Ag lands bill needs more protections

The Molokai Times
Thursday, July 3, 2008

By J. Kalani English

When Governor Linda Lingle presented her list of possible vetoes this week, there was one that was not listed that I had hoped to see: Senate Bill 2646, relating to the designation of Important Agricultural Lands in Hawaii.

All of us are aware of the need to protect our agricultural lands and our agricultural industries, and I have monitored similar legislation over the past few years with those goals in mind. Particularly on Molokai and across our district, keeping our rural character and providing opportunities for our workers deserves our continued interest and protection. As the proposed development at La'au Point demonstrated, landowners will continue to push for more construction, and our community will continue to press to preserve the lifestyle that we find so precious.

But La'au Point also showed us that a critical factor in preserving Hawaii's ag lands is the community's ability to oppose the reclassification of land zoned agricultural into rural or urban uses. That is where the Important Agricultural Lands bill falls short.

A critical Ñ and controversial Ñ provision that will soon be law in our state allows a landowner to designate 85 percent of qualifying agricultural land as "important ag land," and receive expedited reclassification of the remaining 15 percent into another land use category. Theoretically, that could mean rural, urban, or even conservation use. I think we can agree that reclassifying land into conservation use is not likely. In addition, changing the land's use to urban will require a review by the State Land Use Commission, which the bill's proponents say continues to offer a layer of protection.

However, the Land Use Commission does not have jurisdiction over the "rural" classification; those decisions are made at the county level, where fewer protections exist.

The result is that a landowner could use the rural designation as a means to allow development of former agricultural lands into half-acre "gentleman farms," which, while not the high-density development we are likely to see under an urban classification, still provides for a significant change in the character of our current land use on Molokai, Lanai, and in many other parts of our district and our state.

One aspect of the bill that I am proud of is that SB2646 will not affect our current water use. Some proponents attempted to amend our statewide water code; the code was intended to provide a hierarchy of access to water, a resource that is at the very core of our rights as citizens and landowners. I was among those who successfully worked to ensure that the ag lands bill does not change that balance of uses, preserving our access to water, including access granted under native Hawaiian rights.

That success should be our model for future action. While we cannot stop SB2646 from becoming law, we can and must continue to work to improve its provisions, and restore the rights and limits that have served our rural communities in the past. Supporters of the bill have said that our state had to do something to protect our agricultural lands. Now it is vital that we do something to ensure that we can preserve our communities from the new law's unintended consequences.

Original article URL: http://www.molokaitimes.com/articles/8718405.asp

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