STAND. COM. REP. NO. 454-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2787

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 2787 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND USE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to identify important agricultural lands (IALs) to the State, and to promote the use of the rural district.

This bill fulfills the State's mandate in article XI, section 3 of the Hawaii State Constitution to conserve and protect agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture, and assure the availability of agriculturally suitable lands by establishing:

(1) A process through which IALs would be identified and periodically reviewed, with the Agricultural Lands of Importance to the State of Hawaii (ALISH) classification system as a basis for identifying IALs; and

(2) Policies, standards, and criteria to be used by applicable state and county authorities to:

(A) Reclassify and rezone IALs;

(B) Conserve and protect agricultural lands; and

(C) Ensure the availability of agriculturally suitable lands.

This bill also creates a more viable rural land use district to absorb development pressures currently directed at agricultural lands. The bill redefines the rural land use district to provide updated policies to guide county planning and management of the rural district, and gives the counties greater flexibility in managing rural uses and the maintenance of rural landscapes and character.

This bill also makes changes in the permissible uses and district boundary amendment and special permit procedures for lands identified as IALs. Finally, this bill includes additional protections to ensure that land use within the rural and agricultural districts is consistent with the respective district standards and policies.

Your Committees, in an effort to take a comprehensive approach to the implementation of the State's constitutional mandate regarding IALs, took consolidated testimony at the public hearing on a number of bills relating to IALs, including this bill. Testimony on this bill include:

(1) The Board of Land and Natural Resources and the Office of Planning who opposed this bill, preferring the approach in H.B. No. 2339; and

(2) The Oahu Council Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs and the Hawaii Audubon Society who commented on this measure.

The identification of IALs is a key step in improving the use and management of Hawaii’s agricultural lands for long-term agricultural use. At the same time, there is a need to plan for lands that are currently in the agricultural district that have already been developed for nonagricultural purposes, such as the residential subdivisions in the Wailua Homesteads area on Kauai. Nonagricultural uses in the agricultural district adversely impact the availability of land for farmers in the agricultural district. One part of the solution is to remove developed land from the agricultural district to better separate agricultural and nonagricultural uses. Therefore, your Committees have amended this bill to focus solely on increasing the viability of the rural district and expanding the rural district by:

(1) Deleting this bill’s provisions for new policies, procedures, and standards and criteria for the identification, use, and reclassification or rezoning of IALs;

(2) Inserting a new provision for a one-time process to identify and reclassify lands in the agricultural district that have been developed for nonagricultural use;

(3) Deleting two provisions related to the conformance of projects and subdivisions with land use district purposes, policies, and standards; and

(4) Changing the effective date of this measure to July 1, 2010, to promote and facilitate further discussion on this matter.

Your Committees have also made technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2787, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2787, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Agriculture,

 

____________________________

FELIPE P. ABINSAY, JR., Chair

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EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair