Agency must get its house in order

When the Public Land Development Corp. was created by the Legislature last year, concerns were raised about its broad authority to promote and approve development projects on land owned by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The agency’s first efforts to enhance the productivity of three parcels — two on Oahu and one on Hawaii island — do little to allay those concerns.

The Legislature created the corporation during last year’s session to pursue revenue-generating projects that could include all sorts of commercial endeavors in partnership with private entities. In signing it into law, Gov. Neil Abercrombie called it the "development arm" of DLNR.

While its activities are bound by some state laws, including the Sunshine Law, it is exempt "from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions and rules of any government agency."

The agency has yet to adopt the administrative rules that establish the standards or criteria for proposing new projects. Nonetheless, the agency has plunged ahead with three proposals:

» Development of four parcels totaling 168 acres of farmland, much of it adjacent to land for the 11,750-home Ho‘opili community by D.R. Horton’s Schuler Division, and including a part bisected by the city’s planned rail line. The area is now leased to farmers but has "some definite development potential," said Lloyd Haraguchi, the new state agency’s executive director.

» Extending Pacific Links Hawaii’s 20 years remaining on a 65-year lease for Olomana Golf Links, which it bought in May for $4.5 million, and allowing increases of green fees to pay for renovations.

» Allowing a long-term lease for 545 acres of largely kiawe forest along the Hawaii island cost in Puako to Richard Spiegel of Volcano Island Honey Co., who has leased nine acres dominated by 60-foot trees within the forest for 30 years under month-to-month permits. Spiegel is worried about possible private development of the "prime critical habitat."

The agency held a public hearing last Thursday to announce plans to seek approval of DLNR’s board of directors to transfer control of those three land holdings.

A decision was postponed.

"You’re proceeding forward without knowing if you should be proceeding forward or not," said Robert Harris, executive director of the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter.

He and other environmental and cultural activists are justifiably concerned. The agency is exempt from land use and zoning regulations and includes appointees with political connections. Cronyism and back-room dealings are genuine threats in a state where land and power go hand in hand.

The agency’s business must be completely above board and transparent. The public must be able to see that the corporation is playing by the rules.

Those rules, now in draft form, cover numerous important aspects of project development, including: How a developer becomes eligible; guidelines for determining a project’s eligibility; requirements for developing a project proposal; the environmental standards the agency will follow; and community input. They address considerations such as the financial viability of the developer and the "optimal use of public land for the economic, environmental, or social benefit of the people of Hawaii."

The rules are scheduled to be approved by the end of this year, and changes could be made in the meantime. So it’s possible that a DLNR public hearing on the agency’s proposals will proceed in the absence of known criteria.

Such an action seems hasty and not likely to engender public confidence in the corporation or its decision-making. The three proposals should be postponed until this powerful agency has its house in order and is fully prepared to meet its obligations to the state and to the public.