The state Land Use Commission looks poised to approve the reclassification of 768 square miles of active farmland to allow Castle & Cooke’s proposed Koa Ridge housing development between Mililani and Waipio. Before that happens, though, the agency should require that the developer make a longterm commitment to assure the replacement of lost agricultural lands.

Two years ago, the commission gave its nod to the 576-acre first phase of Castle & Cooke’s plan for 3,500 homes, a hotel, a medical campus, school, parks and commercial space. The second phase was for 1,500 homes — but the entire project was overturned in court because one commissioner was ruled ineligible to vote. The state Department of Agriculture, Office of Planning and Department of Transportation in the Lingle administration all either opposed or had reservations about the plan back then. Their positions have since reversed or eased.

Two years ago, Castle & Cooke said it had committed to lease Aloun Farms 667 acres in Wahiawa for a 10-year term with a five-year extension option. The land to be leased is owned by Dole Food Co., which like Castle & Cooke, is owned by billionaire David Murdock.

Aloun Farms already now leases 446 acres of Castle & Cooke land at the proposed housing development site. However, Hawaii Sierra Club attorney Eric Seitz raises doubts about whether Aloun will be equipped with the infrastructure needed to deliver irrigation water from Tanada Reservoir in order to farm the replacement farmland.

In last week’s hearing before the Land Use Commission, Gov. Neil Abercombie’s new agriculture director, Russell Kokubun, said he is convinced that "there is much land to be used for agriculture" even after Koa Ridge has turned urban. He said Castle & Cooke will make up for farmland loss by leasing 335 acres near Wahiawa to Aloun Farms, plus an option for 333 more acres.

Castle & Cooke acknowledges that 546 of Koa Ridge’s 768 acres are at the top two grades regarded as prime farming soil. Recognizing that, the Office of Planning two years ago recommended the company protect the same amount of prime farmland elsewhere on Oahu and keep it in agricultural use forever.

Now though, the planning office’s supervisor, Jesse Souki, recommends approval partly because of an agreement being worked out between Castle & Cooke and Aloun Farms: Aloun’s present lease is similar to Castle & Cooke’s proposal two years ago for a 10-year lease and a five-year extension.

The Office of Planning had it right the first time: Provision for viable, comparable acreage for farming in perpetuity should be a condition of approval before prime farmland can be converted to housing development.

As for the Department of Transportation, it expressed concern two years ago that Koa Ridge would worsen congestion at the H-1 and H-2 interchange that already had become grossly over-capacity at peak commute periods. The department now backs Koa Ridge, even though the traffic has worsened, expressing confidence that Castle & Cooke will make good. The expectation that the proposed mitigations will allay traffic is wishful at best; still, the tradeoff in housing gains must be kept in sight.

Koa Ridge — along with Ho‘opili on the Ewa Plain — are the last big master-planned housing projects that were mapped into directed-growth plans a generation ago, when affordable homes was a main driving factor, but food sustainability discussions were vague.

Decades ago, urbanization for housing was paramount. It still is. But going forward, agriculture and self-sustainability have emerged as enduring crucial issues, as development threatens to push prime farmland aside. As a policy, agriculture must be given greater importance in determining where else housing can be considered.