City to hold final Important Ag Lands community meeting
The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) will hold its final community meeting on Monday, November 20, 2017, to present its recommendations for lands to be included as Oʻahu Important Agricultural Lands (IAL).
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the ʻAiea Intermediate School Cafeteria at 99-600 Kulawea St.
The public—particularly landowners who received a notice from the DPP that their property is proposed for IAL inclusion or exclusion—is encouraged to attend.
The DPP will explain what lands are being recommended for IAL inclusion and exclusion. The DPP anticipates sending the draft IAL map to the Honolulu City Council for consideration by February 2018. The council will then make a recommendation to the state Land Use Commission for adoption.
Each county is required by the Hawaiʻi State Constitution to identify and map lands that have the potential for designation as IAL according to standards, criteria and procedures established under state law. The intent of IAL is to ensure that the best of Oʻahu’s high-quality farm land is protected and preserved for long-term agricultural use. Developments have already broken ground on some land that, objectively, should have been considered IAL.
Governor Ige has said he intends to increase Hawaiʻi’s food-production capacity. However, sprawling housing developments like Hoʻopili, which has rendered some of the best agricultural land on Earth completely unusable, continue to put this goal further out of reach.
