Report Title:

Land Use; Agricultural District; Renewable Energy

Description:

Permits additional renewable energy facilities on certain land within an agricultural district.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2670
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to renewable energy.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The purpose of this Act is to expand the permitted activities and uses within agricultural districts to include certain renewable energy facilities.  More specifically, this Act includes as a permitted use on land with soil classified D or E the following:  a solar energy facility, hydropower facility, ocean thermal conversion facility, and ocean wave movement facility.  This Act is intended to complement present law under which a wind energy facility and biofuel production facility are permitted uses within the agricultural district.

     SECTION 2.  Section 205-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

     "(d)  Agricultural districts shall include:

     (1)  Activities or uses as characterized by the cultivation of crops, crops for bioenergy, orchards, forage, and forestry;

     (2)  Farming activities or uses related to animal husbandry, and game and fish propagation;

     (3)  Aquaculture, which means the production of aquatic plant and animal life within ponds and other bodies of water;

     (4)  Wind generated energy production for public, private, and commercial use;

     (5)  Biofuel production as described in section 205‑4.5(a)(15) for public, private, and commercial use;

(6) Solar energy, hydropower, ocean thermal conversion, or ocean wave movement facilities that produce and transmit electrical energy for public, private, or commercial use; provided that the facilities shall be located on land with soil classified by the land study bureau's detailed land classification as overall (master) productivity rating class D or E;

    [(6)] (7)  Bona fide agricultural services and uses that support the agricultural activities of the fee or leasehold owner of the property and accessory to any of the above activities, whether or not conducted on the same premises as the agricultural activities to which they are accessory, including [but not limited to] farm dwellings as defined in section 205-4.5(a)(4), employee housing, farm buildings, mills, storage facilities, processing facilities, vehicle and equipment storage areas, roadside stands for the sale of products grown on the premises, and plantation community subdivisions as defined in section 205‑4.5(a)(12);

    [(7)] (8)  Wind machines and wind farms;

    [(8)] (9)  Small-scale meteorological, air quality, noise, and other scientific and environmental data collection and monitoring facilities occupying less than one‑half acre of land; provided that these facilities shall not be used as or equipped for use as living quarters or dwellings;

    [(9)] (10) Agricultural parks;

   [(10)] (11) Agricultural tourism conducted on a working farm, or a farming operation as defined in section 165‑2, for the enjoyment, education, or involvement of visitors; provided that the agricultural tourism activity is accessory and secondary to the principal agricultural use and does not interfere with surrounding farm operations; and provided further that this paragraph shall apply only to a county that has adopted ordinances regulating agricultural tourism under section 205-5; and

   [(11)] (12) Open area recreational facilities.

Agricultural districts shall not include golf courses and golf driving ranges, except as provided in section 205-4.5(d).  Agricultural districts include areas that are not used for, or that are not suited to, agricultural and ancillary activities by reason of topography, soils, and other related characteristics."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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