Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu
Written Remarks
House Bill 2807, House Draft 2
Incentives; Affordable Housing; Reclassification; Important Agricultural Lands
March 4, 2008
I rise in support.
The purpose of this bill is to provide incentives for landowners to designate their lands as important agricultural lands (IALs). First, we are allowing a landowner, who has been granted a declaratory order from the Land Use Commission to designate all or some of the landowner's land as important agricultural land, to fulfill a state or county affordable housing assessment by providing affordable housing in lands zoned as rural in lieu of satisfying the assessment in the urban district. “Rural districts” was amended to include agribusiness activities, including horticulture, apiculture, aquaculture, plant nurseries, and the raising and keeping of livestock; Farm worker housing; and affordable housing.
Second, we are revising the landowner petition process for important agricultural land designation by specifying that a farmer or landowner may petition the Land Use Commission for declaratory order to designate lands as important agricultural lands in perpetuity. Farmers or landowners that petition the Land Use Commission for declaratory order to designate lands as important agricultural lands in perpetuity are allowed to seek, in the same petition, a reclassification of land from the agricultural district to the rural district, urban district, or a combination of both, under certain conditions.
Specifically, under Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 205-45(b), the petitioner may seek a reclassification of land in the agricultural district to the rural district, urban district, or a combination of both; provided that the:
1. Land sought to be reclassified to the rural or urban district is within the same county as the land sought to be designated as important agricultural lands;
2. Reclassification of the land to the rural or urban district is consistent with the relevant county general, development, and community plans; and
3. Total acreage of the land sought to be designated or reclassified in the petition complies with the following proportions:
a. At least eighty per cent of the total acreage is sought to be designated as important agricultural land; and
b. The remainder of the acreage is sought to be reclassified to the rural or urban district.
In a petition for a declaratory order submitted under Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 205-45 that seeks to both designate lands as important agricultural lands and reclassify lands in the agricultural district to the rural or urban district, the lands shall be deemed qualified for designation as important agricultural land if the Land Use Commission reasonably finds that the lands meet at least the criteria of subsection (c)(4), (6), and (8) of this section described below:
1. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 205-44(c)(4): Land with soil classified by the land study bureau's detailed land classification as overall (master) productivity rating Class A or B; or Class C or D if the land is currently in agricultural production or could be put into productive agricultural use with the implementation of new technology or development of irrigation water;
2. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 205-44(c)(6): Land with sufficient quantities of water to support viable agricultural production; and
3. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 205-44(c)(8): Land that contributes to maintaining a critical land mass important to agricultural operating productivity.
The criteria in identifying important agricultural lands was tightened up for this specific petition for a declaratory order because we wanted to make sure that the agricultural lands being petitioned to be designated as important agricultural lands are good for agricultural productivity in exchange for the agricultural lands being petitioned to be reclassified to the rural or urban district.
Thank you.
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 