Repeal PLDC, dial back PPPA

The Public Land Development Corp., a streamlined state and private partnership approved by the Legislature two years ago for development projects, has been met with rightful public fury, and legislators must not waver now in the need to repeal it. Further, a separate measure to create a more modest, zoning-compliant replacement agency should be confined to three pilot projects, not expanded to seven, as the amended proposal now stands.

The public was angered by the 2011 PLDC, which was given broad exemption from land-use and zoning reviews in proceeding with public-private partnerships for construction on public land "for the economic, environmental and social benefit." Reluctantly, Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who had rejected what he regarded as hysteria, agreed to a Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA), with a more reasonable limited authority.

Initially, the PPPA was confined to three projects: a Maui film production studio, a main street development in Wahiawa and one county-initiated project "related to education or economic development." It is projected to expire in July 2018.

However, a Senate bill has been expanded to include a "county-initiated pilot project" for each county, plus a small-boat harbor on state lands. This version also states that the film production studio not necessarily be on Maui.

The proposed PPPA is growing into a kind of Christmas tree on which new land-use baubles to benefit various unspecified projects are being hung. What started off as three pilot projects has now grown to seven, and the weight of the add-ons might well topple the whole PPPA idea for the skeptical public.

The PPPA bill, if enacted, would create a board of directors under the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, that "may develop plans and implement projects on behalf of public agencies" and "enter into a cooperative agreement with any public agency to implement projects on behalf of the public agency." Projects would be approved by the board along with "any executive of an affected public agency."

While the bill restricts the authority to the planning and implementation of the "pilot projects," it creates a government agency with some, but not all, of the tools and processes that PLDC was designed to put to use.

The bill must be monitored closely. It could well be changed in the final days of the Legislature to give the PPPA broad authority, creating an entity similar to PLDC.

That would only further justify the public’s deep suspicions about the legislative process, first raised by 2011’s PLDC approval.

The better route, during a decision-making committee meeting today, would be for senators to vote to repeal the PLDC. The new PPPA should revert to its original intent — as a pilot vehicle for three projects during the five years of its existence, after which point legislators can assess its effectiveness and worth. That expansion should not be included at the outset.