Meanwhile, time is running out for the Sylvester Foundation. The state Board of Land and Natural Resources decided that the leased parcel should revert to agricultural use and will put the property up for auction next Wednesday. The foundation's lease expires Aug. 9.

The last obstacle to the auction was removed last week when the land board ruled that the foundation may not take advantage of a law permitting nonprofits to bypass the usual bid process for state land and negotiate a lease with the DLNR.

And the foundation will not be allowed to bid on the property it has leased for eight years. The DLNR ruled this month that the foundation didn't meet bid qualifications. A letter sent to the organization said it didn't have an adequate business plan or proper finances, said Candy Lake, who operates the shelter.

"It's like they're afraid to let us bid because we might prevail," Lake said yesterday. She said she couldn't understand the state's desire to revert the land to agriculture when it has been rangeland for so long. "It's just a pasture. Nothing got taken away from the farmers," Lake said.

Lake said she will appeal the decision about meeting qualifications to bid.

"We have an absolute fabulous business plan," she said. Now that the waiver has been denied, she said, the "fair thing" is to be allowed to bid in the auction.

When she purchased the buildings on the property in a foreclosure eight years ago, Lake obtained the lease without having to qualify for it and with the approval of the land board. At the time she said she was looking for grazing land and a place to keep her horses and operate the foundation. The property was listed as pasture, she said.

The state has showed her another property but it's in a flood zone and has no buildings, she said. Where she is now has two homes, a barn and other amenities. She's free to remove the structures when she moves; otherwise she stands to lose the $137,000 she paid for them when she obtained the lease.

In the meantime the foundation is not accepting any new animals and has turned away more than 100 since learning it could not continue operations at its present site, Lake said.

Nursery owner David Fell said the land should revert to agriculture because farmland is becoming scarce. Leasing state agriculture land is one of the few ways farmers and nurserymen can remain in business because of the low rental rates.

Lake is paying $3,500 a year for the land, but it would be more valuable to the state at the higher agriculture use, she said. When the property is auctioned, bidding will have to start at $4,764 a year for the 20-acre parcel, according to the DLNR.

Fell, who testified in support of making the parcel available and will bid on the property, said cultivating the land creates jobs, rids the air of harmful carbon dioxide and ensures agriculture production.

"There's increase pressure on the diminishing resource of agriculture land," he said.

Dan Davidson, DLNR deputy director for land, said the board listened to testimony from shelter supporters and farmers before making its unanimous decision Friday to deny a waiver from the bid process and let the land go to bid for farm use. Nine farmers have qualified to bid on four properties that are available in Waimanalo and Hau'ula, Davidson said, pointing out the apparent interest in farmland.

The normal procedure after a lease expires is to put the property up for bid, he said.

But DLNR recognizes the good work provided by the foundation and is looking for another site for the shelter, he said, declining to specify any locations.

"Hopefully we'll be able to accommodate the foundation," Davidson said. "The shelter's services provide an important economical and social benefit to the community."