The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Honolulu City Council Committee on Planning and the Economy on Sept. 26, 2024.
_____________
Sept. 26, 2024, 9 a.m.
Honolulu Hale
To: Honolulu City Council, Committee on Planning and the Economy
Esther Kiaʻāina, Chair
Radiant Cordero, Vice-Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: Bill 64 (2023) — RELATING TO USE REGULATIONS
Aloha Chair Kiaʻāina, Vice-Chair Cordero and members of the Committee,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has concerns about the portion of Bill 64 (2023), FD1 that would amend the city’s land-use regulations governing agricultural uses.
In general, Grassroot believes that the current draft of Bill 64 would negatively impact Oahu’s small farmers and beekeepers, worsen the island’s food security and discourage entrepreneurship. Therefore, we support certain amendments to the bill proposed by Committee Chair Esther Kiaʻāina and Councilmembers Andria Tupola and Matt Weyer.
One of our primary concerns with the current draft is how it would treat beekeeping. Current standards allow beekeeping in all county zones, with setback standards and an eight-hive limit for non-agricultural zones. Apiaries kept in agricultural zones are not subject to any zoning standards.
The draft bill would put the screws to hobby and commercial beekeepers by imposing a 5,000-square-foot minimum lot size for keeping bees. Additionally, no lot could have more than six hives; lots between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet could have four; and lots between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet could have only two.
Moreover, without explaining why, the bill would remove beekeeping as a permitted use in the county industrial and industrial mixed-use zones.
Meanwhile, the proposed minimum lot size in residential zones — where lot sizes sometimes do not exceed 5,000 and rarely exceed 10,000 square feet — would have a devastating effect on many current and prospective beekeepers.
Amendments submitted by Councilmembers Tupola and Weyer would delete these proposed restrictions by making beekeeping a permitted use in all zoning districts. In addition, these amendments as well as an amendment submitted by Committee Chair Kiaʻāina would remove the draft’s overly restrictive beekeeping standards.
We also support Committee Chair Kiaʻāina’s amendment that would remove the standards for hours of operation and onsite sales for urban agriculture.
Finally, an amendment submitted by Councilmember Tupola includes provisions that would remove unnecessary prohibitions against utilities in farm stands. This is a sensible change that would allow farm stands to keep pace with social and technological changes.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas,
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
