Lease-less Non-profit Founders In Effort to Rezone State Land in Ma'ili

posted in: July 2004 | 0

Without any legal tenancy on the land, Aloha Noblehouse, Inc., a non-profit that was set up to develop sustainable, eco-friendly housing for the poor, has petitioned the state Land Use Commission to shift 96.4 acres of ceded land in Ma’ili from the Conservation District to the Urban District.

The organization did have a 1994 right-of-entry from the Board of Land and Natural to do soil studies and ground surveys, but according to Dan Davidson, deputy director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, that access, which expired in 1994, in no way allows Aloha Noblehouse even to attempt such a rezoning.

Davidson says his department has written the LUC informing it that the petitioners have no legal interest in the property, and that the DLNR is not interested in proceeding with Aloha’s petition.

Aloha had been seeking to build Ma’ili Hale Estate, a 60-unit housing project for low-income families in Ma’ili, since the early 1990s. Documents from Aloha call the project the “nation’s first 100% affordable, sustainable and resident empowering Noblehomestead.”

Aloha Noblehouse, Inc., a non-profit sponsored by Earth Incorporated, provides “attainable homes with alternative energy, basic nutrition, and community service,” according to the company’s publications. At Ma’ili Hale, Aloha planned to have a permaculture garden and aquaculture ponds for food, photovoltaic panels for energy, and a computer and education center.

On June 14, 1991, the Board of Land and Natural Resources granted a right of entry to Aloha Noblehouse to enter three acres of state land at the corner of Kaukama Street and Farrington Highway in Ma’ili. Although the approval was given in 1991, the right of entry wasn’t to begin until October 1, 1994, with an expiration date of March 31, 1995. Nearly two weeks late, on October 12, 1994, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources issued the right-of-entry to allow Aloha Noblehouse to do “any ground survey work needed to develop an initial site plan” and to conduct soil studies.

The October 12 letter to Aloha, written by DLNR land agent Cecil Santos, also states that the DLNR “will not sign any application forms for the participating government agencies and financial institutions until the State Board of Land and Natural Resources approves of the issuance of a ground lease.” Santos continued that the proposed lease term would be 65 years, and annual rent would be 25 percent of market rent.

To secure a lease from the board, Aloha would have to get an LUC boundary amendment, City & County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting public housing entitlements, and receive letters of support “from the participating government and commercial organizations.”

In April 2003, Aloha met with LUC executive director Anthony Ching, who, according to Aloha, advised the company on how to update a draft environmental assessment for the project, written in 1991. According to Aloha, Ching also told the non-profit he wanted a letter of approval from BLNR for a 65-year lease, “conditioned on a successful boundary amendment and governmental and financial institution writings of requirements and intention to provide grants and loans for construction and permanent funding of the MHE [Ma’ili Hale Estates].

On May 2, 2004, Aloha claims, DLNR Land Division administrator Dierdre Mamiya informed the company that it would set aside the Ma’ili parcel to Aloha at the request of the HCDCH or the City and County of Honolulu.

Regardless of what the Land Division staff may or may not have told Aloha, Davidson insists the boundary amendment petition will not proceed. An LUC discussion of Aloha’s environmental assessment was scheduled for the LUC’s meeting in late June. Whether or not the LUC ever accepts an EA or EIS for the project, Davidson says, the DLNR has told Aloha “to work with other agencies and use different land.”

— Teresa Dawson

Volume 15, Number 1 July 2004

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *