Boy Scouts gain campsites in 'win-win' swap with state
| • | Maps: State land swap with Boy Scouts |
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The state will turn over Camp Pupukea and campsites on Kaua'i and the Big Island to the Boy Scouts in exchange for industrial land of equal value in Waipahu.
Gov. Linda Lingle last month signed a bill authorizing the land swap and will hold a ceremonial signing today in her office.
Under House Bill 83, now Act 27, the public conservation lands to be exchanged are a 64.8-acre property in Pupukea, known as Camp Pupukea; a 29-acre property at Koke'e, Kaua'i, known as Camp Alan Faye; and a 238-acre property on the Big Island's Hamakua Coast, known as Camp Honokaia.
The Aloha Council Boy Scouts of America has leased those lands for camp activities for decades, but wanted to acquire the properties so it can upgrade facilities, said executive director Rees Falkner.
In exchange, the Boy Scouts will give the state three vacant lots, each between 16,000 and 17,000 square feet, in the Mill Town Center business/industrial park in Waipahu. The Boy Scouts of America is in the process of buying that land from Alexander & Baldwin Inc. That land has been appraised at and is being bought for $1.2 million.
Falkner and state Land Division Administrator Dede Mamiya called the exchange a "win-win" because the Boy Scouts will own the campsites and the state will gain land that could raise more money.
Mamiya, who said land exchanges between the state and private entities occur on average less than once a year, said the public conservation district lands do not generate much revenue.
"The state, in exchange for those, is going to get industrial-zoned lands which have wonderful revenue-generating potential for the future," she said.
Mamiya said the Boy Scouts paid the state $750 a year to lease all three sites, while the Mill Town Center properties the state will gain are estimated to generate between $72,000 to $96,000 annually. Because the public lands that will be exchanged are ceded lands, 20 percent of the revenue generated from the properties will go to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs while the rest will go to the general fund, Mamiya said.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
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