New public land agency hires executive director

Former Campbell Estate land manager Lloyd Haraguchi has been named executive director to head a new state agency with broad powers to develop state land.

Five board members of the recently formed Public Land Development Corp. unanimously voted Monday to make Haraguchi the agency’s first leader.

The Public Land Development Corp. will explore public-private partnerships to pursue revenue-generating development of state lands that could include building homes, hotels, power generation and other commercial ventures on the land.

The board received 18 applications for the executive director position, which a subcommittee reduced to five finalists. The subcommittee further reduced the list to three, and last week recommended Haraguchi as best qualified.

The Public Land Development Corp.’s board, with advice from the state attorney general’s office, would not make the names of any applicants or finalists public. Kalbert Young, board chairman and director of the Department of Budget and Finance, said the five finalists were "top notch."

At Monday’s meeting, several people who have worked with Haraguchi said his collaborative nature and experience in private and public sectors of development make him an excellent choice.

"I think he will benefit the public and the state of Hawaii well," Benjamin Kudo, a local land use attorney, told the board.

Haraguchi was involved with planning and development of the Villages of Kapolei as a former project manager for the Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency promoting affordable-housing development.

Later, Haraguchi joined Campbell Estate where his duties included helping manage and later dispose of roughly 55,000 acres of agricultural, conservation, residential and commercial land on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island.

Haraguchi no longer works for the estate’s successor, James Campbell Co. He presently serves on nonprofit boards including Malama Learning Center and the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii.

Among those who testified in support of Haraguchi were present and former Campbell executives, Kapolei community leader Maeda Timson and Malama Learning’s executive director, Pauline Sato. Developer Stanford Carr and Roy Tsutsui, vice president of planning firm R.M. Towill Corp., also lauded Haraguchi for his work with the Villages of Kapolei and Campbell projects.

Haraguchi addressed the Public Land Development Corp. board briefly, saying he was thankful for the support and eager to get to work. "There is a lot of work to be done," he said. "We need to get going."

The Public Land Development Corp. was created by the Legislature earlier this year as a quasi-public agency administratively attached to the Department of Land and Natural Resources and overseen by a board with public- and private-sector representatives.

Some environmental groups are wary of what the agency might do because it is generally exempt from government regulations concerning land use and zoning.