Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 2, 1 February 2012 — Hoʻopili project -- Oʻahu under siege [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hoʻopili project -- Oʻahu under siege

Any decision to extinguish the use of large tracts of prime agricultural land in the 'Ewa plain for what is n ow he.ina refe,rre,rl

to as the Ho'opili project is a breach of the puhlie trust in land-use policy. Replacing 1,554 acres of prime agricultural land with row upon row of more than 11,000 houses will complete the total eonversion, from semi-rural to high-density urban, of the entire Leeward coastline from Kapolei to Pearl Harbor. There's no denying the critical need for housing

on O'ahu, but the housing demand must be met with intelligent puhlie policy that would locate such development on land that does not further threaten 0'ahu's foodproduction future. It's unfortunate that the prevailing political condition over the years finds development proposals driving puhlie policy, whieh has had the draconian effect of massive reclassifications of agricultural land to urban uses. Extraordinary reclassifications are almost the rule rather than the exception. The process of having the state classify large tracts of rural land as agricultural only to have the county produce regional development plans that overlay the agricultural classification with urban uses doesn't make any sense. Such is the case with Ho'opili. Although the state Land Use Commission has the land classified as agricultural, the city's position is that the project's urban use is consistent with its 'Ewa Development Plan. Hello? Who's driving? Surely planning policy cannot remain static and there will always be situations where exceptions have to be accommodated, but the exception seems to now be the rule. It would make more sense to reclassify all the land urban and then make the exception a reclassification to agricultural. That would be a more accurate reflection of 0'ahu's growth reality. The unpredictability of

constantly reclassifying and rezoning land from agricultural to urban every time a development proposal surfaces is both unfair to the developer as well as the eommnnities who

are targeted for agricultural to urban conversion of their landscapes. It sets up an "us versus them" puhlie tension and has neighbor fighting neighbor. No good ean eome of this politics of division. The good news about the growth of Hawai'i's economy is that it is beginning to settle on two pedestals: energy and food production. Hawai'i imports 90 percent of both

fromoffshore. Hawai'i has the unique combination of natural resources that make it possible for us to produce every form of alternative energy, except fossil fuel! Hawai'i also has the growing conditions, including prime agricultural land, diversified climatic zones, to grow just about anything for whieh there is both a loeal and export demand. The only thing stopping us is the absence of any intensity in the public-policy dialogue. We need to sort out the challenges to make energy and food production viable options. Without the growth predictability presented by thoughtful puhlie policy with teeth, it is difficult to consistently attract levels of venture capital to drive the growth of the energy- and food-production growth models. Finally, it has been very difficult for me to understand or accept the Hawai'i Farm Bureau's support of Ho'opili. It seems such a betrayal of everything I thought they stood for. The media spin by whieh they explain their position of supporting Ho'opili - that by reducing the current 1,554 acres of prime agricultural land to 243 acres is good for agriculture is an insult to the puhlie intellect. Auwē! Auwē! Auwē! ■ To comment on this or any other issue of eoneem, feeī free to contact me on twitter @PeterApo, Facebook/Peter Apo or PeterAOFlA@gmail.com.

PetEr Apo VicE Chair, TrustEE, O'ahu