The photo above  from the 1990s shows these two lots in the same state as when they were purchased by LACUS LLC (Sept 2010 and Jan 2011). The low-lying areas were covered with California grass and one large monkeypod tree.

Observations from 2004 to present note that every normal winter had periods with substantial areas covered with standing water.

Historic Information about the area

At the time of the Mahele, Kailua, Kaneohe and Waimanalo were considered prime lands and were awarded to royalty. In 1858, Princess Victoria Kamamalu was awarded title to the ili of Kaelepulu. She died without a will in 1866 and the land passed to her father and then to Princess Ruth.

In 1880, Princess Ruth began to lease lands around the Kaelepulu Pond to dozens of Chinese farmers. At that time, many of the former taro fields were replanted with rice. Some planted sugar cane around the pond.

Princess Ruth named her cousin Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop as heir to her lands, and when she died in 1884, the Kaelepulu ili became a part of the Bishop estate.

The Alexander map of 1884 shows a water area of 190 acres and an additional marsh area of 90 acres for Kaelepulu pond. There was an outlet on the sea side and the pond was limited by natural contours and earth embankments. There were taro patches and rice paddies around the pond between the pond and the stream from the Kawainui marsh.

A 1943 Territory of Hawaii map showed the round pond surrounded by wide areas of marsh lands. Less than 10 houses are located in the higher areas around Kaelepulu pond.

In 1954, developer Joe Pao’s development company, Lone Star, formed a joint venture with Bishop Estate to develop the 700 acres surrounding Kaelepulu pond. Pao renamed the area Enchanted Lake.

Building around Enchanted Lake started in 1960. The first area that Pao developed was Keolu Hills, consisting of 105 lots, followed by another development called Kailua Heights. Eventually Pao’s developments in Enchanted Lake numbered 3,000 home sites. Pao used earth from the two hill projects to fill the shores of the pond. He also set up pumps that drained the water table through a newly dredged channel and canals of Kaelepulu Stream as well as pipes that ran to Waimanalo. Lone Star dredged the lake to a depth of about 15 feet and it was initially quite clear, supporting prolific fisheries and oyster beds. Subsequent housing development of the surrounding hills and non-point source pollution from the urban neighborhoods has progressively silted in the pond (maximum depth presently around 9 feet), lowered biological diversity, increased turbidity of the water, threatened already endangered waterbirds and turned the pond into more of a liability than an amenity for the surrounding community.

The privately-owned 5.8 acre Kaelepulu wetland located at the south-west end of the lake was created in 1995. It provides habitat for native Hawaiian waterbirds – coots, gallinules, and stilts – as well as migratory birds such as the Golden Plover. A recent bird count of endangered birds at the wetland tallied 12 Hawaiian Stilts, 77 Coots, and 15 Gallinules.  Numerous Black-Crowned Night-Herons, Cattle Egrets and Mallard/Koloa hybrids can also be seen at this wetland.

LACUS LLC Properties

The wetland areas of the two parcels are substantially lower than adjoining the house lots on Akumu Street. It is surmised that they were not filled by Lone Star Development and they are a remnant of original marshes that surrounded the once much larger pond. The higher areas at the back of the two lots are a part of a natural hill. There is no evidence that they were anything more than vacant lots in the last few decades.