Princeville’s Founding and Governing Documents

From its early design in the 1970s to today’s neighborhoods, Princeville has been guided by a plan, and founding documents that have shaped how the community looks, grows, and works together. This post gives a short summary of those documents and what they mean for Princeville now. These documents are available to PHCA members via password-protected access to the association’s site.

Planned Community

Princeville is built based on a master design — streets, homes, parks, and open spaces arranged with a sense of order and purpose. In Princeville’s case, this means balancing homes, hotels, golf courses, trails, and green areas under one set of rules that everyone — homeowners, condominium associations, and local businesses — agrees to follow. It also means that owners contribute to the upkeep of shared spaces through dues managed by the Community Association (PHCA).

PHCA Charter of Incorporation (1971)

This document created the Princeville at Hanalei Community Association (PHCA) as a nonprofit organization. It gave PHCA the legal authority to manage community affairs, collect assessments, and represent all property owners.

PHCA Bylaws (1971)

The bylaws explain how the Association runs: how board members are elected, what powers the Board holds, and how meetings and voting take place. They make sure community decisions are made openly and fairly.

Protective Covenants (1971)

Also known as the CC&Rs — Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions — this document defines how property can be used. It sets standards for home design, landscaping, and land use to maintain a consistent look and protect property values. Changing these covenants takes a 75% vote of all owners, showing how deeply they shape Princeville.

Community Rules (updated 2019)

Community rules are practical, everyday rules that apply the older covenants to daily life. They cover topics like noise, parking, pets, and use of common areas. The PHCA Board can update these rules by majority vote, allowing PHCA to respond to new community needs.

Community Design Committee (CDC) Rules (2021)

The Community Design Committee oversees how homes and landscaping look throughout Princeville. All exterior changes, from repainting to new construction, must be reviewed and approved by the CDC. These rules are designed to keep Princeville consistent with its natural surroundings.

Multi-Family Unit Guidelines (1990)

This document, and these rules apply to condominiums and timeshares. They set standards for shared buildings and grounds, ensuring that these complexes blend with single-family neighborhoods and the broader landscape.

Procurement and Bidding Policy (Policy 5, 2023)

This Board policy ensures that community money raised by PHCA is used wisely. All large purchases must be bid competitively and handled ethically. Local vendors get preference when possible, and conflicts of interest are prohibited. The policy is designed to reflects good stewardship of members’ dues.

Princeville Governance Overview (2019)

Written by former PHCA General Manager Rory Enright, this document explains how everything fits together, from the Board and the Community Design Committee to the PHCA staff. It reminds owners that participation is the heart of good governance and that a healthy community depends on active members, not just rules.

Hawaiʻi State Laws (Chapters 421J and 414D)

These state laws govern how all planned communities and nonprofit associations in Hawaiʻi must operate. They require transparency, annual meetings, financial reporting, and fair elections — ensuring homeowners’ rights are protected statewide.

Why It Matters Today

Princeville’s founding documents were written more than 50 years ago, yet they continue to shape how the community grows, looks, and interacts. Together, they form the backbone of local governance, setting the rules that keep Princeville beautiful, its infrastructure in good condition, and promote cooperation among residents, owners, and visitors.

***

Building Princeville: From Ranch Land to Resort Community

Princeville began in the mid-1800s as a large cattle ranch on Kauai’s North Shore. The land was first known as the Hanalei Plantation, where sugarcane and taro were grown. In 1860, it became a ranch owned by Scottish settler Robert Crichton Wyllie, who served as a cabinet minister to King Kamehameha IV. Wyllie named the area “Princeville” in honor of a royal visit by the young Crown Prince Albert (Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha), son of the King and Queen Emma. The ranch covered thousands of acres overlooking Hanalei Bay and remained mostly agricultural for more than a century.

In the 1960s, the land that had been the Princeville Ranch was sold by the Wilcox family to a group of mainland investors and developers led by Eagle County Development Corporation (ECDC) of Colorado. Headed by businessman Doug Hoyt and engineer Donn “Curly” Carswell, ECDC purchased roughly 9,000 acres of the old ranch with a plan to create Kauai’s first large-scale resort and residential community. The developers hired the Honolulu planning firm Belt, Collins & Associates to prepare a comprehensive master plan. Their vision was to combine resort living, golf, and open space with the natural beauty of Kauai’s North Shore, setting aside large areas for parks, greenbelts, and a 27-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Between 1968 and 1971, ECDC began the work of turning open ranchland into a planned community. Roads, water lines, power, and sewer systems were installed to support the initial phase, which covered about 995 acres above Hanalei Bay. The first major roads—Ka Haku Road, Lei O Papa Road, and Hanalei Plantation Road—were laid out to form the backbone of the new community. The Princeville Hotel site, the Makai Golf Course, and the Princeville Shopping Center area were among the first projects completed. The developers also worked with the County of Kauai to secure zoning approvals and with the State Land Use Commission to classify the area for urban use.

In 1971, ECDC recorded the Princeville at Hanalei Declaration of Restrictions, Covenants, and Conditions, commonly known as the CC&Rs. These rules governed how homes could be designed, landscaped, and maintained, ensuring that Princeville would retain a consistent and attractive appearance. Construction of the first homes began soon after in the early 1970s, mainly around the golf course and near the Hanalei Bay Resort area. The Princeville Hotel opened later in 1985, marking the full arrival of Princeville as a destination community. The combination of careful planning, phased infrastructure, and design rules made Princeville one of Hawaii’s first true master-planned resort-residential developments.

***

2 responses to “Building Princeville: From Ranch Land to Resort Community”

  1. Ray J. Avatar
    Ray J.

    This history is fascinating, but it highlights a significant problem. Princeville was Hawaii’s first planned community, and the early rules and covenants were fairly weak in my view. The Makai golf course is protected by an agreement that expires soon.

  2. […] its early design in the 1970s to today’s neighborhoods, Princeville has been guided by a plan, and founding […]

Good morning, Princeville!

Welcome to Plain Talk — a place for clear, honest conversation about our Princeville at Hanalei community. This site is here for everyone — residents, PHCA members, property owners, and visitors — who care about how our community is managed and how it grows.

Let’s start our discussions on the right foot: all posts and comments must remain civil and factual. Please keep personal remarks out of it. When you share an opinion, make that clear so everyone understands the difference between opinion and fact.

This site will continue to improve as it grows. The admin will make updates and add new features to make participation easier for everyone.

Please share this page with your friends and neighbors — whether they live here full-time, own property, manage property, work here, or just love visiting. Invite them to read, comment, and contribute ideas. Together, we can make Plain Talk a place for open, respectful conversation about the Princeville we all care about.

— admin