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How do you tell someone who has just lost almost everything that you’re thinking about taking away the rest?

In the aftermath of the Lahaina fire, it turns out to be alarmingly easy.

Take Gov. Josh Green’s suggestion soon after the Aug. 8 disaster that the state needed a way to prevent speculators from swooping in and buying up land from distraught property owners.

The governor’s immediate inclination to ward off a land grab is understandable, and we’re all hoping that mortgage-paying assistance is on the way for those who need it.

But we also must remember that while the fire scene looks like a single vast wasteland, it’s actually a patchwork of private properties whose owners still have rights — including the right to sell to whoever they want.

Even the oft-heard suggestion that a reimagined Lahaina should prioritize its Native Hawaiian history over catering to tourists is loaded.

Most of the businesses that burned were predicated on the visitor industry, and many of the residents who lost their homes worked at those businesses. Are their owners to be denied the right to rebuild?

It’s no wonder when the Maui County Council called a public hearing Tuesday to take testimony about the concept of developing a “recovery and resiliency” plan, some citizens practically screamed, “Too soon!”

A few voiced fear that there may already be a conspiracy afoot to take away people’s land for the sake of redevelopment. Even the early talk about clearing debris has engendered suspicion.

“Get ready,” said one sobbing woman. “The county will wipe your property away and call it a success.”

For their part, County Council members are saying the right things.

“The people in West Maui can’t see this meeting … we have to meet them at the level that they’re at,” said council member Tamara Paltin, whose district includes Lahaina.

“Please don’t do things for us — without us,” she said.

Even before the hearing, Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee said it would be the first of many, and that council members plan “extensive, extensive outreach so that we can hear from as many people as possible.”

“We do not want to dictate what the plan will be,” Lee said.

But state Sen. Angus McKelvey, a Lahaina resident whose condo burned, said he understands why people there have “a siege mentality” even as they deal with the loss of homes and jobs.

“There’s this push by the county to shove everybody back to the market economy,” he said.

Some shellshocked fire survivors, he added, may be thinking, “You guys are cooking up big plans for us in Wailuku and Honolulu and D.C.”

Lee told Civil Beat that some planning has to happen sooner rather than later because recovery work is expensive. Incoming aid from the state and federal governments will require amendments to the county’s current budget and present big challenges in putting together its next budget.

“We do not want to dictate what the plan will be.”

Council Chair Alice Lee

Still, she recognized that “We have to take it slow because people are still processing the grief.”

Officials face a delicate balancing act, because the scale of this disaster means collective action must be taken. Infrastructure must be rebuilt — including underground power lines and a more reliable water system, we would expect. The County Council is right to focus on resilience. Whatever rises from the ashes must be more resistant to fire, wind and rising sea level. 

To the fullest extent possible, the people from Lahaina’s past who want to be part of its future must row in the same direction. And those who want out of the canoe deserve our respect as well.

The tourism industry will have its say. So will the Native Hawaiian community. That is appropriate.

But we’re going to be watching out as well for the Lahaina stakeholders who have little political clout. Their property rights and their very livelihoods are at stake.