Two subdivisions make effort to tie in farming plans
| • | Farming finds no home on agricultural land |
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Most agricultural subdivisions have little to do with farming because of poorly defined and enforced state land use law.
But two agricultural subdivisions are incorporating unique farming plans that while somewhat controversial, have met with more acceptance and could lead to a model for making post-plantation agriculture more economically viable.
Rick Holt, an Oregon developer who attended a smart-growth conference on Maui four years ago, said he was surprised by the hypocrisy of planning officials, allowing farm-dwelling subdivisions without enforcing the requirement to farm.
Equally hard to understand for Holt was those who claim to want to preserve fallow farmland that has little likelihood of being farmed again because of low soil quality, lack of available water or high land costs.
"If it's good farmland, let's preserve it," he said. "But how do you make ag land a success, given a land cost that disallows any economic model to work?"
Holt believes he has a solution combining residential development with farming on 240 acres of land once planted in pineapple at Pe'ahi above the famed surf break also known as Jaws.
Pe'ahi Farms comprises 16 mostly 2-acre home lots priced from $1.5 million to $3.3 million, plus a 170-acre farm leased to a company headed by Maui nurseryman Randy Newbold.
Five of the house lots are in escrow. About $2 million from lot sales would help capitalize farm operations for a nursery covering 15 to 30 acres, a 10-acre organic farm, high-protein grass for cattle grazing and fruit trees.
"What I wanted to do is put something in place that would draw attention to the underlying goals of (solving the ag subdivision) issue," Holt said. "Right now there's no one beating down anyone's door to buy land to grow stuff on."
Lucienne De Naie, vice chair of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i Chapter, said she's waiting to see how the agricultural operation of Pe'ahi Farms develops before judging the project.
But De Naie, a writer and researcher who owns a 675-square-foot house on agriculture-zoned land not far from Holt's project, fears that new residents building luxury homes on million-dollar ag lots may lead the way to more urban development or clash with existing neighbors raising farm animals and crops.
"A whole bunch of people with bed-and-breakfasts in the area want to pave our road," she said. "That's not necessarily something I or my neighbor with horses want. We don't mind dirt. We live in the country. It's a wonderful life. I don't want to see it disappear."
Another proposed ag subdivision with a more immediate tie to farming is Pioneer Farms, a plan by Amfac successor Kaanapali Development Corp. to sell 108 house lots amid 500 acres of existing coffee trees above Kaanapali Resort.
The coffee was planted in the 1980s and 1990s as part of Amfac's diversification from sugar, but the company couldn't compete with bigger producers, and discontinued its Kaanapali Estate Coffee operation in late 2001.
Stephen Lovelette, Kaanapali Development executive vice president, said the company wants to sell the marginal asset but help ensure it is kept in agriculture.
"This is keeping people employed and keeping a product coming out of the ground," he said. "It will still look like it is — nice and green and forested."
Kaanapali Development, which is seeking subdivision approval from Maui County, would sell 5-acre estates with four acres of coffee leased by the subdivision homeowners association to MauiGrown Coffee.
MauiGrown began harvesting and selling the unroasted coffee last year under an agreement with Kaanapali Development.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
