HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE
Rep. Marcus R. Oshiro, Chair
Rep. Marilyn B. Lee, Vice Chair

HEARING on HB 2807
DATE: FRIDAY, February 22, 2008
TIME: 1:00 P.M.
PLACE: Conference Room 308

I oppose the concept behind HB 2807 and urge you to HOLD this bill.

The concept of packaging a designation of important agricultural lands (80%) with a reclassification of other lands (20%) of the same landowner to urban or rural district is a distorted way to promote either rationale land use planning or protection of agriculture. While the packaging is supposed to be consistent with land use plans, there is a basic flaw in presuming that affordable housing belongs on land currently classified for the Ag District. This notion completely ignores the fact that the State Office of Pllanning recently found that there are tens of thousands of acres of lands already classified Urban that are available for housing development.

The coupling of 20% of one's land for reclassification to Urban or Rural with the designation of important agricultural lant is no more than a gift to speculative investments in what will likely be luxury residential housing and urban or suburban sprawl across this state. It will literally open up the floodgates for more of the same kind of agricultural subdivisions proliferating across the state already, but this time without violating permissible uses in the Ag District. At the very least, it is a transparent attempt to transform and important exercise (identify IAL) with unlocking the door that is supposed to put a cap on urban sprawl and land speculation that ultimately kills off agriculture.

Furthermore, by exempting this process from the provisions of HRS sec. 205-4, this process will bypass any procedural protections available to communities opposed to this kind of bad development by stripping interested parties of the right to a contested case hearing under HRS chapter 91. This procedure has been the only obstacle to unmitigated devastation of rural communities throughout the state, where money and power will override any rational land use planning or protection of agricultural acitivities and land. This is one reason alone to kill this bill.

Disguising attempts to expedite land development for luxury residential subdivisions by coupling it with the designation of IAL is neither logical nor wise. It would disregard and undermine real attempts at sustaining small farms by ignoring externalities of allowing reclassifications of agricultural land with no serious thought of the consequences. Amending the standards and permissible uses in the Rural District without greater community input is also an invitation to greater social conflicts and expensive litigation in the future.

The only rational approach is to defer all the ad hoc legislation being thrown at the public under the disguise of identifying important ag lands, and invest in a facilitated community-based discussion amongst all important stakeholders in the agricultural and rural sectors to come up with a consensus approach to amending the standards and permisible uses in the Rural District, which will be the key buffer between incompatible Urban land uses and true farming on Ag District lands. That investment will reap more harmony and less conflict in future deliberations over land use in Hawai`i. The failure of the counties to perform this function under Act 205 (SLH 2005) signaled the start of the confusion and ad hoc proposals now being made 3 years later. The time to stop the madness is now.

Kill this bill and instead support the grant-in-aid request being supported by a broad coalition of advocates for the protection of a sustainable egricultural economy in Hawai`i. I would be pleased to elaborate on this proposed format should you need more information.

Alan T. Murakami
721-3070