Fruit stand
debate divides Kilauea

Would it help organic
farmers or usher in a rash of
overdevelopment?

By Anthony Sommer
Star-Bulletin

KILAUEA, Kauai -- Is Neal Norman the savior of small organic farmers looking for a place to market their products or the devil who wants to turn Kauai's North Shore into a shopping mall?

It depends on who's doing the talking.

And if not always factual, the debate has been long, loud and passionate and has just about split the town of Kilauea in two.

What Norman has proposed to the Kauai Planning Commission is a building to house his fruit stand on part of his 50-acre Kauai Organic Farms, which fronts Kuhio Highway.

Norman's fruit stand touches two major nerves: Kilauea residents want to support organic farming, but they are just as strongly opposed to development on the scenic highway.

The debate centers on whether Norman's fruit stand would help farmers or developers more.

"It's only the beginning, the edge of the wedge," warned resident Liz Randall. If Norman receives a special use permit, she said, they will continue "proliferating until commercial buildings darken the entire North Shore."

Late Thursday, at the end of three public hearings totaling 12 hours of testimony and after receiving hundreds of letters for and against Norman's request, acting Planning Commission Chairman Gary Baldwin refused to schedule a fourth session.

That means the commission must vote on the request sometime in the next 60 days.

Since the hearings began, Norman has cut back his proposed building from 2,500 square feet to 1,500 square feet to (as of Thursday) 1,000 square feet, and has given up the idea of selling organic fertilizer and farm implements, in, he says, an attempt to placate the community.

Several commissioners have made it clear they aren't really pleased that Norman has been operating a fruit stand on the site without their permission for quite some time. Instead of a building, Norman sells his produce out of the back of a quaint but immobile old farm truck.

To counter charges he would sell produce from the mainland, possibly even nonorganic fruits and vegetables, he promised to limit his sales to predominantly North Shore organic farm products.

"If you don't support this endeavor, you're shutting the door on all farmers," farmer Steve Riley told the commission.

Norman also received strong support from the owner of the Killer Juice Bar fruit stand 20 miles away in Kapaa, but one of his sharpest critics is the owner of an existing rival fruit stand, Mango Mama's, just down the road in Kilauea.

Paule Brie, Mango Mama herself, repeatedly accused Norman of wanting the permit so he can sell the land to someone who will build an even bigger store.