Developers seek end to land use board
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer
The debate over how Hawai'i uses its land has reemerged as a highly-charged political issue as developers are renewing their call for the elimination of the state Land Use Commission.
"It's a good time to look at the whole entitlement process," said Dean Uchida, executive director of the Land Use Research Foundation, a lobbying group for developers. "It's time to step back and ask, 'Is something broken?' If it is, let's go and fix it."
As a candidate, Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, said she favored abolishing the Land Use Commission. But yesterday she backed off that idea, at least for the upcoming legislative session.
Instead, she said she would push a "serious proposal" to reclassify and reduce the amount of agriculturally designated land across the state. A statewide committee appointed by the administration is examining potential changes in land designations.
The Land Use Commission is at the center of two recent court rulings: This week's setback for the proposed 760-acre Koa Ridge development in Central O'ahu and another that blocked the 1,550-acre Hokuli'a luxury project on the Big Island earlier in the month.
On Tuesday, O'ahu Circuit Judge Eden Hifo said the commission failed to order Castle & Cooke Homes Hawai'i Inc. to submit an environmental assessment for Koa Ridge when the company filed its request to reclassify the land from agricultural to urban use.
On Sept. 9, Big Island Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra stopped construction on the Hokuli'a project because developer 1250 Oceanside Partners did not ask the Land Use Commission for a land reclassification. The project, consisting of luxury home sites and a golf course, is being built on lands designated for agricultural uses.
While environmentalists defended the Land Use Commission as having an important function, Uchida and others yesterday said the Land Use Commission is an antiquated player in the state's land-use system, a redundant layer of government that should take a rear seat to the counties.
While there were questions about their ability to protect the state's interest when the commission was formed in 1961, county governments are now better equipped to oversee their own urban, agricultural and rural planning, Uchida said.
Lingle said her administration's review of land designated for agriculture is actually a move to protect prime agricultural land, because a lot of it is marginal and was awarded the designation by default. That includes the land on which the Hokuli'a development is situated, she said.
Hawai'i developers have rallied to support the position of 1250 Oceanside Partners, who say they received the proper county permits.
"Anybody that's seen that Hokuli'a land before they touched it knows that nothing was growing out there, not even weeds. There's no cows going to be out there, no crops. They made that place beautiful only because of their investment," said Craig Watase, president of Mark Development.
Because it's unlikely that the state Legislature will abolish the Land Use Commission anytime soon, the reclassification proposal makes sense to address the issue of agricultural classification, said Karen T. Nakamura, chief executive officer of the Building Industry Association of Hawai'i.
But Nakamura said the state must ultimately take a hard look at the role of the commission and at least eliminate the duplication with the counties.
The commission, whose nine members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, divides the state into four districts: urban, rural, conservation and agricultural. The panel acts on proposed boundary changes by private landowners, developers and state and county agencies, and also acts on requests for special-use permits within the agricultural and rural districts.
Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter, defended the commission, saying it catches things that are sometimes missed in the county planning process.
Mistakes made by the commission are the fault of individual members, not the process, he said, and the Sierra Club will continue to work to improve the quality of the panel's makeup.
Former Land Use Commission member Casey Jarman, a University of Hawai'i environmental law professor, said cases such as Hokuli'a actually point out why the commission is such a useful tool for the state. She said decisions by county governments are often tempered by economic issues, such as jobs, at the expense of larger issues, including environmental and cultural ones.
But state Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kahala, Hawai'i Kai), said a statewide planning commission is a dinosaur that runs counter to the trend of decentralization and home rule. The people closest to the problem, the ones most affected, should have the greatest say, he said.
Staff Writer Dan Nakaso contributed to this report. Reach Timothy Hurley at (808) 244-4880 or thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
