DHHL could be exempted from ‘show me the water’
Council considering bill in hopes of speeding up DHHL developments
Hoping to expedite Hawaiian homestead projects and keep families from being displaced, the Maui County Council is looking to exempt the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands from longterm water requirements.
For years, applicants for housing and other projects in Maui County have had to prove they had a “longterm, reliable supply of water” before building, an ordinance known as the “show me the water” policy.
A new measure before the council would exempt DHHL homestead projects including residential, cultural, agricultural, aquacultural and pastoral developments, as well as portions of multipurpose projects or community facilities, designed and intended for the “disposition of Native Hawaiians” under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, according to Council Vice Chairwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who proposed the bill.
The council’s Agriculture and Public Trust Committee voted 4-2 on Tuesday to recommend the bill and decided to include commercial development on the list, reasoning that the funding the department generates will go toward helping Native Hawaiians.
“The revenue is generated by DHHL and generated for the purpose of fulfilling the act, which Prince Kuhio advocated for on our behalf in 1920 to rehabilitate Hawaiians and stop the further displacement of our native people of this place,” Rawlins-Fernandez said. “As counties, we’re subdivisions of the state and obligated by this law as well and it’s a tragedy that the state refuses to provide adequate sums to DHHL in order for them to fulfill its obligation on behalf of the state.”
Some exemptions outlined in the bill include building permits that don’t require new or additional water services, subdivisions that will not be regulated by a public water system and residential workforce housing units that are within the service area of the department’s Central or West Maui water system.
Other exemptions include residential development projects with 100 percent affordable housing units that are within the service area of DHHL’s Central or West Maui water system, public or quasi-public development projects and related subdivisions that are within the service area and commercial development projects.
“The way that the administration feels about this is that any support to build more housing for Native Hawaiians is a large benefit to our community,” Maui County Managing Director Sandy Baz said during the meeting on Tuesday. “Because we can get more people into housing that are Native Hawaiians, we like that it helps our affordable housing in general because then there’s more inventory of housing for our community.”
Considering that the “show me the water” policy was enacted in 2007 with the goal to conserve the county’s water resources for affordable housing, Council Chairwoman Alice Lee was concerned that pieces of the proposed bill only “deviates from the original intent.”
“I believe that commercial should not be included in this exemption,” she added.
Still, both the DHHL and the county Department of Water Supply supported the measure, as well as the head of the state Land Use Commission.
“This bill is a very tangible step on the county level to fulfill its obligations to uphold and fulfill the (Hawaiian Homes Commission) act,” Land Use Commission Chairman Jonathan Scheuer said.
Lucienne De Naie, chairperson of the Sierra Club Maui Group, said during testimony that the organization will back this initiative because “housing is a human right” and such affordable housing projects should not be delayed.
“These are the kind of projects that should really be in front of the line,” De Naie said. “Water for Hawaiian homelands, which is completely 100 percent affordable housing, should have no barriers placed in terms of having the water it needs.”
Committee Chairman Shane Sinenci, Vice Chairman Gabe Johnson and Council Member Tamara Paltin also voted in favor of the bill. Lee and Council Member Mike Molina both voted “no” while Council Member Kelly King was excused.
The bill will move on to the full council for final review.