RESOLUTION OF THE MAKAKILO-KAPOLEI-HONOKAI HALE NEIGHBORHOOD BOARD
RESCINDING SUPPORT FOR THE HO’OPILI PROJECT
WHEREAS, Article 11, Section 3 of the 1978 Hawaii State Constitution as amended orders that “the State shall conserve and protect agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture, increase agricultural self-sufficiency and assure availability of agriculturally suitable lands;” and
WHEREAS, Act 183, passed in 2005 “requires identification of Important Agricultural Lands (IAL), and, under the standards set forth in Act 183, the Ho’opili farmlands qualify as Important Agricultural Lands; and
WHEREAS, in February, 2012, the Honolulu City Council passed Resolution 12-23 CD1 FD1, urging the city’s agricultural liaison to expedite the identifying and mapping of Important Agricultural Lands, and that Resolution ensured that Ho’opili and Koa Ridge, which are within the urban growth boundary, would be considered in the mapping by including the wording: “that the process of identification and mapping of important agricultural lands also consider agriculturally productive lands within urban growth boundaries that are classified as prime agricultural lands, provided adequate water supply is available”; and
WHEREAS, the Ho’opili farmlands constitute 31% of the O’ahu acreage currently producing fresh fruits and vegetables for the local market; and
WHEREAS, demand for farm-fresh food among people in Hawai’i is increasing rapidly; and
WHEREAS, 90% of our food is imported, and we keep only a week’s supply of food on the island, and any major calamity causing a disruption in our food supply could have catastrophic consequences for our people; and
WHEREAS, the University of Hawai’i–West O’ahu, which is directly across the street from the Ho’opili property, will soon be accepting seventy-five students a year for their agriculture program; and young farmers cannot find property on the island to farm; and much of this land could be made available for those graduates; and
WHEREAS, building houses does provide jobs for the builders over a roughly six month period, but once the houses are built, the houses create zero future jobs, while farms create jobs that last for centuries; and
WHEREAS, the 34,805 houses that are already zoned, fully entitled, and ready to build in the Leeward area, will fully satisfy the need stated by the Department of Planning and Permitting until 2035, and the additional 11,750 homes of the Ho’opili project will glut the market; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Water Supply, noting a decrease in rainfall to replenish aquifers, states that moving to desalinated water will be required at some time during the build-out of Ho’opili and planned units for Kaka’ako; and
WHEREAS, the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Ho’opili project states that, during the peak rush hours, the additional traffic from the project will bring the freeway to a standstill, (Level of Service F) even with rail; and
WHEREAS, the H-1/H-2 merge has long been recognized as the bottleneck on the freeway, and, further, it has long been recognized that it is impossible to widen the H-1/H-2 merge or to otherwise solve its bottleneck, and whereas options such as constructing another freeway clearly are not affordable or viable, there can be no other conclusion than that Ho’opili will add another totally unacceptable half hour to forty-five minutes to the commute to of all Leeward residents; and
WHEREAS, in June of 2011, the outgoing Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood board voted to support the Ho’opili development by a divided vote; and
WHEREAS, a new board was elected on May 21, 2013, and six of the nine elected members ran on a platform opposing the Ho’opili development, opposing any move to desalinated water, and expressing grave concern for freeway traffic, and whereas the electorate was made aware of this platform through all campaign materials, and responded by voting them onto the board; and whereas this new board therefore claims to speak for the people of the area; therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED that Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board states its strong opposition to the Ho’opili development.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of the City & County of Honolulu, all members of the Honolulu City Council, the Director of the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, the Director of the City & County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services; the City Planning Commission, the Director of the Board of Water Supply, the State Office of Planning, the State Land Use Commission, Leeward and central Oahu legislators, and all members of Leeward and Central Oahu Neighborhood Boards along with all neighborhood board chairs, the president, D.R. Horton/Schuler Homes; the president, Kapolei Properties, the president, James Campbell Company; LLC; the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce, the Chancellor University of Hawaii-West O’ahu; the chairperson, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, and the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Adopted by the Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board #34 at its August 28, 2013, meeting
