Ag tourism gets a boost as an accessory use in Maui County agricultural districts, except on Molokaʻi

Maui County Council members unanimously gave final approval Friday to a bill establishing agricultural tourism as permitted accessory use in agricultural districts, except on Molokaʻi.

Bill 75 also advances the Countywide Policy Plan directive: “Promote the teaching of traditional practices, including aquaculture; subsistence agriculture; Pacific Island, Asian, and other forms of alternative health practices; and indigenous Hawaiian architecture.”

The measure will be forwarded to Mayor Richard Bissen for final action.

During the Council’s regular meeting Friday, the bill passed 7-0, with Council Members Tom Cook and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez absent and excused. Rawlins-Fernandez, who had raised objections to Bill 75 during a July 11 Council meeting, was traveling to New Zealand. She opposed the “offensive” dilution of cultural protection and wanted strong safeguards in place to protect Hawaiian culture.

Sydney Smith, chair of the Ag Working Group, spoke in favor of the bill, saying it would help farmers and ranchers.

“It could possibly encourage family members to return home from the Mainland to help with the family farm or ranch with these options to earn some extra income,” she said.

Smith said she’s been in contact with Hawaiʻi US Rep. Ed Case, who’s proposing a bill to make it easier for Native Hawaiians to get grants for cultural-based tourism focusing on cultural practices.

“So the timing of this bill will make the grant opportunities that will be offered through the office of Native Hawaiian relations possible for our local Native Hawaiian families,” she said.

Council Member Gabe Johnson, chair of the Council’s Agriculture, Diversification, Environment and Public Transportation Committee, worked on the bill with the Ag Working Group. The bill “will give our farmers more options to make their farming operations viable, which will increase our food security and food sovereignty,” he said.

The bill eventually passed Friday by the full Council excludes Molokaʻi. If the ag tourism activity represents the indigenous culture’s customs and traditions, the Department of ʻŌiwi Resources must be consulted for guidance. The guidance would include “avoidance of misappropriation of the indigenous culture’s traditions and the practices of the activities with respect for the indigenous culture’s intellectual property and traditional and ancestral knowledge.”

In addition, among other things, all agricultural tourism activities must be related to and not interfere with principal farming operations. They need off-street parking and may operate only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Agricultural tourism activities may include: demonstrations, workshops or presentations relating to agricultural practices and products grown, raised, caught, or produced in Hawai‘i, with priority given to County-grown, raised, caught and produced agricultural products and value-added products. These may include botanical and traditional crafts. such as lei-making, ku‘i ‘ai, cordage and rope making, saddlery and leatherwork, basketry, weaving, carving, feather work, coffee roasting and tasting, tea processing and brewing, tapa production, honey and beeswax production, cacao processing and tasting, dairying, cheese making, cooking, la‘au lapa‘au and instruction in the use of medicinal plants, native Hawaiian agricultural practices, and agricultural conservation. innovation. and sustainability.

In other action, council members passed Resolution 25-150, which authorized temporary hazard pay of up to $7.4 million budgeted in the current fiscal year for employees of the Department of Fire and Public Safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kanoa Shannon, Maui Division chair for Hawaii Firefighters Association, asked council members for support in passing the resolution, saying “please recognize our position of arriving first in on scene as public safety responders performing the essential work at incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

On a separate matter, council members adopted Resolution 25-143, which establishes a Special Committee on Real Property Tax Reform, chaired by Council Member Alice Lee and vice-chaired by Rawlins-Fernandez, both of whom have experience working on the issue of real property tax reform.

Johnson said he was curious about the impetus or intent behind the special committee. “As. you know, we’ve got the lowest property tax rates in the nation. What are we reforming?”

“A lot of things,” Lee said, including follow-up on the recommendations of a former tax reform group. “One of my major concerns of many is the fact that those who are selected to be owner-occupants of affordable units should automatically get the home exemption.”

She noted that applications for home exemptions are due by Dec. 31. “And oftentimes, these homeowners, affordable homeowners, barely qualify for the home and now if they miss that deadline because the permit was delayed, now they have to pay the higher rate,” she said. “So it’s those kinds of things, you know, more practical things that people over time have missed.”

In another resolution, council members adopted Resolution 25-148, which authorizes use of the Managed Retreat Revolving Fund for the purchase or acquisition of privately owned shoreline properties by the Lahaina Community Land Trust. The Council has already appropriated $5 million for this project.

On first reading, council members approved Bill 56 to provide discounted water rates for Department of Water Supply customers who are using water solely for the purposes of conserving or restoring native Hawaiian species habitats without any associated commercial activity. More information is available in the report by the Committee on Water and Infrastructure, chaired by Cook.

On second reading, councilors approved Bill 47, which authorizes the mayor to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Hawaiʻi Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, and Hawai‘i counties for the Hawaiʻi Creative Economy Collaborative.