Hoopili: Food Security Vs. Housing?

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Hawaii has a severe housing affordability problem. But now, new housing development is being pitted against food security:

Kapolei, OAHU —A bill to rezone agricultural land in West Oahu faced the people who live in that community Monday night. After passing a first reading last week, a city council committee brought Bill 3 out for a public hearing. 

The bill would allow the long planned Ho'opili residential development to be built on roughly 1,200 acres of farmland. The development calls for nearly 12,000 new homes. Many of the residents who showed up to testify said that they want the project to go forward. 

"From what we've been hearing thus far, there is solid support out in this community for Ho'opili," said Ikaika Anderson, Honolulu City Council member. 

"Overall we're just trying to create a new kind of community. It's kind of hard for people in Hawaii to envision what that is because we're doing something that's never been done before, integrating transit with jobs, retail and commercial centers," said Cameron Nekota, vice president of D.R. Horton.

(KITV)

"We're the only island that cannot handle if disruption" of our food supply should occur by hurricane or strike, Wai-anae farmer Ken Koike said. He implored the City Council to dig deep to find solutions to providing food for Oahu, which is the only county that lacks a plan to provide for its residents, he said. 

"We cannot have bruddah fighting bruddah over essentials," he told the City Council Zoning and Planning Committee, acknowledging the heavy presence of construction labor union members wearing orange T-shirts. 

Of the 1,554 acres, only 500 to 600 acres will be dedicated for residential use, said company President Bob Bruhl. Of the 11,750 homes, 70 percent would be high-end. 

Of the 30 percent affordable units, or 3,525 homes, the majority will be multifamily townhouses or condominium units. Roughly 200 to 250 acres would be to develop commercial, industrial and mixed-use areas, Bruhl said. 

About 200 acres will be set aside for small farms.

(Star-Advertiser)

No one really knows if this is a problem for a state that ships in at least 85 percent of its food from the mainland, because no one really knows how much usable farmland is left. The most recent city study was conducted by a consultant who has also worked for the project developer. 

The City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee is expected to vote this week on a rezoning that would pave the way for Hoopili, an 11,750-home development envisioned between Ewa and Kapolei. The issue would go next to the full Council. 

The committee heard testimony Monday night in Kapolei regarding the project by developer D.R. Horton. The main criticism of Hoopili is its removal of land from agricultural production. 

In 2011, the city paid about $45,000 for a study that concluded there are tens of thousands of acres of high-quality farmland outside the urban growth boundary (Hoopili is inside) — more than enough land for the island to grow 100 percent of its produce demand. 

But the study didn’t take into account how much of that Oahu land — although it may be zoned for agriculture — is being used for other purposes, such as luxury housing or solar farms. It also relied on outdated farmland ratings and didn’t specifically evaluate key characteristics such as the availability of water and the slope of land. 

The state Department of Agriculture doesn’t have much better data. Earl Yamamoto, a planner at the department, said that the agency hasn’t recovered from budget cuts during the 2009 financial downturn, when it lost employees who tracked statewide agricultural production. 

(...) 

Bruce Plasch of Plasch Econ Pacific LLC has conducted multiple studies for the city and state analyzing agricultural economics. 

He was also hired by D.R. Horton to testify in favor of Hoopili when it sought approval of the project from the state Land Use Commission in 2009. 

Two years later, the city hired Plasch to conduct an island-wide analysis of the amount of farmland available on Oahu, as well as the progress toward greater food self-sufficiency.

“Land has not been a limiting factor for Hawaii agriculture for decades, nor is land expected to be a limiting factor in the foreseeable future.” — Bruce Plasch, in his 2011 report on Oahu farmlandgrown food, its 2050 sustainability plan suggests that by 2020, 30 percent of food consumed could be grown locally and 85 percent of fruits and vegetables could be grown locally. 

Plasch’s analysis concluded that Oahu has more than enough land to become completely food self-sufficient for fruits and vegetables. 

“Given the large release of farmland from plantation agriculture, land has not been a limiting factor for Hawaii agriculture for decades, nor is land expected to be a limiting factor in the foreseeable future,” his report said.

(Civil Beat)