Giving away the farm!

A hui of environmentalists, farmers, and smart planning advocates penned a collaborative op-ed on the potential dangers of SB 2646, the Gift to Landowners Bill. Read it here
pritchett has a visual sums up the fake farm situation on this cartoon that ran in the weekly:

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SB 2646: GIFT TO LANDOWNERS

my recent article in the Molokai Dispatch:

Controversial Senate Bill 2646 passed the Senate last Thursday in a 14-10 vote. Supporters claim the bill is designed to preserve important agricultural lands and promote agricultural production. But opponents say the bill is a major “Gift to Landowners” that paves the way for development through expedited land reclassification, tax credits, and other incentives.
The bill now awaits the Governor’s approval which would put it into effect in July.
SB 2646 has drawn particular criticism for its reclassification incentive which allows landowners to swap classification of 15% of its acreage from agricultural to urban, rural, or conservation as long as they designate 85% of their acreage to “important-ag.”


A 2008 Senate report states that the bill’s explicit intent is “to create incentives that balance the State's interest and desire for the designation of important-ag with the landowners' need and desire for more development opportunities.”

Hawaiian Homestead farmer Adolph Helm, who has worked in agrobusiness for 12 years said that the bill provides needed broad-scale support for agriculture. “Designating important-ag is good in the context that it drives the state to focus on agriculture and agriculture sustainability as well as opportunities for people who want to work in agriculture,” he said.
Critics believe the 85/15 incentive promotes development of agricultural lands more than it protects them. Hui Ho`opakele `Aina advocate Steve Morgan said, “[It]has far more to do with creating legal loopholes for urban and rural development than it has to do with preserving agricultural lands.”
Senator Jill Tokuda defended the bill’s merits in a recent Honolulu Advertiser article. "I did everything I could to strengthen these provisions," Tokuda said. "My main goal was to tighten it so there is no potential for abuse."

However, opponents of the bill say the legislation, backed by large landowners, tips the land-use balance in favor of more development with less red tape.

“This bill is flawed because it cuts out most of the community's input in a development,” said Glenn Teves, Hawaiian Homesteader and UH Agricultural Extension Agent.

Helm also recognizes the need to mitigate potentially negative aspects of the bill. “We can’t always have the cake and the frosting in some of the policy issues that help to drive Hawaii to a better future. Some negative aspects, such as minimizing proper community input, need to be recognized and mitigated on the political level. If this bill prevents the community from being properly involved in land use decisions, I would have some concerns. A healthy community should be involved in the process.”

Because the bill alters the process of land reclassification needed for future development on ag lands, many Molokai residents question how it could affect future land use for Molokai Properties Limited (MPL), the island’s largest landowner.

MPL is a member of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii (LURF), a primary lobbyist for the bill that advances development interests for landowners. MPL, which shut down operations in March, owns approximately 40% of the island (over 60,000 acres) and could petition for an 85/15 reclassification for some or all of its landholdings.

Opponents of the stalled La`au Point development express concern that SB 2646 will facilitate land reclassification that could help allow La`au to be developed. However, many development opponents claim the lack of a sustainable water supply, a primary restriction for La`au development, would continue to present major obstacles if MPL petitioned for 85/15 designation.

While earlier versions of the bill mandated three or more criteria for land eligible as important-ag, under this version, eligible land must meet only the following two criteria: “land with sufficient quantities of water to support viable agricultural production;” and ”land that contributes to maintaining a critical land mass important to agricultural operating productivity.”

“This may be the vehicle that resurrects the La`au development, but they [MPL] still haven't addressed the water issue,” said Teves. “The problem on Molokai is the lack of water precludes the use of these lands to agriculture for the long term.”

MCSC Executive Director Karen Holt expressed doubt that MPL could make the 85/15 important-ag formula work. “Without water it will be hard to prove that [the lands]are usable, let alone Important Agricultural Lands,” she said.

Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation attorney Alan Murakami, one of the bill’s primary critics, described water as a potential “Achilles heel for [an] attempt at facilitated reclassification for La`au, which has always been the obstacle its promoters could not clearly overcome, given the rights of homesteaders and subsistence gatherers.”

The bill has left some community members wondering how the legislation would affect the Land Use Commission reclassification process in cases like La`au Point, and whether an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would still be needed for the development. Murakami says the existing EIS process is unchanged: “I don't see any special exemption or processing for going through the 85/15 scheme. The EIS law still applies,” and is subject to the EIS criteria mandated by HRS 343 he said.

The bill is silent on whether reclassification from ag to rural must conform with existing county plans, and it is unclear how the legislation will affect proposed community plan amendments. Murakami notes that lands reclassified to rural are “not explicitly subject to conformance with community plans.”

Former Planning Commissioner DeGray Vanderbilt says the required environmental review process for community plan amendment still applies. “No development can take place on Molokai unless the county and the state zoning are consistent,” he said. Vanderbilt also cited the importance of important-ag designation in Molokai’s upcoming community plan review.

In the wake of recent economic troubles and impending land sales for some of the state’s largest landowners, including Maui Land & Pineapple, Dole, and MPL, Teves expressed the skepticism of many who view the bill as a brazen political power play designed to benefit landowners, but who are ultimately unsure how it will affect future land use. “Landowners will be cautious because they're still looking for highest and best use, and this means lining your pockets with a lot of kala,” he said.

Helm noted that beyond legislation, a comprehensive community plan is the key to ensuring balance for agriculture on Molokai. “The important-ag designation is a good plan, but for agriculture to work on an island like Molokai, I think it requires a collaborative effort among all current stakeholders to make a comprehensive plan in terms of how we’re able to balance the land, the water, and the people to make agriculture work, to be economically viable, and to maintain the rural lifestyle that we aloha here. This is where we’re currently lacking.”

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AUE NO HO'I E: SB 2646 Passed!

There are still legal hurdles preventing La'au development, but the passage of SB 2646, which enables a landowner to reclassify 15% of its lands as rural, urban or conservation as an incentive for classifying 85% of its lands as IAL, means the Ranch could try to revive the plan from the autopsy table. Personally I don't think the Ranch can make a strong case for designating 85% of its lands IAL, as much of the land is unsuitable for ag and some of it is already placed in conservation or SMA. It depends on what criteria they can meet for IAL. Mahalo to Kahualaulani for keeping us abreast of the issue. Here's what water/land warrior Alan Murakami has to say...
"Some bad news. Following a decisive House vote to pass SB 2646, CD 1, the Senate just barely passed it 14-10 this afternoon in a dramatic roll call vote. It now goes to the Governor, with Section 10 of the bill (the 85-15 "incentive" scheme) intact. If the Governor signs, any landowner can obtain expedited reclassification of 15% of its lands from Ag to Rural, Urban or Conservation (hah!), if it designates 85% as important ag lands (IAL). The reclassification will be by "declaratory order" a quicker way to get reclassification, with less public opportunity to learn about it and challenge it (no contested case hearings required).

If the reclassification sought is Urban, the landowner must show conformance with county land use plans. If the object is reclassification to the Rural District (allowing 1/2 acre residential lots), th bill is silent on whether it must conform to county land use plans. The controversial projects now under review by the LUC (Hkulia and La`au Point) are petitions to reclassify to Rural. As the Sierra Club estimates, if 85% of the ALL current ag district lands are designated IAL, the land owners could conceptually request that 290,000 acres could be reclassified under this new scheme, which is more than 3 times what is currently vacant land under the Urban District.

The key was the Hawaii Farm Bureau - Land Use Research Foundation alliance. It was cited repeatedly by supporters as the key to breaking the three-decade deadlock on implementing the constitutional provision for protecting important ag lands.

Now we'll see how correct its defenders in the legislative debate today are that:
not a lot of landowners will use it
there are protections for reclassified lands in Rural or Urban (the big target is Rural, with the ability to go down to 1/2 acre lots) (Sen. Tokuda)
you can get contested case hearings upon request (Rep. Karamatsu), which Sen. Kokubun aptly contradicted in this presentation in the Senate
provisions for identifying and designating IAL are stronger in this bill than under current law (Karamatsu)
after 30 years of failing to protect important ag lands, we have to act now to protect these agricultural lands (Rep. Ito)
we have PLENTY of ag lands, so why worry about 15% going to Rural or Urban and urbanization is going to happen anyway even without the bill (Sen. Espero)
I didn't get all the 'NO' votes, but some of them were: Sens. Kokubun, Hee, Gabbard, Fukunaga, Hooser, Menor, Kim, Ihara, Tsutsui, and one more(?). I didn't get too many House members voting no because my feed did not carry all the info as I sporadically watched, but I know amongst them were: Belatti, Morita, Berg, Hanohano. The results will be clearer tomorrow on the Legislative website. When I get them, I'll ask you to send thank you's to those that voted in the minority. Jeff Mikulina of the Sierra |Club worked hard to try and get the votes to kill it in the Senate but I guess just fell short. We owe him our gratitude for really trying. It's a lesson to all of us that we need to be much better organized in future years if you want to prevent this kind of legislation from passing again.

Incidentally, the Hawai`i Rural Development Council is sponsoring a series of land use law workshops in conjunction with a Hawaii Community Foundation grant it received. I would imagine that the passage of SB 2646, CD 1 brings into sharp focus the reasons why communities need to be well informed about land use processes that may affect them. If landowners start to utilize these provisions, communities will see a whole new spate of reclassifications in their counties, as they take advantage of the expedited means of securing land use approvals that facilitate the building of more luxury fake farm subdivisions across the state.

The HRDC will hold its next workshop on Moloka`i on May 6 at 6:30 PM at Kulana Oiwi.

If you are interested in a similar workshop being held on your island, contact Larissa Meinecke at lmeinecke@hacbed.org."

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The Kingdom takes back Iolani Palace

It's unclear exactly who the protestors are, but they call themselves the Hawaiian Kingdom Government, and this morning as many as 70 of them occupied the grounds of Iolani Palace by locking the gates and physically blocking the entrances. It's DLNR's kuleana to control the area, and pro-gmo taro director Laura Thielen made the call to close the area and then gave soundbites to the media about "peacefully" ending the protest.   Wonder what prompted this occupation?

Star Bulletin article

Advertiser article

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Water on the West End: What Now?

Now that the Ranch is shuttered, the company is looking to hand over its biggest liabilities to someone else... primarily the water system serving the West End. West End Homeowners are considering courting Maui County to takeover the system. Unless there's a real political payoff this is neither probable nor desirable. 1) the County is a public water system, which means they have a legal obligation to provide water to system users... this kind of government regulation could be dangerous, opening up the floodgates for eminent domain and legally-binding future usage of a water supply the aquifer can neither sustain nor guarantee. 2) the Molokai Ranch system is a catastrophe... to repair it would cost big bucks, and if it's the County's kuleana, taxpayers are going to pony up retroactively to reverse the Ranch's longtime negligence. If Molokai Ranch wants the County to take it off their hands, they should put up a $500 million bond. 3) County has certain standards that its water systems have to meet. Kawela Plantation, another subdivision on Molokai, has tried in the past to get the County to take over their private water system, but the County has declined because the Kawela Plantation water system is substandard, and it would be expensive to get it up to par. Molokai Ranch's water system is in far worse shape than Kawela Plantation's; if the County declined to take on the latter due to its poor standards, I doubt it would be eager to take on the former and its disastrous state. The solution for West End is not to go knocking on County doors for public regulation, but to take individual initiative and install catchment systems and cisterns and reusable greywater systems. When you're living in a place that has no local water source of its own, becoming self-sufficient is the only assurance against being left high and dry!

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Mana'o from Aunty Lani Kapuni, circa 1980

Thought I'd share some valuable mana'o from the late Aunty Lani Kapuni that I came across in Na Mana'o O Na Kupuna, a 1980 publication by Puu O Hoku Media Service:
"...In order to survive, learn your own culture. Because someday you're going to use it. One of these days we may not have a store to run to... My main concern is survival. When I first started going to meetings with Hui Alaloa first, walking, what they was trying to do was open the old trail, where the Hawaiians used to, the right-of-way to go to the beach where the Ranch was just closing-up everything, people cannot go through to the beach; I got involved for one reason. And that one reason was because of my grandchildren. Because this is gonna be their future. Now if every place is going to be closed, how are they going to the beach if these people block the ocean-front? So from that day until today, my main interest is for the young opios, not only my mo'opunas. Everybody got to survive."

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Changing the way we live: Why Bother?

Envirojournalist & foodie Michael Pollan touches on the issues of perceived futility many of us face as we contemplate the state of the planet and makes a compelling case for doing our individual parts to change the way we live in this NY Times article

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