The
Hawaii Chapter of The Sierra Club
urgently need your immediate help to stop a measure that would
open up farmlands statewide to inappropriate development (click
here to see a map of lands potentially affected).
The bill,
House Bill
1368 HD2, is being heard in the Senate Committees
on Water, Land, and Agriculture on Monday, April 3rd, at 1pm.
This is our last Committee hearing to stop this bill! You can
help by:
1) Submitting testimony.
It's never too late. Click Here
If that doesn't work, email testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov
with "
Include "Oppose
HB 1368" in the subject box.
Please BCC j.mikulina@hawaiiantel.net.
Or fax to 586-6659 (Oahu) or 1-800-586-6659 (neighbor islands).
Alternatively, you can email your testimony to us as a Word doc
or PDF attachment and we will fax it for you. Hearing notice here.
Sample testimony and further information is below or at www.ruralhawaii.org.
Highlights:
I oppose HB 1368 HD2. This bill may change Hawaii's landscape
forever by allowing housing to be built on subdivided agricultural
lands regardless of its connection to any actual farming.
With the Hokulia case settled, there is no rush to pass any legislation
to amend our venerable land use law.
This measure undermines efforts to protect farmland for local
farmers.
By approving the construction of "gentlemen estates"
on ag lands, we further open up Hawaii's lands to the international
storm of real estate speculation, driving the cost of housing
even higher for local folks.
2) Contact the Committee Chair.
email: Chair Russell Kokubun at senkokubun@capitol.hawaii.gov
Include "Oppose
HB 1368" in the subject box.
Please BCC j.mikulina@hawaiiantel.net
phone: 586-6760 (neighbor island toll free 974-4000 + 66760).
3) Testify in person.
Monday 1:00pm, room 212 of the Capitol.
SAMPLE TESTIMONY
Senate Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture
Meeting time - April 3rd, 2006, 1:00pm
25 Copies are required
TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO HB 1368 HD2
Chair Kokubun and members of the Committee:
I am strongly opposed to HB 1368 HD2. This measure allows
housing to be built on subdivided agricultural lands regardless
of its connection to any actual farming. We urge this
committee to reject this attempt at undermining Hawaii’s
land use law for developers and landowners who simply
want to maximize their profits. Land needed for housing
should be re-zoned on a case-by-case basis, allowing for
ample community input and smart planning for where growth
should occur – and where it should not. By simply
allowing the counties to decide what types of dwellings
are acceptable on farmlands, we undermine the land use
law and replace smart planning with careless expediency.
This measure goes against efforts to protect agriculture,
provide affordable housing, and preserve the essence of
rural Hawaii.
<Your personal comments>
Sincerely,
<Your name>
|
The
area of Oahu to be affected by HB1368 shown in yellow
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Monday hearing for ‘fake farm’
development bill
Despite settlement of “Hokulia” case, developers
continue push to open Hawaii’s farmland for gentlemen estates.
The character of vast amounts of Hawaii’s landscape may
change should a measure pass its final legislative committee Monday.
The bill, HB 1368 HD2, which would allow housing to be built on
subdivided agricultural lands regardless of its connection to
any actual farming, is up for a final public hearing Monday afternoon.
The measure has drawn strong rebuke from environmental, community,
and native Hawaiian groups who are shocked that lawmakers would
consider such radical amendments to Hawaii’s venerable Land
Use Law at a time when affordable housing and farmland protection
appear to be priority issues for the legislature.
This bill marks a turning point for Hawaii’s landscape.
Will our agricultural lands be opened for luxury, gated communities
or preserved for local farmers and local people?
The measure that once aimed at enabling the controversial Hokulia
development to sidestep a legal holdup has evolved into the worst
nightmare for environmental and community organizations concerned
with protecting agricultural lands from rural luxury sprawl. Since
a settlement was reached between the parties in the Hokulia case
– allowing the development to proceed – many observers
thought the legislative “fix” bill would be off the
table. But overwhelming momentum produced by well-funded developers
and landowners has kept the measure alive. Some are wrongly convinced
that a “fix” to the land use law is necessary after
the Hokulia case because those living on decades-old agricultural
subdivisions will somehow be forced out for not farming –
a possibility that legal experts say is nearly impossible.
The
area of Kauai to be affected by HB1368 shown in yellow
Land needed for housing should be re-zoned on a case-by-case basis,
allowing for ample community input and smart planning for where
growth should occur – and where it should not. By simply
allowing the counties to decide what types of dwellings are acceptable
on farmlands, we undermine the land use law and replace smart
planning with careless expediency.
According to drafters of the law in 1961, the overarching purpose
of the state land use law is to “protect and conserve”
natural resources and foster “intelligent,” “effective,”
and “orderly” land allocation and development.
The Chair of the Water, Land, and Agriculture Committee, who will
preside over the public hearing Monday, has stated support for
amending HB 1368 HD2 to also allow future decisions regarding
development on agricultural lands with soil classifications of
“C,” “D,” “E,” and “U”
to be subject solely to county decision making – a significant
departure from the existing state land use entitlement policy.
For a map of lands potentially affected, please see www.ruralhawaii.org.
The Sierra Club believes that without state oversight of what
is allowed and disallowed on farmlands, county decision makers
are placed in an untenable situation where they must decide between
smart planning and increased county revenues. Some developers
smartly game the system by promising concessions or outright gifts
(“community benefits”) to the county in exchange for
approval of their “agricultural” developments. Enabling
county governments to define and permit agricultural dwellings
and ag-zoned lands deepens this problem. The state plays a necessary
role in reducing these conflicts and protecting the integrity
of land use plans.
In the past two years of real estate sales on the neighbor islands,
approximately 70% of purchases were made by mainland and foreign
buyers. Hawai‘i residents are caught in the storm of international
speculation when houses are allowed to be built on ag-zoned lands
without a real agricultural enterprise conducted on the property.
This increases land prices beyond the reach of local people, pressures
local farmers to sell or leave their land to allow construction
of mansions, encourages land speculation, and leaves less land
for affordable housing.
The
area of Maui, Lanai and Molokai to be affected by HB1368 shown
in yellow
We live in a very global economy. Hawai`i is subject to natural
economic forces which encourage conversion of agricultural lands
to non-farm uses such as luxury developments and gentlemen estates.
Today, agricultural lots on Kauai can be bought and sold over
the internet by individuals from Dubuque to Dubai.
Fortunately, we have tools to produce the preferred outcomes we
desire for a healthy, sustainable Hawai`i, with affordable housing
for local people and a vibrant agricultural industry. We must
keep those tools sharp – not dull them by simply succumbing
to powerful market forces.
House Bill 1368 was previously opposed by the Hawaii Farm Bureau,
the Director of the Land Use Commission, Office of Hawaiian Affairs,
Sierra Club, Life of the Land, The Outdoor Circle, Earthjustice,
Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, Rocky Mountain Institute, KAHEA:
The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation,
and numerous concerned individuals.
Golf course for Hokuli'a members and their guests only. Alien to Hawaii and as
synthetic as astroturf
Editor's
Note: The
Christopher Webster, Sotheby's International Real Estate
says of Hokulia "It's a world-class golf community
located in a magical micro-climate where the weather is
superb 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. "
By "micro-climate" they mean that the soil and
water had to be brought in and the grass is sustained on
a day-to-day with efforts equivalent of growing lettuce
in a Las Vegas parking lot.
This
land is designated agricultural even though it is the site
of a recent lava. The land has important Hawiian archeologic
sites and is crossed by an ancestral path that has been
partially obliterated in an illegal effort to create a California
style upscale gated suburbs. |
|
