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in the Planning Commission's letter of October 19, 2001. Hopefully the Planning
<br /> Committee will give attention to those changes suggested by the Planning Commission
<br /> that were not adopted by the Planning Director in this letter In response dated November
<br /> 30, 2002.
<br /> • We have concerns with the proposed County Conservation Designation in regard to
<br /> Regulatory Taking Issues, particularly H-1, South Kona-1, proposed to be changed from
<br /> Extensive Ag to County Conservation.
<br /> • In regard to the designation of Important Ag Lands (IAL) we have two comments. In
<br /> general we believe these designations should reflect either current agricultural activity or
<br /> realistic future agricultural activity. To the degree that we designate IAL for other
<br /> purposes such as open space, conservation, etc., it only dilutes the category. It also
<br /> dilutes the category when we overly designated IAL to virtually render the classification
<br /> meaningless, as is the current state today. To put these Ag designations in some
<br /> perspective, the following State Department of Agriculture data is lnteresung
<br /> At the height of both sugar and pineapple production in the State, their combined
<br /> acreage totaled about 325,000 acres.
<br /> More recently..-
<br /> • For Oahu, total acreage in crop went from 23,300 in 1997 to 19,300 in 2001
<br /> - a decrease of 4,000 acres. Within this, pineapple went up 200, but other
<br /> (diversified) crops went down 4,200 acres. Oahu has about 130,000 acres
<br /> classified/zoned for agnculture.
<br /> • For Maui County, total acreage in crop went from 55,600 in 1997 to 48,100
<br /> in 2001 - a decrease of 7,500 acres. Within this, sugar went down 7,700
<br /> acres, pineapple stayed constant, and other (diversified) crops went up 200
<br /> acres. Maui has about 400,000 acres classified/zoned for agriculture.
<br /> • For Kauai, total acreage in crop went from 28,100 in 1997 to 12,800 in 2001
<br /> - a decrease of 15,300 acres. Within this, sugar went down 15,000 acres
<br /> and other (diversified) crops went dawn 300 acres. Kauai has about 140,000
<br /> acres classified/zoned for agriculture.
<br /> • For the Big Island, total acreage in crop stayed constant at 11,900 acres in
<br /> 1997 and 2001, all attributable to other (diversified) crops. This does not
<br /> include plantation forestry. Hawaii has about 1,200,000 acres
<br /> classified/zoned for agriculture.
<br /> • Statewide, total acreage in crop went from 143,600 in 19997 to 114,700 in
<br /> 2001 - a decrease of 28,900 acres. Within this total, sugar went down
<br /> 22,700 acres, pineapple went up to 200 [same as Oahu], but other
<br /> (diversified) crops went down 6,400 acres. Statewide, there are about
<br /> 1,930,000 acres classified/zoned for agriculture. The current General Plan
<br /> proposes placing 386,283 acres in the IAL category.
<br />
<br /> • Specifically we disagree with the following proposed IAL designations.
<br /> Hamakua-1: The IAL district should fall below the Hamakua Ditch System.
<br /> North Kohala-1: The IAL district should fall below the Kohala Ditch System
<br /> S. Kohala-1: The IAL district should fall above the Kohala Mountain road above the
<br /> Hawaii Preparatory Academy and should follow the rainfall belt closer to Waimea
<br /> town in the Pu'ukapu region.
<br /> S. Kohala-4: The IAL designation should not include the Mauka Waikoloa, Keamoku
<br /> and Waiki'i lands as they do not have sufficient rainfall nor could they be
<br /> economically irrigated.
<br /> N. Kona Z; N. Kona-3; N. Kona-4; 5. Kona-1: Mauka lands above the coffee belt
<br /> and not otherwise suited for agriculture such as the Kaloko Lands (valuable
<br /> watershed) should be deleted from proposed IAL
<br /> N. Kona-4; S. Kona-1: The makai lands below the coffee belt (rainfall Ime) should
<br /> be eliminated from the proposed IAL
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