SAVE OAHU FARMLANDS!

Aloha, All,

Below is a copy of an op-ed piece I wrote for the Star-Advertiser which was published this morning. All of the maps that make the claims in the article irrefutable are attached. (They were not printed in the newspaper.) Comments written to the Internet edition are also copied below. Please forward this to people you are in contact with. It is one more very important claim that may break Horton's case at the Land Use Commission. We need your testimony at the hearing this Thursday, November 17. We also need money. Please see www.stophoopili.com for instructions on sending both. We deeply appreciate your support.

Kioni

Monday, November 14, 2011 86.0°F

ISLAND VOICES

Ho'opili farming initiative is a myth

By Kioni Dudley

In a remarkable editorial on Nov. 2, the Star-Advertiser declared that developer D.R. Horton's plan for urban agriculture at their controversial Ho‘opili project did not pass scrutiny ("Ho‘opili ag conviction falls flat," Our View, Star-Advertiser).

This will explain more.

Before its recent return to the Land Use Commission to get its land reclassified from ag to urban for the Ho‘opili project, Horton needed to counter the hard realities that the 1,525 acres of prime farmland it would take for the project are the highest-producing farmland in the state, that the land currently produces a whopping 30 percent of all the fresh local produce we eat, and that the day will come when the people of Hawaii will need that farmland to survive.

To do this, it concocted the "Ho‘opili Urban Agricultural Initiative," a marvelously imaginative Oz with "civic farms" for "commercial farming," eight acres of "community gardens" and 84 acres of small "steward farms."

The Urban Ag Initiative is a fanciful construct of words that resembles reality about as much as the yellow brick road. Horton has brazenly presented it to the public with maps and diagrams, and hired Nalo Farms' Dean Okimoto as poster boy to sell the myth as truth. Their maps incontrovertibly establish the falsehood.

The original Ho‘opili master plan map identifies a number of large light-green "open space/buffer" areas. (See attached Scan0063). Checking the GPS map, one finds that these are almost all gulches, gullies and hillsides — junk lands that the current farmer doesn't use at all.(GPS map is at the bottom of this page.) In its new Urban Agriculture Initiative map, however, these same gulches, gullies and hillsides are designated as the 159 acres available for lease as "commercial farms."(See Scan SOFA MAP)

The second feature of the Urban Ag Initiative is eight acres of community gardens. These are the only things that seem to be real.

The most innovative facet of Horton's new plan is its 84 acres of "steward farms." "Steward" is a Biblical concept — the good steward caring for the lands of his master, reaping profits for him while administering his farm with justice. Horton's write-up adds a local flavor: It "captures the best parts of old Hawaii where families grew their own fruits and vegetables, either to eat themselves or to share."

Steward farms are "for-profit farming operations, on properties with agriculture-friendly covenants, where owners can produce their own food, share with neighbors, or even offer excess food produced to the general marketplace for sale."

The concept evokes pictures of as many as 84 farm-homes with an acre or more of additional property, or 42 homes with two additional acres each.

In a stunning revelation before the commission recently, however, it was disclosed that the prototype steward farm is a 1,200 square foot house on a 5,000 square foot lot — an R-5 lot, the smallest lot allowed in a subdivision (See attached Scan 0148). The "farm" turns out to be the same puny backyard and side slivers of land that one finds in any R-5 homesite, except that, instead of planting shrubs, these owners will plant "edible landscapes in order to enjoy the productive and economic value of their own land" — if they choose to. The "professionally managed farm services" that were to "support the farming operations" turn out to be landscape gardeners one might hire to care for the yard. And the special 84 acres of farmland all seem to have completely disappeared, absorbed into a multitude of R-5 house lots.

Again, D.R. Horton gets caught with its plants down. There are no real "commercial farms" in this project, nor any real steward farms. There is plenty of deceit.

They call it Ho‘opili, the gathering place. We call it Ho‘o-pilikia — deep trouble for all of us.

COMMENTS

Kalli wrote:

Kioni is absolutely correct. This is a public relations ploy by DR Horton to get the permits to build over 11,000 homes and add over 30,000 people to the all ready crowded area. They have bought off all the local politicians except for Rep. Rida Cabinilla. Take a look at Tim Tuckers island voices column on the broken promises from Haseko and you will have the same results for Hoopili. They will say anything to get permits and then who holds them accountable for living up to the fulfillment of these promises?

on November 14,2011 | 03:58AM

islandsun wrote:

Nobody wants this lousy project except the construction unions and related cronies. They would build their ugly cracker boxes and get out with the loot. Only short term jobs generated but the loss of good land will be forever.

on November 14,2011 | 04:46AM

soundofreason wrote:

This will create only temporary jobs at we will lose more sustainability FOREVER. This project cannot BE undone. They will literally dig out this PRIME soil before laying houses on this land. Have we learned nothing about being dependent on other sources from our foreign oil situation? Are we, as a State, just going to turn around and do the same with our food?

on November 14,2011 | 05:50AM

bender wrote:

How many bites at the apple does D.R. Horton get anyway. Can they keep coming back to the Land Use Commission over and over again until they get the answer they want. Kind of reminds me of a child who wants a toy but has been told no. Unfortunately the stakes are much higher than a child wanting a toy.

on November 14,2011 | 06:32AM

Anonymous wrote:

Hoopili is not the best agricultureal land on OaHu, Wailua and north shore have lots of good ag land. Keoni is perpetuating a myth too - to say the Hoopili ag land cannot be replaced is a bald-faced lie.

on November 14,2011 | 09:40AM

localguy wrote:

D.R. Horton needs to admit their failures and move on. Their "Hula Hoop" housing fiasco will never make it. The people have seen through all their shibai and decided it was not right, would not fit, would not make it. Master planned? NOT!!! Remember the design fiasco at the Waikele Shopping Center, Waipahu, HI. Take the freeway off ramp and you have to stop for oncoming traffic. Look to your right and you see not one but two sidewalks, side by side. Off ramp should have gone straight to the entrance to the shopping center. Next time you hear D.R. Horton or any other money making home builder on Hawaii say, "Master Planned" tell them "Trust but verify first." Developers only want to make money and move on, caring less for the mess they leave behind.

on November 14,2011 | 12:00PM

Below is the GPS map of the area.