Vague goals bog state land agency

The Public Land Development Corp. was created last year as an arm of the State Department of Land and Natural Resources to partner with the private sector to make better use of state property.

But the PLDC’s launch has been undermined by a poorly articulated description of its mission and suspicion from environmentalists and some Native Hawaiian activists that it would open the door to shadowy development interests. Public hearings this summer over the PLDC’s draft administrative rules — one is scheduled tonight in Honolulu — have turned into ugly denunciations of the new corporation’s motives.

"Unfortunately, the Public Land Development Corp. is behind the ball in getting out proper information," said state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Kaena-Wahiawa-Pupukea), chairman of the Senate Water, Land and Housing Committee.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie and many of his key advisers are strong believers in the PLDC, which is led by a five-member board made up of representatives from Abercrombie’s Cabinet and appointees from the state Legislature. The corporation’s goal is to work with the private sector to develop underutilized state property, such as small boat harbors or land around Aloha Stadium, into recreational and leisure centers that could generate state revenue. The concept is similar to the Agribusiness Development Corp., which was established in 1994 within the state Department of Agriculture to help agriculture diversify from sugar and pineapple.

"Our objective is to provide the alternative funding that will make programs self-sufficient, and to do this we’ll be looking at underutilized lands," said Lloyd Haraguchi, the PLDC’s executive director.

The PLDC has a broad exemption from land use and county zoning laws and construction standards for development projects. However, the corporation has to comply with the state’s environmental review law and the state’s historic preservation program.

Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club Hawaii chapter, said the PLDC and its supporters have made a "great deal of lip service" about the importance of protecting environmental and cultural resources that he said is not reflected in the draft administrative rules. He said the rules should prevent projects that could cause significant adverse impacts from proceeding.

"There has been a definitive unwillingness from the Public Land Development Corp. to include that kind of language," he said. "And so while on one hand they say, ‘We’re not going to do projects that harm the environment or harm cultural resources,’ the truth is they’re not willing to put that in writing."

Harris and others in the environmental community have a fundamental concern about the PLDC’s mission.

"I think in general it espouses a concept of trying to develop public land for profit, versus the concept of trying to hold public land for future generations," he said.

KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance has urged state lawmakers to repeal the PLDC next session. "It improperly exempts the state from many of the important laws that are meant to be a way for the state to carry out its public trust duty to protect our precious resources," Jonathan Osorio, a professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said in a statement on behalf of the group.

"We believe there are no rules that can ‘fix’ the PLDC to restore protections to our public trust resources and ceded lands. The PLDC simply must be repealed."

Dela Cruz said the exemption from land use and county zoning laws is critical to give the PLDC flexibility when developing projects. He said such flexibility would allow a project to define the zoning rather than be restricted by county zoning laws that he believes encourage urban sprawl.

Dela Cruz has become a target for environmentalists for his support of the PLDC as well as a bill that failed last session at the Legislature that would have encouraged transit-oriented development around proposed rail and bus stations.

"We really need more people to think about the big picture. We need people to prioritize what’s important for our communities," he said, adding that the PLDC could help improve dilapidated state facilities. "When you look at what we’re trying to do, it’s unfortunately the opposite of what they’re saying. What we’re really trying to do is to help preserve what’s special and unique about Hawaii."

Mililani Trask, an attorney, Hawaiian activist and energy consultant interested in geo­thermal projects, said the state, and not just private developers, should benefit from the development of public land.

Trask said environmentalists have stirred up fear of the PLDC within the Hawaiian community by exaggerating the potential risks to the environment and historic preservation. "They dare to come into our community to lie to our people so that the media could pick it up," she said.