EH October 2012C
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Volume 23, Number 4 October 2012 Price: $5.00 Dela Cruz Downplays Development Role A Case Of Misunderstanding? Of Public Land Development Corporation he Public Land Development he Public Land Development Corpora- with ideas of what he’d like to see the TCorporation may be the least Ttion state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz envi- corporation do. popular game in town these days, if the sions may be more of a land manager than a The DLNR doesn’t have a whole lot of public outrage displayed at recent land developer, at least with regard to proper- undeveloped — and developable — land. hearings on its draft rules is any measure. ties owned by the Department of Land and The department has provided the PLDC with But it’s all misplaced, if its creator, Sen. Natural Resources. a list of all of its properties, which the corpo- Donovan Dela Cruz, is to be believed. In Amid the recent calls by state legislators ration is still combing through, looking for an interview with Environment Hawai‘i, and activists for the Legislature to dissolve potential project sites, says DLNR Land Divi- Dela Cruz provides his unique take on next session the nascent but highly controver- sion administrator Russell Tsuji. Even so, the the rights, duties, and limits of the sial development arm of the DLNR, Dela Legislature has already directed the DLNR to agency, on which he continues to ride Cruz, state Sen. Malama Solomon, and the transfer development rights for lands at herd, whipping and scolding it for not governor’s office have been working to cor- Honokohau and surrounding all of its small doing more faster. rect what they see as misinformation about boat harbors to the PLDC. Dela Cruz says One could be pardoned for the agency they created in 2011. that transfer is mainly for management pur- thinking he’s making it up as he goes “Part of the information that’s not getting poses. along. out there is that the PLDC can help with As another example, he describes a existing uses. ... That’s going to be the major- project, not yet proposed by the PLDC, ity of this thing,” Dela Cruz says. “Quite a bit involving a non-profit group that wants IN THIS ISSUE of the partnerships may not be construction. access rights to and some management au- It could be management.” thority over lands owned by the DLNR and 2 Although the PLDC has not yet drafted the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands New & Noteworthy the Public Land Optimization Plan required in East O‘ahu’s Haiku Valley. 3 by its enabling statute, Dela Cruz brims to page 6 Nukoli‘i Owner Brings Federal Suit Over Limit on New Hotel Units 4 A History of Bitter Controversy Over Nukoli‘i Development 5 Honokohau Act Confuses DLNR, Angers Boaters 7 Stricter Review for Legacy Lands 8 Water Commission Pushed To Act on Moloka‘i Case 9 Board Talk: ‘Ewa Sand Berm; Kealakekua Kayak Tours; Ha‘ena Vacation Rentals; Kahala Beach Armor 12 The coast near Kona’s Honokohau small boat harbor. Legislation passed earlier this year has directed the DLNR to Mahalo! transfer development rights of three parcels there to the PLDC. Page 2 ■ Environment Hawai‘i ■ October 2012 Volume 23, No. 4 October 2012 NEW AND NOTEWORTHY A Setback for Kihei Mega-Mall: The Land Use Those three parties initiated the LUC’s action with of Boating and Ocean Recreation (the lessee), told Commission has voted unanimously in favor of a a motion last May asking the LUC to issue a show- Environment Hawai‘i that the state was close to finding that there is reasonable cause to believe that cause order to the landowners. completing the work needed to begin condemna- the plan of three companies to develop 88 acres of The current plan has received the blessing of tion proceedings. Last month, he said the condem- land in Kihei, Maui, into two shopping centers and Maui County. In July, the county Board of Ap- nation process was awaiting a final report on 250 units of worker housing for the Wailea 670 peals rejected a challenge from Maui Tomorrow to property boundaries from Maui County. planned resort is not in keeping with what was the grading permits that the Department of Public In the meantime, the site, now wrapped in a approved when the LUC reclassified the land into Works had issued for the project. As of press time, black, 12-foot-high wind screen, is being used as a the Urban land use district in 1995. the organization had not decided whether to ap- staging area for work on the new terminal for the The decision, taken at its meeting on August 24, peal that decision. ferry to Lana‘i and Moloka‘i. In addition, a boat means that the landowners – Pi‘ilani Promenade In addition, Maui Tomorrow has appealed the belonging to DOBOR is stored on the property. South, LLC, Pi‘ilani Promenade North, LLC, and county planning director’s determination that the Honua‘ula Partners, LLC – will need to show at a landowners are in compliance with the 1995 LUC The Coqui’s Quiet Cousin: Coqui frogs have contested-case hearing how their proposal is, in- order. A hearing officer is to be appointed later this received a lot of attention, thanks largely to the deed, in compliance with the proposal before the month to consider the complaint. obnoxiously noisy mating calls of the male of that LUC some 18 years ago, when the landowner was species. Flying under the radar has been its quieter planning to develop the parcel for light-industry relative, the greenhouse frog, Eleutherodactylus and commercial uses. Arguing to the contrary is the planirostris, although it, too, is on the state list of Maui Tomorrow Foundation, South Maui Citi- injurious species and consumes prodigious zens for Responsible Growth, and Daniel Kanahele. amounts of invertebrates, including, in all likeli- hood, a number of native insects. In a recent article in Pacific Science, Christina Environment Hawai‘i Olson and Karen Beard, of Utah State University, 72 Kapi‘olani Street and William C. Pitt, with the U.S. Department of Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Division in Hilo, turn the spotlight on the greenhouse frog and the Patricia Tummons, Editor advantages – at least from the frog’s perspective – Teresa Dawson, Staff Writer Ma‘alaea Land For Sale: For the last 18 years, the that come with its soft voice. For example, while Susie Yong, Office Administrator state has been paying dearly on a lease of an acre of both coqui and greenhouse frogs were introduced Environment Hawai‘i is published monthly by Environment land at Maui’s Ma‘alaea Harbor for which it has no to Guam (in shipments Hawai‘i, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. use. Lease rent, paid to landowner Don Williams, of plants from Subscriptions are $65 individual; $100 non-profits, libraries; comes out to roughly $1,000 a day. $130 corporate. Send subscription inquiries, address changes, Hawai‘i), only the and all other correspondence to Environment Hawai‘i, Now, Williams has put the land up for sale, coqui was eradicated. 72 Kapi‘olani Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720. with an asking price of $9.75 million. Some people actually Telephone: 808 934-0115. Toll-free: 877-934-0130. For years, the state has been trying to get out of E-mail:[email protected] enjoy the greenhouse Web page: http://www.environment-hawaii.org the lease through condemnation of the land. In frog’s calls and have de- Twitter: Envhawaii 2010, Ed Underwood, administrator of the De- liberately moved them PHOTO: NWRC.USGS.GOV HARDIN WADDLE Environment Hawai‘i is available in microform through partment of Land and Natural Resources’ Division into their gardens, the Eleutherodactylus planirostris University Microfilms’ Alternative Press collection (300 authors report. 48106-1346 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan ). The greenhouse frogs are distributed across a Production: For Color Publishing ◆ broad swath of the Hawaiian chain, with their Copyright © 2012 Environment Hawai‘i, Inc. presence having been reported on all islands except 1050-3285 ISSN Quote of the Month Moloka‘i. A publication of “It’s not a one-way street [where] Environment Hawai‘i, Inc. Dept. of Corrections: An item on this page last Officers Directors the landed, rich and powerful are month discussed the latest developments in the Patricia Tummons Kathy Baldwin the only ones that have a right to a disputed proposal for a subdivision in the South President and Mary Evanson contested case hearing.” Kona ahupua‘a of Waikaku‘u. We misfired twice: Treasurer Mina Morita the area involved is 72 acres (not 52, as we errone- Ron Terry Teresa Dawson — David Frankel ously reported), and the site is on the slopes of Vice President and Secretary Mauna Loa (not Mauna Kea). ◆ We apologize for the errors. October 2012 ■ Environment Hawai‘i ■ Page 3 redistricting. “In accordance with the Gen- eral Plan,” it states, “the state Land Use Nukoli‘i Owner Brings Federal Suit Commission placed most of the property in the Urban district.” The General Plan re- Against Kaua‘i Over Limit on Hotel Units ferred to in the complaint was drafted 25 years after the second state boundary review com- county charter amendment approved by inventory of visitor accommodations at the mission prepared its report, which was the AKaua‘i voters in 2008 is being challenged end of 2008 – or 252 units. basis for the Urban designation of the Nukoli‘i in federal court. Kaua‘i Beach Villas – Phase land.) II, LLC (KBV), alleges that the amendment Nukoli‘i Redux and an implementing ordinance, passed by As described in another article that appears in Exactions the County Council in 2011, interfere with this issue, the land that is proposed for this In the complaint, Gregory K.