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Climate: Mean annual rainfall is 122 inches (mean January = 11.8 inches, mean July = 9.5 inches). Mean annual temperature is 71 OF (mean January = 68.8°F, mean July = 73.5 °F). Water: High water holding capacity. Fast permeability. Soil is moist for majority of the year. Little chance for runoff and erosion, but both increase as slope increases in steepness. Fertility: Naturally infertile (Fertility Class=Infertile Andisols). Low nutrient holding capacity. Often deficient in calcium, magnesium, and potassium. However, with proper nutrient amendment, it can be productive. Surface layers are rich in organic matter. Phosphorous: Very high phosphorus reactivity. Strongly "fixes" phosphorus, making added phosphorus initially unavailable to plants. Requires very high phosphorus additions to compensate. Acidity: Strongly acidic to near neutral (pH = 5.1 - 6.5) Acidity expected to increase if have history of plantation agriculture (i.e. sugarcane, pineapple). May require liming when intensively farmed. Structure: Weak physical structure provides fluffy texture, making cultivation easy, but provides unsuitable conditions for engineering and construction. Engineering and cultivation also unsuitable on steeper slopes. (class C even on level land) Taxonomy: Medial over hydrous, amorphic, isohyperthermic Acrudoxic Hydrudands http:H/ zis.ctahr.hawaii.edu/SoilAtlas 2E. Burdens of IAL: A change to IAL for parcel 055 comes with increased land use burdens imposed retroactively; and a likely loss of property value due to the strict regulation (note that this would be in addition to the current County effort to repeal non -dedicated agricultural exemptions and to impose acreage minimums). A change to IAL would therefore cause Parcel 055 an "unreasonable economic hardship" which cannot be prevented. Thus parcel 055 should be continued in a LDU designation. An alternative would be to change the LUPAG for parcel 055 to "Rural" (see also the conclusion of these comments for another possible land use category). Designating a small farm for IAL could actually hurt the chances of any kind of agriculture being conducted. Although incentives are supposed to support the IAL program, these incentives are may not apply to micro or small farms. The regulations of IAL might result in long fallow periods. The burdens might be offset to some extent from having pre -IAL grandfathered uses. 2F. IAL Can Affect Land Values: Using parcel 055 as an example: with a $250,000 purchase price for 3.9 acres of land, the cost per acre is apx. $64,000 per acre (not counting the farming on