[ OUR OPINION ]
SENSIBLE planning for Central Oahu should encompass more than figuring the number of additional homes the city will allow to be built in the region. It should assess placement and capacity of highways, need for schools, water supplies, best use of land and the potential effects of increased sewage and air and visual pollution on the quality of life. Central Oahu plan
must address basics
THE ISSUE The City Council is considering approval of a blueprint for development in the region.
The Central Oahu Sustainable Communities plan surrenders evaluation of these crucial components.
Residents in the area have voiced valid concerns about additional housing projects the plan would permit. Current problems with heavy traffic and crowded schools attest to the ill effects of lack of proper planning. The approach of the past -- that adequate roads and school facilities will come in due time -- clearly hasn't worked as evidenced by the scramble for solutions for too many cars and too few classrooms.
The 25-year plan increases the maximum number of homes in the region from about 11,500 to more than 20,000. It estimates that the Central Oahu population will grow by about 20,000 and that the state will need to build 12 new schools in the next two decades to handle the growth. The area's primary housing developer, Castle & Cooke, has acknowledged that additional traffic will result from its projects, but that it is the state's responsibility to deliver adequate transportation infrastructure.
That may be, however, the state is already struggling to deal with its present fiscal demands and it is likely that building more roads or mass transit systems and expanding education facilities will lag. In addition, questions remain about whether the Waipahu-Waiawa aquifer can provide enough water for the areas already designated for urban development and about how groundwater recharging will be affected if agricultural land is paved.
The plan runs counter to the city's objective to target urban development in the Leeward-Kapolei area and to Mayor Harris' intent to preserve valuable agricultural lands. It diffuses focus from Kapolei and the "second city" concept.
The plan also doesn't consider the effects growth will have on the quality of living in Central Oahu. The key word in the plan's title is "sustainable." The Council should be looking at what the island's natural and financial resources can support and maintain through the next 25 years and beyond, and not only in the region. Whatever growth takes place in Central Oahu will affect the entire population of Oahu.
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DIVERGENT uses of Oahu's shoreline areas often conflict and result in confrontation and ill will. However, that may not be the case in Kahuku, where aquaculture and agriculture enterprises appear to be working out their differences with the federal government and a landowner so that all may benefit. Working out conflicts
is best way to proceed
THE ISSUE Expansion of a flood-control project and a wildlife refuge may displace aquaculture farmers in Kahuku.
The potential for friction arises as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service moves ahead with its plans to expand a refuge that shelters four endangered Hawaiian birds -- the stilt, koloa, moorhen and coot -- among others, on Campbell Estate land. Meanwhile, a federal project to protect Kahuku from the kind of flooding that damaged the area in 1991 has received initial funding. What stood in the way was displacement of 15 tenant farmers who leased land from the estate.
The estate and the wildlife service helped most of the tenants relocate, but four of them -- three aquaculture farmers and a ti leaf grower -- don't want to move. They contend their businesses provide jobs and other economic benefits to the community, that moving would hurt their businesses and that there are few other locations for them.
The flood-control project is necessary for improvements at Kahuku High School and to ensure the town will not suffer again in heavy rains. The James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge needs expansion to better protect the endangered birds and other migratory fowl, as well as to have enough space to allow more human visitors. The wildlife service says it would prefer not to have to work around farming operations, but refuges elsewhere have been able to work in tandem with commercial ventures.
Kahuku accounts for 80 to 90 percent of aquaculture farming on Oahu. The four farmers, who together make about $3 million in gross annual sales of ogo, shrimp, other seafood and aquarium fish and provide about 50 jobs, acknowledge that flood control is needed.
The Koolauloa Neighborhood Board is urging that the parties discuss the situation to see if there is a way to satisfy everyone and the farmers welcome the plan. Whether an agreement can be worked out is uncertain, but the approach being taken assures that all interests will be heard.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
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