An environmental group and a state senator want a judge to overrule a recent state Land Use Commission approval urbanizing farmland in Leeward and Central Oahu for development of more than 15,000 homes.
The Sierra Club and Sen. Clayton Hee filed lawsuits Friday in state Circuit Court appealing June decisions by the commission that approved plans for the 11,750-home Ho‘opili project by D.R. Horton and 5,000-home Koa Ridge project by Castle & Cooke Homes.
The lawsuits were anticipated, and are expected to be contested by the developers and lawyers representing the commission, the state Office of Planning and city Department of Planning and Permitting.
"We are prepared to deal with it," said Cameron Nekota, a Horton vice president in charge of Ho‘opili. "We are going to respond (in court)."
A Castle & Cooke representative could not be reached for comment late Friday afternoon.
Both suits, which were filed by local attorney Eric Seitz, make the argument that the commission decisions violate a section of Hawaii’s Constitution that calls for preserving agricultural land.
"The Land Use Commission breached its Constitutional mandate," the suits said.
The suits also claim that the commission failed to adopt rules to designate important agricultural land in violation of a 2005 law enacted as Act 183.
Hee and the Sierra Club are asking that any reclassification of agricultural land be enjoined until the commission adopts such rules.
Another allegation in both appeals is that the commission violated its own rules pertaining to urbanizing land if it is in present or recent crop production.
The statute says urban development must be necessary to accommodate population growth or not impair Hawaii agriculture production if the land intended for urbanization has been cultivated within two years of a petition for urbanization.
Horton and Castle & Cooke contended that farmers being displaced from the 1,526-acre Ho‘opili site and the 768-acre Koa Ridge site could relocate to suitable land mainly in the Wahiawa area.
Hee and the Sierra Club presented expert witnesses that claimed production on the Ho‘opili and Koa Ridge sites would not simply shift to other areas. But the commission sided with the developers.
