Councilman Ikaika Anderson’s proposal to remove all references to the proposed Envision Laie project from the Koolauloa Sustainable Communities Plan (Bill 47) and focusing that document on preserving the country is not only in the community’s best interest, but is also a wise economic development decision ("Councilman challenges large-scale Laie project," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 22).

It is troubling that Hawaii Reserves Inc. — which manages Brigham Young University-Hawaii, the Polynesian Cultural Center and other land holdings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Laie — has insisted that the viability of the university, and in turn the Polynesian Cultural Center, is at risk without its proposed expansion plan.

Yet HRI has not offered any data, save the word of BYUH President Steven Wheelwright, that this is indeed the case.

And even if its financial peril is real, the idea that the economy of the North Shore depends on Laie is far from true.

In 2013 a coalition of individuals and organizations joined to identify opportunities to enhance the economy of the North Shore. The project began with a detailed examination of regional data, looking at individual business establishments from Mokuleia to Kualoa. This analysis led to the discovery of three industry clusters that have been responsible for most of the region’s economic growth since the 2000s. These clusters are sustainable agriculture and working landscapes, North Shore experience and professional and technical services. Moreover, the North Shore’s cluster economy has proven to be more resilient than the rest of the North Shore’s regional economy.

During the recession, the cluster-based economy declined 2.8 percent, in 2008-2009, while non-cluster industries decreased 5.6 percent. After that decline, the cluster economy rebounded more quickly than the rest of the economy, increasing 3 percent versus less than 1 percent.

Most important, these three clusters account for 46 percent of North Shore jobs, but have been responsible for 64 percent of the region’s job growth since 2001.

What we found was that the North Shore is in the enviable position of growing its economy based on the region’s existing assets. Despite BYUH’s annual growth of 8.9 percent over the past 10 years, its economic impact is highly concentrated in Laie.

Like other industries in the non-cluster parts of the economy (i.e., K-12 education, construction, real estate, health care), an expanded BYUH is not an opportunity to grow a sustainable regional job base. Even tourism (the North Shore experience cluster), the largest cluster in the region, grew at a paltry 1.8 percent per year between 2001 and 2011, reflecting both the maturity of the sector and the limited growth opportunities moving forward.

Meanwhile, the "sustainable agriculture and working landscape" cluster, with an annual growth rate of 4.8 percent over the same 10-year period, represents 13 percent of the region’s jobs and holds the most promise for future regional prosperity.

As much as Hawaii Reserves Inc. would like the City Council to believe that construction and development are the keys to future economic growth on the North Shore, our data indicates otherwise.

These three regional clusters drive economic vitality, generating jobs and wages for residents and expanding purchases of products and services from local suppliers, all resulting in a positive ripple effect to create benefits for every community in the region. The clusters also generate tax revenues that fuel local public services and support a better quality of life for local residents.

We believe that investing in a supportive policy environment for agriculture, incentivizing investment in water and transportation infrastructure, and leveraging our globally recognized North Shore brand will result in innovative, competitive and healthy businesses that will drive regional economic vitality and keep the country country for generations to come.