Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 576 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to establish that the minimum lot size within an agricultural district shall be not less than three acres of contiguous land; provided that this requirement shall not apply to agricultural district subdivisions created prior to July 1, 2003.

The Office of Planning supported the bill. The Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation supported the intent of the bill. The Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference opposed the bill. The State Land Use Commission offered comments.

Your Committees recognize the need to address problems and concerns, including fragmentation of agricultural land, resulting from the current minimum lot size requirement of one acre. Your Committees support increasing this requirement to three acres. However, your Committees note that this is better achieved through revisions to section 205-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), instead of section 205-4.5, HRS.

While your Committees acknowledge that increased lot sizes will advance the characteristics of agriculturally zoned lands and promote, larger commercially successful agricultural endeavors, this must be balanced by the ability for small farmers to afford larger lots and the extent to which small farmers have succeeded on one or two acre parcels. Another factor that your Committees will continue to consider is that larger agricultural lots would be affordable for the affluent who would purchase such lands primarily for estate purposes and conduct minimal farming activity.

In addition, your Committees received testimony indicating that the bill as received by your Committees should be amended to provide clarification on the implementation of the provisions contained in the bill.

To this end, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Amending section 205-5, HRS, instead of 205-4.5, HRS;

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 576, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 576, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.