The fight to \u201ckeep the country country\u201d isn\u2019t confined to O`ahu\u2019s North Shore. It\u2019s happening right now on the Leeward Coast.<\/p>\n
Eric Enos, founder of the non-profit Cultural Learning Center at Ka`ala Farm, compared the light industrial park proposed by Tropic Land, LLC, for Lualualei Valley to a cancer cell in his testimony last month before the state Land Use Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once something on this scale is approved, he said, it opens the floodgates to similar developments.<\/p>\n
Enos, a witness for the Concerned Elders of Wai`anae, which opposes the park, is one of many Leeward Coast residents who believe the park doesn\u2019t belong on usable agricultural land. Years ago, a golf course had been planned for the site by a previous owner, but Tropic Land managers Clyde Kaneshiro, Michael Nekoba, and MS Sherwood Corporation believe the land would be an ideal home for light industrial businesses, such as a baseyard for trucks, warehousing, and a possible small business incubator.<\/p>\n
Tropic Land proposes to develop 35 to 40 industrial condominium units, from a half acre to three acres in size, with construction to begin later this year. Full build-out is projected for 2021.<\/p>\n
Efforts to establish the park are advancing on two fronts: at the LUC and in the City and County of Honolulu\u2019s Wai`anae Sustainable Communities Plan (WSCP), which should be coming to the Planning Commission for approval this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So far, the project has received tentative support from both city and state planning agencies, as well as unanimous support from the Nanakuli-Ma`ili Neighborhood Board.<\/p>\n
Even so, the project is far from a done deal.<\/p>\n
The community surrounding Lualualei Valley is split over the project, with those excited about the potential for job creation, as well as a promised $1 million community endowment, supporting it, and those who want the Leeward Coast to stay rural and retain its agricultural lands, opposing it.<\/p>\n
This month, the parties to the LUC case will present their last witnesses. The commission is expected to rule on the petition in April.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) is trying to shepherd its proposed WSCP through the Planning Commission and City Council. The draft plan recommends changing the zoning at the project site to accommodate the industrial park.<\/p>\n
Industrial Creep<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Wai`anae is the last vestige of farming on O`ahu, Enos states in written testimony to the LUC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, as the pressure to \u2018develop\u2019 Hawai`i increased, our farmers were pushed from East O`ahu westward. Little by little, urban uses of land won out over traditional agricultural uses. Although each decision was considered only in terms of the immediate development proposal, in actuality these isolated decisions worked together to erode Hawai`i\u2019s food security and unique way of life,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n
And according to soil and farming experts, the Tropic Land parcel would make an excellent farm. In fact, a truck farm operated on about 15 acres there in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Despite the company\u2019s claims that its land is too rocky to run a successful farm and despite state assessments that only some of the soil is of good quality, Gary Maunakea-Forth, manager of the non-profit MA`O Farms, also located in Wai`anae, testified last month that a lot of that can be overcome with enough effort.<\/p>\n
Maunakea-Forth recounted how a good portion of the land he and his interns farm was once riddled with large stones, similar to those found on the Tropic Land site. But once those stones were removed, by hand over the course of two or three years, the farm has been able to grow a wide variety of organic crops and has become quite successful.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have every man and his dog asking us for food,\u201d he said, adding that the supply for locally grown produce cannot meet the demand.<\/p>\n
University of Hawai`i soil expert Jonathan Deenik also testified that Lualualei Valley has excellent soil for farming.<\/p>\n
During cross examination, Tropic Land attorney William Yuen presented Deenik with a bucket of soil collected from the project site and asked him to pull out a rock. Deenik pulled one that was nearly the size of a football, but said that such rocks weren\u2019t uncommon in the area and also didn\u2019t prohibit farming as long as the right crops are matched to the soil type. Orchards, for example, can thrive in rocky soil, he noted.<\/p>\n
Deenik did say that water was a limiting factor in the area.<\/p>\n
When Commissioner Nicholas Teves asked Deenik why the property had not been farmed for so long (since 1988), Deenik said that farming is inherently risky. Why there are fewer and fewer farmers is a complex issue, he said, adding that he was not sure the property\u2019s limitations were entirely to blame.<\/p>\n
Even though the property hasn\u2019t been farmed in decades, Maunakea-Forth said, \u201cWe look at Lualualei Valley as a huge opportunity. The soils there are good. Lualualei Valley is the Tuscany of O`ahu.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Enos, Maunakea-Forth said he is worried about the precedent that approval of an industrial park on good agricultural lands would set.<\/p>\n
In a memorandum to the LUC, the state Office of Planning has suggested that the industrial uses that have become established along the Lualualei Naval Access Road over the years already give the valley a semi-industrial character. Those uses include the Navy\u2019s installation, the PVT construction and demolition debris landfill, and a waste processing facility operated by West O`ahu Aggregate and Pineridge Farms.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, the area is in desperate need of a baseyard, according to Tropic Land\u2019s Arick Yanagihara.<\/p>\n
In an August 3 letter to the LUC, Yanagihara explained that his company had received three notices of violation from the city for grading without a permit, not following a stockpiling plan, and for having large container trucks on site without a permit.<\/p>\n
Tropic Land had allowed truckers that had hauled trash from the area and provided security against vandalism on the property to temporarily park their trucks there, \u201cdue to lack of available truck storage and due to a lack of work due to economic conditions,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Leeward Coast is home to many independent truckers who do not have a proper place to store their vehicles. This problem is one of the underlying reasons for the need for an industrial baseyard facility,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
In testimony before the LUC last month, OP planner Ruby Edwards stated that her office supports the redistricting petition, with conditions. The proposed project had the potential to provide affordable industrial land, create jobs, and consolidate industrial areas away from coastal and residential areas, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Together with Tropic Land\u2019s proposed $1 million community endowment, \u201cthe OP sees the site as a nice extension [of industrial uses in Lualualei],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
During cross-examination, Concerned Elders of Wai`anae\u2019s attorney, Marti Townsend, asked whether Lualualei\u2019s existing industrial uses are the reason why the\u00a0<\/p>\n
OP supports the petition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the only factor,\u201d Edwards said, adding that the Navy access road runs past relatively unimproved lands and the site is isolated. \u201cIt makes sense. I\u2019m not using the word \u2018ghetto\u2019 in a negative way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When Townsend asked whether the city\u2019s recommendation to spot-zone the project area would make it easier or harder to rezone seaward lands to accommodate a landfill, Edwards said that \u201cit really depends on the nature of the use.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conditional Approval<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Despite the OP\u2019s support for the project, Edwards stressed that it hinges on Tropic Land meeting a few key conditions.<\/p>\n
Currently, the only legal access to the site is up Hakimo Road — a \u201csubstandard\u201d city road that winds through farms and residential developments — through agricultural land owned by Tropic Land, and across a gravel easement over Lualualei Naval
\nAccess Road.<\/p>\n
The Navy has offered Tropic Land an annual license agreement, similar to what it has with other business along the road, but the company has not consented.<\/p>\n
At the LUC\u2019s January meeting, Edwards said that Hakimo Road is not a good road to run a bunch of trucks on, and failing to obtain access to the site via Lualualei Naval Access Road would be a \u201cdeal-buster.\u201d<\/p>\n
The OP has recommended that Tropic Land be given five years to obtain that access. Otherwise, the OP would request an Order to Show Cause why the land should not revert to the Agricultural District.<\/p>\n
Tropic Land has so far been unsuccessful in its negotiations with the Navy, which has said it would require road upgrades, as well as the establishment of a user\u2019s association.<\/p>\n
When Townsend asked Edwards what controls exist to prevent tenants and visitors from using Hakimo Road instead of Lualualei Valley Road, Edwards admitted that it would be difficult to prevent Hakimo Road from being used to access the park.<\/p>\n
With regard to the OP\u2019s condition that Tropic Land secure an easement from the Navy, Edwards said the Navy has so far only offered a 10-year term, which in OP\u2019s view is not long enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would prefer permanent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Charles Jencks asked Edwards whether she had any ideas on how to protect Hakimo Road from traffic generated by the park. Edwards joked that the road could be gated off, but then she said that the problem is that Tropic Land has no jurisdiction over a county road.<\/p>\n
When Jencks asked Edwards whether approving the redistricting petition with conditions that, if not met, would trigger an Order to Show Cause why the land should not be reverted was a good way of doing business, Edwards agreed that \u201cit was not the sharpest implement to use.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, she said, \u201cWe felt the project had merit.\u201d<\/p>\n
When commissioner Normand Lezy tried to get an answer to a question Townsend had asked about the OP\u2019s preferred minimum easement term, deputy attorney general Bryan Yee, representing the OP, asked for more time to confer with staff.<\/p>\n
Edwards told Environment Hawai`i<\/i> that the OP will likely provide an answer to Lezy\u2019s question when the LUC resumes hearings this month.<\/p>\n
To allay concerns that the redistricting could undermine community attempts to develop small farms in the area, the OP has suggested that the establishment of an agricultural easement, equivalent to the 20 or so acres of \u201cprime agricultural land\u201d located within the project area, be another condition of the redistricting.<\/p>\n
This, however, did not seem like a fair trade to Maunakea-Forth, especially since, in his opinion, good farm land isn\u2019t limited to areas with A- and B-rated soil classifications. An agricultural easement is not helpful, he told Yee, since the industrial park may affect the valley\u2019s ability to become a thriving farming community.<\/p>\n
A Divided Community<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Another condition the OP has proposed is that the project be consistent with the Wai`anae Sustainable Communities Plan, which has recently been revised and is awaiting approval by the city Planning Commission and City Council.<\/p>\n
In 2007, Tropic Land asked the city to include its proposed park, which lies more than a mile outside the boundary where industrial uses are allowed, in the revised plan. When Tropic Land representatives sought input from the Wai`anae Neighborhood Board that year, members had a lot of questions and concerns about the project. But before the board could vote on it, dissent among board members caused the board to split in two — the Wai`anae Neighborhood Board and the newly established Nanakuli-Ma`ili Neighborhood Board.<\/p>\n
In 2008, the Nanakuli-Ma`ili board unanimously approved Tropic Land\u2019s proposed park, which has since been dubbed the Nanakuli Community Baseyard. Despite the board\u2019s support, the WSCP notes that there has been no community consensus on the project. The Wai`anae Neighborhood Board has not taken a position on the project.<\/p>\n
Notes by Townscape, Inc., on a November 2010 public hearing on the plan indicate that the project\u2019s inclusion in the draft WSCP was not a community decision. At the meeting, one community member asked, \u201cHow can one business or one idea drive this major change to our plan? What if I come up with an idea that I want? Can I get it into this plan?\u201d<\/p>\n
A representative from Townscape, which had been tasked by the city to hold public hearings and prepare the plan, responded, \u201cWhen we got to the issue of Tropic Land, the community was divided.\u201d The company said it tried to facilitate a dialogue, \u201cbut we were nowhere near a consensus. So we said we\u2019ll record everyone\u2019s comments and turn them over to the city to make the final decision. … Then the city administration made the final decision, which was to include the industrial park in the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Townscape and city representatives were asked how the DPP or the city administration made its decision, knowing that the community was split, the DPP\u2019s Kathy Sokugawa answered that her department\u2019s director, David Tanoue, decided to include the project in the plan \u201cin order to move the process ahead,\u201d the notes state.<\/p>\n
Teresa Dawson<\/b><\/p>\n
Volume 21, Number 8 — February 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The fight to “keep the country country” isn’t confined to O`ahu’s North Shore. It’s happening right now on the Leeward Coast. Eric Enos, founder of the non-profit Cultural Learning Center at Ka`ala Farm, compared the light industrial park proposed by … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-february-2011"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}