ADC Squatters: Last March, Environment Hawaiʻi reported on Pacific Biodiesel’s rent-free use of 1.53 acres of land owned by the Agribusiness Development Corporation. The ADC’s “Hawaiʻi Agribusiness Plan 2025” report, dated January 2026, states that the parcel, in Shipman Industrial … Continued
The lawsuits over activities at Marconi Point on Oʻahu’s North Shore just keep coming. This time, they’re over the development of a large solar photovoltaic system on the rooftops of eight agricultural warehouses on land owned by RCA Trade Center, … Continued
Dolphin, Whale Strandings: A study of dolphin and whale strandings on Hawaiian and other Pacific Islands from 2006 to 2024 found that nearly two-thirds of the stranded animals died as a result of human-caused injury or infectious disease. The research … Continued
Housing Scandal Update: Sentencing for all four defendants in the federal fraud case involving abuse of Hawaiʻi County’s system of awarding credits for affordable housing has been postponed yet again. Ex-county employee Alan Rudo, who pleaded guilty in 2022 to … Continued
“If you don’t make a credible case, you’re not going to get the water,” Water Commissioner Aurora Kagawa-Viviani said November 18 of the permit applications submitted two years ago for water from the streams and aquifers of West Maui, also … Continued
Tantalus Couple Seeks Damages, Fights Enforcement Regarding Land Boards’ Conservation District Decisions A couple that owns an old two-story house on rainy Tantalus Drive reached out a few years ago to the state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands to … Continued
At a hearing of the Hawaiʻi County Board of Appeals last August, neighbors of a 10,000-square-foot house in the state Agricultural Land Use District challenged the decision of the planning director dismissing their complaints that the fellow who managed the … Continued
What, exactly, is going on in Hawaiʻi County? Its own laws and rules specifically forbid the operation of vacation rentals on properties that lie within the state Agricultural District. It passed an ordinance in 2018 that limits these uses to … Continued
Here’s a puzzle. A large house on a five-acre lot in the state Agricultural District is rented out to tourists for more than $700 a night, according to a recent listing on the VRBO website. Inside, near the kitchen door, … Continued
On October 21, U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake granted the motion for summary judgment brought by the City & County of Honolulu and Department of Planning and Permitting Director Dawn Apuna in a case brought two years ago by … Continued