Zoning regulates events on easements

Conservation easements have been used in Hawaii and the mainland to permanently conserve more than 1.1 million acres of agricultural and ranch land.

As noted in the public discussion on the preservation of Turtle Bay, conservation easements are cheaper than buying land in fee because the landowner maintains ownership, liability and manage- ment of the land.

While the development rights are forever stripped away, conservation easements are not intended to take away a landowner’s ability to use the land for agricultural or commercial use. Nor do the easements put nonprofit land trusts in the position of supplanting the role of the appropriate government regulator of a landowner’s activities on the land.

A misunderstanding of conservation easements could be inferred from recent news coverage of Sunset Ranch’s efforts to modify permits to allow commercial weddings and other events on its property ("Land-use struggle plays out at idyllic easement," Star-Advertiser, June 8).

In a conservation easement, a landowner voluntarily gives up certain development rights in exchange for tax benefits or cash (or both). The dollar value of these development rights (how much money could be made developing the land) is the basis for how the conservation easement is valued and what the landowner is paid to give up development rights. The property’s market value is correspondingly reduced and this reduction may be permanent- ly reflected in any future sale or transfer of the property.

For example, in its conservation easement, Sunset Ranch expressly gave up the right to further subdivide its property with up to a dozen 2-acre lots. In order to preserve the agricultural and open-spaces resources of the land, Sunset Ranch also gave up the right to pave over the land or to build additional residences or structures beyond the existing building envelopes. Sunset Ranch is in compliance with those provisions.

Sunset Ranch’s conservation easement does not address whether the ranch may conduct events on the land. That said, all activities on the land (regardless of the existence of a conservation easement) must be in compliance with county zoning laws. So the issue of whether Sunset Ranch can hold events is a question for Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP), not the nonprofit North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT), which jointly holds the conservation easement with the City and County of Honolulu.

If the DPP determines that events at Sunset Ranch are unlawful, NSCLT will take appropriate steps to notify the landowner that it does not condone violations of county land use laws, and will work with the land-owner and the DPP to resolve the issue.

It is important to note that Hawaii ranchers and farmers face an uphill battle to survive economically. Many of them must seek out opportunities to supplement their incomes through activities that do not undermine their primary agricultural use of the land, but keep the lights on, feed the horses and cows, pay staff, and keep the water running. Farm tours, food service, events, location leases for movies or television shows and wind or solar farms are just some of the supplemental economic activities that keep these farms and ranches afloat.

Such income for our farmers and ranchers is a crucial piece of Hawaii’s food security and open space puzzle. If these are eliminated, many farms and ranches will succumb to development pressures and efforts to rezone (an option that conservation easements permanently remove). A balance must be struck.