Lingle says state needs to clarify laws on land use

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The Legislature should change land-use laws to avoid another quandary like the one surrounding the controversial Hokuli'a development on the Big Island, Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday.

The governor said she does not yet have a clear idea of what should be done, but believes that lawmakers, at the very least, need to clarify the definition of agricultural land and other classifications used by the state Land Use Commission so that a project like Hokuli'a in Kona is not allowed to proceed as far as it did before being halted.

"The fact is the agricultural land use category, in our state, has become a default category of land use," Lingle told the Hawai'i Developers Council at the O'ahu Country Club yesterday.

Big Island Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra last month ordered a stop to nearly all construction at the 1,550-acre Hokuli'a project, ruling that developer 1250 Oceanside Partners did not have the necessary governmental approvals to proceed with its plan to develop 1-acre, agriculturally zoned lots.

The judge, in essence, said the developer should have sought, and needs to have, a reclassification from the Land Use Commission or have the panel declare it isn't necessary. That process could take several years.

Last week, Ibarra rejected requests by the developer to allow construction to continue pending an appeal or to delay the date the ruling is to take effect.

Lingle said she does not know the specifics of the Hokuli'a case well enough to know if the lots would fall legally into the agricultural classification.

However, she recalled an instance when she was Maui mayor where it was clear to her and others that a controversial housing development should not fall into the agricultural category. Lingle said she made it clear she was not opposed to the project, but that she urged its developers to seek a rural classification.

"Call it what it is, don't dress it up to be something it isn't," the governor said. "And what has happened in this state is this dressing up has been allowed to occur time after time after time. And finally, someone goes in to challenge this, and a judge chooses to make a point on a project that had already invested over a couple hundred million dollars."

The governor anticipates that her call for a clearer definition of what constitutes agricultural lands will be used by her opponents to label her as anti-farming, a label that her record will prove false, she said.

Discussions are taking place with all four county mayors and state land director Peter Young to determine what type of recommendations to make to legislators.

The Legislature convened an Agricultural Working Group two years ago to look at a mandate to protect key agricultural lands and is expected to produce a package by the time the session convenes in January.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.