The state Land Use Commission prevailed Friday in a Hawaii Supreme Court case regarding a special permit for overnight camping on prime agricultural land.

The Hawaii Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, reversed a Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals ruling and sided with the commission in a case involving the Ho‘omoana Foundation’s proposed Kauaula Campground for homeless and commercial campers on “class B” land in an agricultural district near Lahaina, Maui. Under Chapter 205 in the Hawaii Revised Statues, agricultural lands are classified by soil productivity level from A to E, with class A denoting the highest productivity level and class E denoting the lowest.

The Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision held that because the foundation’s proposed campground includes a public or private recreational overnight camp use, the project requires a district boundary amendment.

First Deputy Solicitor General Robert T. Nakatsuji, who argued the case before the court at Lahainaluna High School on Maui as part of the Judiciary’s “Courts in the Community” program, said in a statement, “We appreciate that the Court properly interpreted the law at issue in the same way as the Land Use Commission and believe that this decision will help protect the integrity of our land-use laws in the future.”

The Maui Planning Commission first heard Ho‘omoana’s application in July 2015 for a special permit that would have allowed the foundation to dedicate 2 acres of agricultural land to a campground with 26 pods that could accommodate 80 people. The foundation, at the time, said it envisioned the remaining adjacent 5.9 acres as a potential agricultural field, where the campers might work to supplement their rental fees.

The Pu‘unoa Homeowners Association, which is next to the proposed campground project, went before the state Land Use Commission in December 2015 arguing that the special use permit was unwarranted as the foundation’s proposal did not guarantee agricultural activity at the campground. The Land Use Commission issued a March 3, 2016, order concluding that the campground project could not be permitted by special use permit and required a district boundary amendment.

The Ho‘omana Foundation took the case to the Hawaii Circuit Court and then the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, which cited a 1990 Hawaii Supreme Court case, Maha‘ulepu v. Land Use Commission, in siding with the foundation. The Hawaii Supreme Court overruled the earlier case, which it said was based on “flawed statutory analysis and was incorrectly decided.”

Daniel E. Orodenker, Land Use Commission executive officer, said in a statement, “The Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision supports our position originally taken back in 2016 that the special-permit process cannot be used to approve overnight camps on prime agricultural lands. Although it has been a long road, the Commission is very happy with the outcome of this case, which resolves a lot of uncertainty with respect to special permits.”