BY KIONI DUDLEY – On Thursday and Friday of last week, with the Land Use Commission decisions on Koa Ridge an Ho’opili, we lost 45% of the farmland on O’ahu that produces fresh fruits and vegetables for the local market.
This will directly affect the health of our people. At a time when interest in locally grown fruits and vegetables is growing exponentially, no one is being told of how this LUC decision clashes with their aspirations. Expert witnesses state that the farmland to be taken for Ho’opili is among the very best, if not the best, in the world.
We already have the worst traffic in the United States. In Leeward and Central, we have 50,305 additional homes already approved by the Land Use Commission, zoned by the city, fully entitled and ready to build, without including Ho’opili or Koa Ridge. These homes will put at least 50,000 more cars on our freeway. And the approval of these two projects will add 15,000 additional cars.
All studies, including those of the developer, conclude that this will bring the freeways to gridlock, with repeated standstill. It will add more than a half hour in each direction for everyone in Central and Leeward, entirely changing our lives. The people who travel the freeways are entirely unaware of this.
The Friends of Makakilo, an Intervenor before the Land Use Commission in the Ho’opili case, will be filing a “Motion for Reconsideration” at the June 21 or 22 LUC meeting. This motion could be heard at that meeting, but should at least be heard by June 30, when two commissioners will leave the LUC.
I am attaching a copy of my Closing Oral Argument for the Ho’opili case. It’s a rich resource for substantiated facts. This can also be found at https://youtu.be/Q5qVXmd0doo
Dr. Kioni Dudley, President of Friends of Makakilo (an intevenor)