Farm worker housing, wind energy bills back on agenda

Council will likely consider another deferral

By Michael Levine - The Garden Island

LIHU‘E — After a six-week delay, the Kaua‘i County Council’s Planning Committee is set to renew the debate on bills for farm worker housing and small wind energy systems at Wednesday’s meeting, but both bills could be deferred again.

“We want this healthy conversation to continue with planning, the tax department and water,” Planning Committee Chair Jay Furfaro said Monday, referring to the ongoing work to the farm worker housing bill by an ad hoc committee of members of the Kaua‘i Farm Bureau, the Ko‘olau co-operative and former Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura.

Furfaro said the three main issues facing the bill are how the properties will be taxed, how they will combine their catchment systems with the county’s water meters to keep the farm land adequately hydrated, and if the housing permits will run with the land — resulting in a permanent increase in density — or temporarily with the farm for as long as it is in operation.

Roy Oyama of the Kaua‘i Farm Bureau said Monday that the organization is generally in favor of any legislation that can help Kaua‘i agriculture or farmers, but he has serious concerns about the bill and said the process has been “very difficult.”

Oyama specifically said he is concerned about the potential for abuse. He wants to see the bill help real farmers and not see others, like the real estate industry, “take advantage.”

“If we just keep pushing bills through with loopholes, that’s not doing any justice for agriculture,” Oyama said, adding that careful wording in the definitions of farms and farmers is critical. “We want something that’s really in use for the agricultural people, and that will benefit what agriculture means on the island.

“When it’s abused, there’s no opportunity for the farmers to go out ahead,” he said.

Furfaro said the ongoing conversation between the ad hoc committee and the Planning Department on the issue of permanent versus portable densities has been productive, and that he has heard from the group that they would like to push further council debate on the bill back to January.

He said he is not going to request a date-specific deferral until after receiving testimony from those in attendance at Wednesday’s committee meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. in Council Chambers in the Historic County Building in Lihu‘e.