Critics say ag bills would lead to development

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

Two bills that the city says would protect agricultural land and allow expanded money-making opportunities could backfire and actually aid in the urbanization of O'ahu farm land, critics say.

Waikane farmer James Song, shown amid destruction by recent rain to some of his papaya crop, said a bill to allow direct sales of produce from farm land would benefit him. But Waiahole farmer John Reppun said only farmers whose lands abut a main road would benefit. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Bill 39 would permit expanded retail sales on agricultural land as well as the designation of open land for public or private recreational use. Bill 36 would make it harder to rezone agricultural land.

Both bills have received preliminary approval from the Planning Commission and are awaiting City Council action.

But opponents say the measures threaten to make thousands of acres of agricultural land prone to development and would do little to help the small farmer.

"I think (Bill 39) is really aimed to give a few very large landowners like Dole the right to totally alter their business and remove valuable land from agriculture," said Life of the Land executive director Henry Curtis.

Under Bill 39, farms, which previously were allowed to sell produce from roadside stands, would be permitted to conduct retail operations from structures up to 500 square feet. Up to 50 percent of the sales could be from other O'ahu farms and include products such as jellies or jams made from O'ahu-grown produce.

Motorized tours of the farm would be allowed, and open land could be set aside for public or private recreational use, all potential profit-making ventures.

The measure also would allow the creation of exclu-sive agricultural sites, a kind of farm subdivision, in which large landowners can subdivide land into two-acre farm lots and lease them without having to install the infrastructure required of a residential subdivision. However, no homes could be built on the property and the land would have to be dedicated to agriculture use for 10 years.

Land Use Research Foundation of Hawai'i said Bill 39 is good because it is an incentive-based approach to success that allows some flexibility in selling products.

"The concept of trying to increase the viability of agriculture as an industry is one, we think, that is important to the future of agriculture," said Dan Davidson, executive director of the foundation, a landowner/developer research and trade association.

Randall Fujiki, city director of planning and permitting, said the agribusiness provision and the relaxed rules on subdivision would help both large and small farmers financially.

"The whole purpose is to support agriculture," Fujiki said. "If you don't make it viable then all of a sudden you don't have agriculture and the developers come in and say, that's vacant. ... They want to urbanize it."

Waikane farmer James Song said he would benefit from selling from his farm off Kamehameha Highway, but Waiahole Valley farmer John Reppun said only farmers such as Song and Kualoa Ranch owner John Morgan, whose property abuts the main road, would benefit.

Farmers can't staff a store all day or keep it stocked because crops are not harvested every day, Reppun said.

"On the surface that looks great, but this could turn into a commercial outlet," Reppun said. "Who's going to monitor that? Who's going to enforce that? Maybe it's more important to establish outlets community by community."

Farm subdivisions don't work because of the security problems, Reppun added. People steal from farmers who don't live on the property. The bill should allow farmers to live on the property, but could include some kind of anti-speculation clause, he said.

Bill 36 attempts to identify thousands of acres of land that the city wants kept in agriculture in perpetuity. The bill also would make it more difficult to rezone agricultural land.

Donna Wong, executive director of Hawai'i's Thousand Friends, said Bill 36 as proposed would exclude 23,000 acres from agriculture use, including all of Makaha Valley, leaving that area open for development.

"The map (attached to the bill) cuts a swath right through Central O'ahu from the mountain to the sea that opens a bunch of ag land to development in Mililani, Waipio and Crest View," Wong said, adding that the accompanying bill that allows motorized tours, recreation and commerce on agriculture land also would remove land from farming.

"The further they get away from planting something in the ground and harvesting it, the more susceptible agriculture land is to non-ag use," she said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.