LiHU'E, Kaua'i — Malama Kaua'i is coordinating an effort to raise money to buy a Kaua'i beachfront house lot where 30 Native Hawaiian burials were discovered last year.

The nonprofit sustainability group has received a $75,000 pledge from an anonymous donor and is seeking other pledges of any size to acquire the Wainiha lot, said Keone Kealoha, Malama Kaua'i executive director.

"We believe that purchasing the site is the best way to ensure that the iwi kupuna (Hawaiian ancestral bones) are allowed to peacefully remain in place," Kealoha said in a written statement. "The purchase also would provide the community with coastal open space and help to prevent beach erosion by allowing the natural cycles of ocean and sand movement to occur unhindered by development."

Native Hawaiians and others have said the small lot should be considered a cemetery and not built upon.

Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe ruled Monday that the State Historic Preservation Division failed to follow state law in approving a burial treatment plan. Her decision sends the proposed plan back to the Kaua'i-Ni'ihau Island Burial Council for advice in consultation with descendants of the iwi and Native Hawaiian organizations.

"We have a window of opportunity to move forward on this before additional construction and disturbance of the iwi occurs," Kealoha said.

Landowner Joseph Brescia said in a statement released by his attorney on June 24 that he would consider selling the lot if a buyer stepped up. He said he had invested more than $1 million in the land and attempts to build on it and couldn't afford to give it away.

Brescia's attorney didn't respond to a request for comment on Malama Kaua'i's buyout efforts yesterday.

Protesters at the Brescia property twice managed to postpone construction of a house on the property this summer.

Kaua'i Police Chief Darryl Perry also halted construction for two weeks while attorneys investigated whether building a house over the graves constituted a criminal offense.

Brescia, a California developer who has built a number of houses on Kaua'i and sold them, battled in court with state and county authorities for six years about how far back from the shoreline he could build on the Wainiha lot.

Burials were discovered on the property in 2007, after the shoreline issue had been settled.

More information about the fundraising drive is available at www.malamakauai.org or by contacting Kealoha at keone@malamakauai.org or 808-828-0685.