Judge overturns land-use ruling for Koa Ridge
By David Waite and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers
A judge has overturned a decision by the state Land Use Commission to reclassify 760 acres of agricultural land in Central O'ahu for the Koa Ridge housing development.
It was the second setback for a Hawai'i developer in recent weeks while an environmental group applauded the decision.
In a six-page ruling issued Tuesday, Circuit Judge Eden Hifo said the Land Use Commission should have ordered Castle & Cooke Homes Hawai'i Inc. to submit an environmental assessment for the project when the company filed its request to have the land reclassified from agricultural to urban use.
Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i Chapter, which filed the lawsuit challenging the project, described Hifo's decision as a "major victory" in the club's efforts to stop what he described as "urban sprawl on Central O'ahu's agricultural lands."
Harry Saunders, Castle & Cooke president of Hawai'i/O'ahu operations, said he didn't consider Hifo's ruling as a significant setback. He said a more-detailed environmental impact statement is nearly completed and that the company plans to reapply for the land use change. He also said the decision shouldn't affect the timetable for the project, which calls for construction to start in 2007.
Earlier this month, Big Island Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra stopped construction on the Hokuli'a luxury housing project in Kona because developer 1250 Oceanside Partners did not ask the Land Use Commission for a land reclassification. The 1,550-acre project is being built on agricultural lands.
The two cases are different because Castle & Cooke did go through the Land Use Commission hearing process. Also, Hifo's ruling was made long before ground is to be broken at the Koa Ridge project.
But both rulings may signal that after years of relative quiet, largely the result of a development slump through the 1990s, the state may be seeing more challenges by both conservationists and developers as projects that had been shelved for years are restarted.
"When the economy went south, all these projects stopped," said University of Hawai'i political science professor Ira Rohter, who has followed land controversies. "The big investors stopped coming in, so it all cooled off. Now, because there is this resurge in investment, they're coming back."
In the Koa Ridge case, the Land Use Commission in June 2002 approved the reclassification of two parcels totaling 763 acres of agricultural land for urban use for the construction of up to 4,500 single-family and multifamily homes, an elementary school, as well as commercial and medical centers.
At a court hearing in January, lawyers for Castle & Cooke and the commission argued that the land board was not approving the project but merely redesignating agricultural land for development.
An environmental assessment, a determination of whether a more detailed environmental impact statement is necessary, or the EIS could be prepared when the developers seek rezoning or a development map change from the city, they argued.
Castle & Cooke plans to apply with the city for a zone change late this year or early next year, Saunders said. Mikulina said the Sierra Club plans to oppose the project.
In her ruling, Hifo agreed with Sierra Club lawyer Isaac Hall who argued at the hearing that state law mandates that an environmental assessment should be conducted and submitted as early as possible. Hifo ruled the Land Use Commission erred in suggesting that an environmental assessment could be prepared later.
She said preparing and submitting an environmental assessment later "would have defeated the legislative purposes of (a state law) that required environmental documents to be prepared 'at the earliest practicable time' and that they be available to aid decision makers, including ... the Land Use Commission."
Mikulina yesterday said if Castle & Cooke returns to the Land Use Commission, the Sierra Club will again ask for a "contested case hearing," a trial-like proceeding in which each side is able to challenge information presented to the commission. Saunders said he didn't feel another contested-case hearing would be necessary.
"The first step is taking a look at the EIS and all the comments that are part of the EIS, which is from community and agency input, and deciding if there is a big variance from the process they already went through," Saunders said.
Rohter said most of the land development disputes in the 1980s involved agricultural land being turned into golf courses and resorts. He said one of the continuing issues is that land-use rules and designations aren't always clear, especially when it comes to agricultural property, and that has often allowed the exploitation of loopholes and gray areas, he said.
"The swords have never been sheathed — they've just been put down," he said. "It's been quiet, not because everything got solved but because they weren't doing so much."
Staff writer Johnny Brannon contributed to this report. Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030 and Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8025.
