Posted on: Sunday, September 2, 2001

State land-use law can cope with future challenges

By Shelly Mark

The 'Ewa Sugar Mill and surrounding plantation homes as they appeared 32 years ago. Today, sugar cane fields are being replaced by housing and small-scale diversified agriculture, and the population of Neighbor Islands is growing. Do we have the tools to cope? Advertiser library photo • 1969

Let's go back four decades and look at the record: Hawai'i had just attained statehood and was eager to try new ideas and new ventures.

Jet aircraft had arrived, but not yet the hordes of new visitors. Sugar and pineapple were facing worldwide competition, but the plantation atmosphere still dominated.

The ILWU had risen beyond its "Red" scares, and unionism was beginning to have impact on legislative matters. Charlie Kendall's government employees were just beginning to attain statewide status; the teachers and professors were not yet organized.

What was available for the new state and its expected increase of new residents: $15,000 houses from Central O'ahu pineapple fields; $250 subdivision lots from Big Island lava fields; Hong Kong-style highrises overlooking

Honolulu Harbor, or a Sammy Amalu-choreographed tourism development?

Without being overly dramatic, the point was obvious: Was Hawai'i going to have smart growth or its opposite?

That was the fundamental question posed by Karl Kim, professor of planning and now UH vice-president, in his penetrating and provocative analysis of Hawai'i's forays in and out of "Smart Growth" (The Advertiser, Aug. 5, 2001).

Kim points to movements in various other states to control development sprawl and notes that Hawai'i has been both a leader and a laggard in this respect. In short, he evokes images of what has been, what might have been and what might yet be in our state.

Although the path was not easy at the time (nor has it been since), the new state administration under Gov. John Burns and the new Legislature opted to play smart.

A comprehensive statewide law was passed, through which four distinctive land-use districts were to be established: agriculture, to protect productive soils for the development outlook of plantations and smaller farmers alike; conservation, to retain scenic and environmental amenities for residents and visitors; urban, to facilitate population and new industrial growth; rural, a transitional area where residents might retain their barns and pigs within 3-acre parcels.

The districts were to be drawn up, retained or changed with adequate justification by an appointed to be confirmed Land Use Commission, representing each island. Changes in use could take place only with approval by the commission, with the state retaining jurisdiction in the agricultural and conservation areas. The counties would designate permitted use standards and environmental conditions in the urban and, to a more limited extent, rural districts.

Still the only statewide system existent in the nation, the Hawai'i Land Use Law has withstood the test of time.

Of course, mistakes have been made, and disappointments abound. Discussions have often been termed "political," and commissioners have not been spared legislative or media thrashing. But what you see is what you got, and as they say, it's all in the eyes of the beholder.

Honolulu remains the state's urban center, with Waikiki as its tourism outlet and increased settlement on the city's west side. Overall growth is gradually moving toward the Neighbor Islands, as anticipated by state planners and as the new census will show.

Perhaps the best — and to some, the only — indication of "smartness" on the part of state planning people has been the requirement (not always honored) that capital improvements investment in roads, water, schools, public safety and the like be recognized as a cost of development, whether from the public or private purse.

Now the purpose of this back-pedaling into the archives is not to regale the past or belittle the present. A smart growth initiative has not been enacted, while the issues it had intended to cope with continue to fester.

As a case in point, as the visitor count approaches 7 million, the Hawai'i Tourism Authority has indicated: "As an island state, Hawai'i faces a natural constraint on development and use of its resources. Future resident and visitor population growth and economic development will require more coordinated planning than has occurred in the past in order to create the right balance between achieving economic objectives and sustaining Hawai'i's natural and cultural resources."

But all is not lost. Professor Kim suggests planning objectives and the tools that can be utilized for smart growth are available, and can be realized by executive order. State planning has been rather silent in recent sessions, but has progressed through environmental assessment aptitude, technological and geographic innovation, coastal zone management, and of course, the enlightened technical progress of the county planning agencies.

Still, the Kaka'ako waterfront, Ka Iwi, Kalaeloa and many other spots await decisions. Despite continuing opposition, state planning and land use legislation remain intact. The tools for farsighted planning and smart growth exist.

With the caveat that with maturity comes civility, a state-county-community-wide initiative can be set in place to tackle the future. New partnerships can be fostered to ensure that development infrastructure and environmental standards enhance community character and livability.

Hawai'i's Land Use Law, perhaps venerable but not as battered as it used to be, together with a more infrastructurally focused construction program, can provide useful experience and tools to meet the growth and environmental challenges of the new millennium.

Shelly M. Mark is former director of the state Department of Planning and Economic Development.