Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 4, 1 April 1995 — Fast-track land-use changes - dangerous! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Fast-track land-use changes - dangerous!

by Moanike'ala Akaka Trustee, Hawai'i We are now aware of the new approach to government being spouted from Washington. The lackluster eeonomie forecast for Hawai'i has begun to make itself felt on the loeal level. Short-cuts to project approval may sound nifty to Rush Limbaugh - but to those of us aware of

environmental and social pressures we must be certain we are not digging our graves and provoking our/or our ehildren's demise with short-cut schemes. In an unprecedented move, Hawai'i County is using its own lawyers and planners and hiring private consultants (at public expense) to convince the state Land Use Commission (LUC) to up-zone 3,900 acres of 'āina in Kona from agri-

culture to urban for future subdivisions. Large landowners, many of whom are friends and campaign contributors of Mayor Stephen Yamashiro, stand to gain plenty from the up-zoning of mostly undeveloned land. The new chief of

poliee was also associated with one of the land owners as was a past and present senator. Councilman Rath, H a w a i ' i

T r i h u n e H e r a l d ( H T H ) 1/31/94, points out: "There are a 1 r e a d y

zoned 16,000 houselots and 3,400 condos in the area in need of infrastructure so why upzone more?" Eight hundred acres of lands up for rezoning are ceded lands; OHA is intervening in the contested hearing before the LUC. In a presentation made to OHA's Land and Sovereignty Committee, of whieh I am the vice-chair, Virginia Goldstein, Hawai'i County planning director stated the up-zone would allow the county to get the landowners to help pay for infrastructure. I reminded her that Japan's Nansay Corporation, whose land would be upzoned, already owes Hawai'i County $180,000 in delinquent property taxes. On Friday, February 24, HTH headlined "LUC halts county petition." State Deputy Attorney General Rick Eichor feels the county petition was "defective and should be scrapped, is a sham and a ruse because: _1) County

petitioned for up-zoning on behalf of landowners; 2) After the petition was accepted, landowners requested intervention on their own behalf (whieh is separate from county) and now want to represent themselves." Is someone trvine to

pull a fast one? The Deputy Attorney General is right in moving to halt the up-zon-ing. Ordinarily, lands are reclassified case bv case. an

expensive, time-consuming process, but one that protects the public interest. I pointed out to Goldstein that the county is doing the developer's work in trying to urbanize lands at taxpay-

ers' expense. Why should the county push to further urbanize an area whose traffic jams are already horrendous? They are dead-set on making a bad situation worse. The Deputy Attorney General contends land use laws do not allow "single crack" up-zoning of 30-plus parcels scattered across 10-15 miles; Mayor Yamashiro told the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce on 2/24/95 that it would be more efficient to urbanize the area. Republican County Council Chair Elroy Osorio supports the up-zoning, saying the issue is home-rule and the elimination of the LUC "since it serves as nothing more than a stumbling block to sensible planning and development ... and the mayor is only trying to hasten its demise." I am not one to support bureaucratic and unnecessary layers of government and red-tape, but there is a need for a Land Use Commission or other body to make sure county officials are not running "rough-shod" as they are now attempting to do for the mayor and other county officials and their cronies. This is a blatant abuse of power on the part of the county. A few years ago as county chair,Yamashiro promoted mega-resorts on the Kona coastline thereby creating a glut; some of these ill-conceived developments have gone bankrupt, others suffer low occupancy since opening. The Land Use Commission on 3/23/95 must vote responsibly to halt the county request to up-zone these Kona lands. Mālama pono. Ua mau ke ea o ka 'āina i ka pono.