COURTESY PHOTO
Many speakers at a hearing Thursday opposed the Navy's request to obtain a 6,000-acre "set aside" on Kauai, denoted in light green above.
Navy wants more say
in Kauai land useAt issue is the acreage
near the missile range
at Barking Sands
LIHUE >> The U.S. Navy wants to obtain a 6,000-acre "set aside" on state-owned land adjacent to the Pacific Missile Range Facility that is more than three times the size of the base.
The Navy insists it does not want to buy or lease the additional land, it only wants "a say" in its future use. The Navy's lawyers say the concept of a "set aside" is unique to Hawaii law and is limited to recognizing the Navy as a participant.
At a hearing Thursday, many speakers opposed the idea with anger and bewilderment. About 250 people attended the three-hour hearing at Kalaheo School. Speakers included native Hawaiians, environmentalists, surfers and people opposed to military facilities on Kauai.
Navy officials contended their purpose is to protect the base from encroachment by developers that would limit activities at the Navy's premier missile-testing site and its major submarine training area in the Pacific.
Navy spokesmen insisted the military has no intention of forcing the agricultural interests, which now lease the land from the state, off the property.
The base already is on leased, state-owned land. The federal government pays $156 a year for the 1,800 acres used by the Navy. The Pacific Missile Range Facility ranks as the largest employer on Kauai and claims it pumps $150 million into the island's economy every year.
The 6,000 disputed acres are administered by the state Department of Land & Natural Resources. Most of it is land leased by Gay & Robinson for growing sugar cane.
"The is not a land grab," said Stan Yuen, intergovernmental and community liaison for Navy Region Hawaii. "The Navy won't build on the site, and there will be no fences."
Yuen insisted the Navy needs a formal agreement with the state to spend federal funds to maintain the water pumps on state property.
The pumps have been a major concern to the Navy since Amfac shut down its Kekaha Sugar Co. on Nov. 17, 2000. The pumps are all that keeps much of the base, which was built in a flood zone on the Mana Plain, from disappearing below the water flowing from the mountains above the facility.
When Amfac gave up its lease, DLNR leased the land to a consortium of agricultural businesses. In return for free use of the land, the businesses agreed to maintain the complex irrigation and drainage systems. But the state agreed to pay for any major equipment replacement, such as pumps.
Now the state says that since the base is the primary beneficiary of the pumps, the federal government should pay for them. The Navy says it cannot legally spend money on the pumps unless it has a measure of control over the land.
Yuen insisted the Navy is seeking a formal agreement with the state -- nothing more than a right to participate in the discussion of any proposed change of land use around the base. He said it does not give the Navy veto power over any land use plans.
"What is the difference between what you are asking for and what you already have?" asked activist Ray Chuan, who pointed out the Navy routinely takes a part in local zoning cases that affect its bases all over the United States.
The land is zoned for agriculture. Any change in zoning would have to be made by Kauai County.
"This is not a done deal," said Dede Mamiya, of the DLNR's Land Division. She said a recommendation would probably go the Land Board in January or February.
"One thing I feel certain of is that the state is not going to do anything that would take this land out of agriculture," she said in an interview. "This is the best agricultural land in DLNR's inventory, and I firmly believe it's going to stay in agriculture."
