Navy wants say on Kaua'i land use

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

MANA, Kaua'i — The Navy is asking for permission to participate in decisions on the use of nearly 6,000 acres of state-owned land next to the Pacific Missile Range Facility, if the property is proposed to be used for anything beside agriculture.

The Navy has asked the Department of Land and Natural Resources to establish the entire Mana flats as a "passive encroachment buffer."

"Without the set-aside, we don't have any formal way of getting involved," said Randall Young, a Navy attorney at Pearl Harbor. "We just want to have a voice."

A public hearing on the proposal, called jointly by the Navy and DLNR, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Kalaheo Elementary School.

The Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility lies along several miles of Kaua'i's western coast. It is a narrow strip of land with the ocean on one side and Kaumuali'i Highway on the other. Across the highway is a broad flatland that was marsh before the Kekaha Sugar Co. cut canals and ran pumps to dry it for sugar cane cultivation.

The plantation is gone, although some of the land is still farmed in cane by Gay & Robinson, and there are other agricultural uses, including shrimp farming, seed corn and diversified agricultural products.

The Navy has no problem with agricultural uses, said Capt. Jeff Connelly, the base commander. The vast flats that run from Kekaha town to the state's Polihale Beach Park are roughly seven miles long from southeast to northwest, and a mile wide from the highway to the base of the cliffs.

Connelly said the military base benefits from the undeveloped neighboring land, which lacks lights to pollute the night sky and has no electrical equipment that could degrade the range's electronic sensing gear.

To keep it that way, the Navy is asking the DLNR to establish a set-aside, which would operate a little like an additional level of zoning. Under the terms of the proposed set-aside, if the state proposes any use other than agriculture, it would need to consult with the Navy.

In a related matter, the Navy is asking the state to expand the boundaries of the missile range lease by about 415 acres, largely within the area between the highway and the existing range. The Navy told the state it needs the additional land to meet anti-terrorism protection guidelines.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.