{"id":1019,"date":"2017-02-03T13:55:05","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T23:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/?p=1019"},"modified":"2018-07-08T21:24:33","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T07:24:33","slug":"important-agricultural-land-ial-project-honolulu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/?p=1019","title":{"rendered":"Choon James: Important Agricultural Land (IAL) Project – Honolulu"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Identifying \u201cImportant Agricultural \u00a0Lands\u201d IAL Project<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some landowners of ag-zoned parcels in Oahu received the \u201c NOTICE TO AFFECTED LANDOWNER IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL LANDS (IAL) PROJECT\u201d dated December 29, 2016 from the Honolulu City and County\u2019s Department of Planning and Permitting.<\/p>\n

That December 29, 2016 letter was probably the first time that\u00a0many landowners had heard about \u201cIAL\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two meetings were made available to the public. One was held in Kapolei and the other was on January 17, 2017 at the Hale\u2018iwa Elementary School Cafeteria.<\/p>\n

\"IAL<\/p>\n

Why is the city doing this IAL Project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott Ezer, the consultant hired by the city and county, framed the impetus for this IAL Project as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure that the best of Oahu\u2019s high-quality farm land is protected and preserved for long-term agricultural use \u2013 great lands, for great Oahu farms. The term \u201cImportant Agricultural Lands,\u201d or IAL, is a State land use designation that identifies high-quality farm land to be protected and preserved for long-term agricultural use. In compliance with the State law (Hawai\u2018i Revised Statutes, Chapter 205), the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) is conducting a mapping project to identify lands on O\u2018ahu that meet the statutory requirements for consideration as IAL. DPP is seeking input from landowners, farming interests and residents about the type of land to include in O\u2018ahu\u2019s<\/em> future inventory of agricultural land. The maps produced as a result of this effort will be submitted to the Honolulu City Council for review and adoption by resolution, before being sent to the State Land Use Commission for final approval<\/em>. \u201c<\/p>\n

Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the intent was to \u201cpromote agriculture and the conservation of productive agricultural lands in the State\u201d, <\/em>why exclude the 1,555 acres of fertile Aloun Farms (Ho\u2019opili)<\/strong> which contributed 30% of greens to Oahu and has 4 \u2013season plantings.<\/p>\n

\"Hoopili\"<\/p>\n

Why exclude 760 ag-zoned acres in Koa Ridge<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

If its intention was to allow tax credit and incentives, why not offer to ALL farmers?<\/p>\n

Does IAL appear to favor the large landowners?<\/p>\n

What happens to the 50% of the large landowners\u2019 agricultural lands that CANNOT be designated as IAL?<\/p>\n

What happens to all the other agricultural lands that are NOT designated as IAL?<\/p>\n

Why are some steep agriculture lands designated as IAL while other fertile lands not designated as IAL?<\/p>\n

Why were some landowners not initiated by DPP while others were?<\/p>\n

Why is DPP now unilaterally placing small ag-zoned landowners into this IAL Project instead of allowing the small land owners to opt into this IAL Project?<\/p>\n

Contradictions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are contradictory premises<\/a> in this process. The following opens a little window into some background of this IAL Project:<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to people familiar with the legislation, this limitation was a last-minute addition that undermines the intent of the act and the need to protect contiguous blocks of land.<\/strong> The Hawai`i Chapter of the Sierra Club noted on its website, \u201cThe final bill\u2026 contained an 11th-hour amendment \u2013 inserted at the behest of large landowners<\/strong> \u2013 which prohibits the state from designating more than 50 percent of any landowner\u2019s farmland as \u2018important\u2019 unless they request it be designated as such. The Sierra Club believes that the final bill falls far short of what was envisioned by the state constitution and will fail to provide adequate protection for Hawai`i\u2019s important farmlands<\/a>.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Land Use Research Foundation (LURF),<\/em><\/strong> which often represents the interests of large landowners before the Legislature, did not respond to inquiries about the 50 percent limitation by press time. However, the measure undoubtedly gives LURF\u2019s constituents who want to develop their ag lands more flexibility. For example, in its 2006 annual report, Alexander & Baldwin notes that of its 59,320 acres of agricultural or pasture lands and 29,270 acres of conservation lands 8,700 acres have \u201curban potential.\u201d <\/em>Hawaii Environment Report Feb. 2008.<\/em><\/p>\n

Written comments can be submitted until\u00a0March 31, 2017 to:<\/strong><\/p>\n

HHF PLANNERS<\/p>\n

Re: IAL Mapping Project<\/p>\n

733 Bishop Street, Suite 2590<\/p>\n

Honolulu, Hawai\u2018i 96813<\/p>\n

mapoahuagland@hhf.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tune in to Country Talk Story<\/strong> –\u00a0Olelo Channel 54 Sundays 4:00 pm during February to listen to the January 17, 2017 IAL meeting.<\/p>\n

Choon James can be reached at 808 293 9111 or <\/u>ChoonJamesHawaii@gmail.com. www. CountryTalkStory.com<\/u><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Identifying \u201cImportant Agricultural \u00a0Lands\u201d IAL Project Some landowners of ag-zoned parcels in Oahu received the \u201c NOTICE TO AFFECTED LANDOWNER IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL LANDS (IAL) PROJECT\u201d dated December 29, 2016 from the Honolulu City and County\u2019s Department of Planning and Permitting. That December 29, 2016 letter was probably the first time that\u00a0many landowners had heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[228,8,226,227,225],"class_list":["post-1019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-farms","tag-honolulu","tag-hoopili","tag-ial","tag-important-agricultural-lands-project"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1019"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019\/revisions\/1133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}