten back over the years. Rosewood Property Co., the most recent owner of the hotel and its adjoining 4,700-acre ranch, had hoped to carve pasture land into luxury estates and build condominiums. But residents shot down the plans.

Bruised by community resistance and bleeding red ink, Rosewood bailed out last October and sold its holdings to a group of Japanese, British and Hawaiin investors known as Keola Hana Maui Inc. The new owners, aware of the strained past, lay low for several months. But in June, they announced plans to build a golf course.

Some residents support the course as necessary to compete in the world tourism market. But many others are leery. They fear the links could endanger Hana’s natural environment, trigger further development and overwhelm the area with tourism.

“We don’t need a golf course,” said Annie Kahula Rahl, standing near the blackened pumps at her family’s gas station. “It’s like sticking your foot in the door and then not being able to close it. And no matter where they put the golf course, there’s going to be runoff that could kill our limu (seaweed) and fish. As isolated as we are, we depend on the ocean to help feed our families.”

But golf course opponents may have a tough fight. Keola Hana Maui’s board of directors reads like a Who’s Who of Hawaii. Among them are two trustees of Bishop Estate, the state’s largest private landowner, three general partners in Hawaii’s biggest law firm and the president of the state’s morning newspaper.

Keola’s president is Michael Montague, chairman of Yale and Valor, the British lock company. Montague argues that a golf course is vital to boost occupancy at the hotel and wouldn’t lead to luxury development.

“It would enable us to turn a profit, which we’re not doing right now,” he said. “Up-market homes don’t sell well, and we have no plans for that sort of development. Those types of people like lots of different restaurants and activities, and that is not Hana. We don’t want to disturb its tranquility.”

But the community is still wary. After the loss of their anchor, Hasegawa General Store, residents aren’t keen to let go of much else.

“We just feel that Hana is an endangered species,” said local leader Vogele. “We realize we have the most to lose.”