The Native Hawaiian salt makers caught wind of the plan just a day or two before a critical vote.

A Delaware company with a helicopter operation at tiny Port Allen Airport along Kauai’s south shore wanted to increase the state land it leases there by a third.

The state Department of Transportation recommended to the Board of Land and Natural Resources that the lease amendment be approved, but the recommendation was made without consulting the salt makers, whose families have been harvesting the ponds adjacent to Port Allen’s single runway for generations.

Fearing that their cultural practices would be harmed by increased helicopter activity, the salt makers and others sent dozens of messages urging the Land Board to reject the lease modification at its Feb. 26 meeting.

“It would be devastating,” said Abby Santos, whose family has harvested the ponds for five generations.

Thanks to the flurry of objections, the matter was pulled from the agenda. It has yet to be resubmitted.

Opponents of the lease expansion sought by Smoky Mountain Helicopters said they learned of the planned deal only because it was placed on the Land Board’s published agenda, as required by the Sunshine Law.

But the opponents and open-government advocates say such transparency could disappear under several bills pending at the Legislature.

One measure, Senate Bill 3072, would establish an airport authority governed by a five-member board that would oversee all airport operations, including land dispositions. The bill does not specify how the disposition process would work.

Two other measures, House Bills 2407 and 2408, would remove the Land Board from the approval process. The first one deals with long-term leases and other land disposition agreements while the latter pertains only to month-to-month revocable permits.

Proponents of the legislation say DOT is best suited to oversee land under its jurisdiction and that the changes would make the negotiating process more efficient, helping expedite airport and harbor improvements.

They also noted that creating an authority would bring Hawaii in step with more than 40 mainland jurisdictions.

“Given the importance of the state’s airports to our hospitality industry, we fully support the establishment of a state airport authority,” Mufi Hannemann, chief executive of the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association, said in written testimony to the Legislature. “The authority would give a laser-like focus to the operations, demands and improvements of our airports, and would allow for a quicker and more efficient job.”

But opponents said they had major concerns about giving DOT or a related authority sole power over airport and harbor lands.

Donna Wong, executive director of Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, an environmental advocacy group, said SB 3072 is the worst of the three bills.

Under that measure, all decisions, including leasing, selling, exchanging and transferring of public land, would be made by the five-member board, and there is no requirement for public involvement, environmental review or cultural analysis, Wong said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

“The five-member appointed board is accountable to no one for the use of public land and water and is the Public Land Development Corp. all over again,” she wrote, referring to the ill-fated state entity that was shut down in 2013, two years after it was created.

SB 3072 on March 8 passed the Senate by a 19-5 vote and is now before the House, where it has been referred to three committees.

The two House bills, 2407 and 2408, passed the House on March 8 with overwhelming support — only three of 51 legislators voted against them — but face more resistance in the Senate.

HB 2407 would give DOT sole power over negotiated agreements, including long-term leases, for airport and harbor lands.

HB 2408 would remove BLNR from the approval process only for revocable permits, the month-to-month agreements designed for temporary occupation of state land.

DOT has said both measures would clarify powers the Legislature previously has awarded to the agency for managing airport and harbor property.

Yet under the House bills, the public effectively would be shut out of the decision-making process because DOT, unlike the Department of Land and Natural Resources, is not governed by a board subject to the Sunshine Law and would not be required to give advance public notice before deciding on a lease or permit.

DLNR’s revocable permits recently have come under heightened scrutiny after the Honolulu Star-Advertiser revealed that many have been in place for decades. In some cases the discounted rents have not changed since the 1990s. A task force is considering ways to improve the permit system.

Sen. Lorraine Inouye, head of that chamber’s Transportation and Energy Committee, one of two lead Senate committees to which the two House bills were referred, said she doesn’t intend to hear either measure, all but dooming their chances of advancing.

“The transparency would be worse — there wouldn’t be any,” said Inouye (D, Kaupulehu-Waimea-North Hilo).

Inouye said she instead wants to see how the airport authority measure plays out.

Asked how transparency issues would be addressed if an airport authority were established, DOT spokesman Tim Sakahara said the proposed entity would act similarly to authorities in other jurisdictions and would comply with federal regulations pertaining to airports.

“Public access and involvement is encouraged,” he wrote in an email responding to Star-Advertiser questions.

Opponents of removing the Land Board from the approval process point to the Smoky Mountain lease to underscore their concerns.

The nearby salt ponds hold cultural and historic significance, and many residents consider the area a wahi pana, or celebrated place.

Yet DOT did not consult the salt makers nor the Kauai Historic Preservation Review Commission before deciding to recommend the lease expansion, according to the salt makers and Kauai County.

The salt makers have documented degrading conditions at the ponds, and increased airport activity could exacerbate those conditions, Kauai Planning Director Michael Dahilig wrote in a Feb. 25 letter to the Land Board.

Salt makers told the Star-Advertiser that dust, fumes, noise and other effects from increased helicopter activity would adversely affect their cultural practices. The Hawaiian salt is harvested during summer months from clay ponds filled with sea water.

Dahilig urged the board to delay acting on the Smoky Mountain lease until “proper due diligence” pertaining to historic preservation laws are conducted.

Kuuleialoha Santos, daughter of Abby Santos and a board member for Hui Hana Pa‘akai, the organization of Hanapepe salt makers, said she has little faith that DOT would become more transparent if an airport authority were created.

“They don’t even let us know now,” the younger Santos said. “Why would I have faith (that would improve) if they were to change the rules?”

DOT’s Sakahara said in his written responses that his agency followed all applicable laws pertaining to the Smoky Mountain request, which he described as being exempt from the state statute requiring an environmental review.

While public comment is considered, public health and safety issues take priority, along with following federal law, he added. “Decisions should be based on fact and not emotion.”

Asked why the salt makers weren’t consulted, Sakahara said the on-ground activity subject to the agency’s jurisdiction is more than a half mile from the ponds and has no impact on that area.

“For them to say it has no impact when it’s right around the corner is crazy,” responded Kuuleialoha Santos, who noted that a Smoky Mountain helicopter sometimes parks not even 50 feet from the ponds with blades running and often flies directly over the salt makers.

Sakahara told the Star-Advertiser that DOT would be better able to address concerns beyond the current purview of the agency if SB 3072 passes. An airport authority would be an appropriate venue to address historical, cultural and environmental concerns, he added.