HB 2338, which allows the Counties to reclassify land before the Land Use Commission without meaningfully involving the public, is a terrible idea.

Citizen participation in land use decisions is an essential part of our democratic tradition.  It ensures decisions are based on complete information (which may involved directly challenging biased studies paid for by developers).  It gives decision makers sufficient information so that they can attached protective, enforceable conditions to permits.  And it may stop environmentally destructive projects.

Further, participation by experienced organizations clearly acting in the public interest -- like the Sierra Club -- frequently enriches and helps the Land Use Commission make better decisions.  For example, the Sierra Club’s participation in the Castle & Cooke/Koa Ridge clarified and established the requirements of an environmental assessment before approving a reclassification for a major subdivision.  

In another example, the Friends of Makakilo recently challenged D.R. Horton’s failure to properly follow the Land Use Commission’s rules in the Ho`opili proposal.  Because of the involvement of the Friends of Makakilo, the Land Use Commission ultimately rejected D.R. Horton’s application as incomplete.  Without a complete application, the LUC determined it could not properly consider the project and impose appropriate timing conditions for the community.

HB 2338 directly rejects this type of citizen participation because “the counties have rarely initiated boundary amendments because they must go through the same process as private applicants.”  This is a particularly flimsy basis to reject the democratic process.  Let’s be clear.  This proposal is nothing more than a means to advance developer interests and to avoid having to discuss the particularized impacts of each individual, large development on agricultural land.  This measure should be deferred.