City Council tackles agriculture changes in land use ordinance overhaul

Agriculture on Oʻahu could see some big changes as lawmakers overhaul the city’s land use ordinances (LUO).

The Honolulu City Council last week tackled proposed changes to farming, including some to its LUO through Bill 64. Those will likely impact housing on farms, raising livestock, beekeeping, agritourism and many other facets of farming operations.

The changes are still under discussion. However, farmers and their advocates have noted glaring issues with the proposed changes.

One topic that’s under some debate is requiring at least 51% of the land on properties zoned for agriculture to be used for farming. Possible restrictions under agritourism and housing on farms would require that agriculture activity itself is still the predominant activity on farmland.

Micah Munekata, Ulupono Initiative’s director of government affairs, said that’s an important policy to include in the city’s new LUO.

“What we're finding now is that urban sprawl is real, and everyone's coming into our agricultural land,” he told the council’s Committee on Planning and the Economy last week.

“We really need to ensure that, if we are truly backing agricultural production, that we do it in a smart way, that we look forward, that we provide different standards within our land use ordinance that identify that a simple majority —51% — of your agricultural land that's suitable for production is in production," Munekata added.

Others say the 51% rule would make farming more difficult, especially for smaller properties. They believe the LUO would be better off measuring agricultural productivity.

While the LUO’s changes would be wide-ranging and affect all agriculture activities on the island, local beekeepers were notably well-represented during last week’s committee hearing — and have been in previous Bill 64 hearings.

That’s because Oʻahu regulations on beekeeping are relatively lax, and allowed in all zoning districts, but the new LUO could include new rules that might make beekeeping more restrictive and difficult.

The current draft of Bill 64 would require a property to be 5,000 square feet in order to have honeybees — and even then, only two hives would be allowed. More would be acceptable as the property grows, with a maximum of six hives on lots bigger than 20,000 square feet.

Others are concerned that some proposed rules on beekeeping would hinder farmers who use bees to pollinate their crops.

Those recommendations may be removed. Committee Chair Esther Kiaʻāina recommended changes to the bill to ensure that the “approach to beekeeping maintains the current status quo in the existing LUO.”

The council committee’s next discussion on the land use changes is scheduled for Oct. 22.