Hawaii’s Thousand Friends

November 16, 2001

Chairperson Merle Kelai

Commission Members

RE: A00-734 – Castle & Cooke Homes Hawai`i Inc., & Pacific Health Community, Inc. (O’ahu)

Hawaii’s Thousand Friends opposes the approval of this district change.

The data I am using today is based upon a report published by the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting. (Fiscal Year 2000 Annual Report of the Status of Land Use on Oahu).

Population distribution is a specific concern of the General Plan of Oahu. The policy for population distribution is set forth in Population Objective C, which provides a table of percentage ranges which shows the desired distribution of the island’s population by the year 2010 among the eight Development Plan areas. The percentages are further converted into population figures in the Appendix of the GP based upon population projections made by the DBEDT.

The City’s report contains the following:

1. Oahu has lost approximately 15,000 acres of agricultural land since 1975, (even though the Hawaii Constitution calls for its preservation). (Table I-1).

2. Since 1985, Central Oahu has lost over 3,000 acres of agricultural land. (Table I-2).

3. As of June 30, 1998, the most current data available from the City, Central Oahu actually had 18% of Oahu housing designations (i.e. DP). (Fig. I-B).

4. As of June 30, 1998, Central Oahu already had 2614 acres planned for development without Koa Ridge Makai. (Table II-1).

5. Oahu General Plan policy establishes the Central Oahu percentage of the Oahu population at 14.9 to 16.5%. The current population (2000) is 16.9% which exceeds even the top of this range. The City and County forecasts the year 2025 percentage to be 16.8% based upon currently proposed developments. Clearly over the top of the range of the General Plan. (Table II-2).

6. As of June 30, 1998, Central Oahu had over 1,500 acres of vacant residential land. (Table II-3).

There is clearly no need for increasing urban sprawl in Central Oahu, and no need for the Koa Ridge Makai development for over 25 years. It is also clearly not consistent with the General Plan of Oahu.

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