Kaua'i Farm Worker Housing Ordinance...Bill Mark-up Meeting 7/15/09 9am Council Chambers

County Council Committee Meetings
9 a.m., Wednesday, Historic County Building, Council Chambers
• Planning Committee — Bill No. 2291, a bill for an ordinance relating to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance.
• Planning Committee — Bill No. 2317, a bill for an ordinance relating to Small Wind Energy Conversion Systems.
• Planning Committee — Bill No. 2318, a bill for an ordinance relating to Farm Worker Housing.

Here was a good local article on the testimony hearing taken on this last week:
http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2009/07/09/news/kauai_news/doc4a5594ba34bea252292184.txt
"Farm workers plead for housing"
By Michael Levine - The Garden Island July 9, 2009

LIHU‘E — Dozens of Kaua‘i farmers stuffed Council Chambers Wednesday afternoon, voicing their support for a proposed bill that would clear the way for farm worker housing and provide much-needed support for the agriculture industry.

“I believe there is a strong consensus on this island that we need to grow more of our food — for our security, our health and our economy,” former County Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said in written testimony. “We will not be able to do this without addressing the need for farm worker housing.”

Bill No. 2813, if passed, would amend Section 8-1.5 of the Kaua‘i County Code by adding to the list of definitions entries for “farm,” “farm worker,” and “farm worker housing.” It would also amend Section 8-7.3 of the code to include farm worker housing as one of 15 uses and structures that require a use permit in agricultural districts.

With the room packed with a standing-room-only crowd that could have made the fire chief cringe, farmer after farmer took to the microphone to ask the council to pass the legislation. Many said the current terms of the bill — which was amended by the Planning Department and Planning Commission — were too restrictive in its definitions and might not do enough for new or prospective farmers.

Specifically, some farmers asked that the requirement that the term “farm worker” refer to an employee who works no less than 14 hours per week, rather than the 19-hour minimum currently in the proposed legislation.

Also, one farmer complained that the definition “Farm worker housing means housing over and above the residential density allowed in the Agriculture District ... (on) a farm that has generated at least $35,000 of gross sales of agricultural products per year, for the preceding two consecutive years, for each farm worker housing unit on the lot” should be reduced to $12,000 or be removed altogether.

“Be careful about putting money in the definition of a farm,” Moloa‘a farmer Scott Pomeroy said. “There’s no doubt that ag land needs to be protected ... it’s just that the business of farming ... has been to extract as much money or product out of an acre of land as possible. That’s led to severe depletion of the soil” and puts more and more pressure on the farmers.

Another Moloa‘a farmer, Scott Neuman, said money could probably do better in a savings account than in a farm, but that Kaua‘i farmers put their hearts, souls and money “where their mouths are.”

“The profit is minimal with back-breaking work,” he said.

His wife, Linda, said she has lived illegally on their 10-acre farm for seven years because she has no choice.

“Passing this bill shows the community your support for family farming,” she said. “We need help.”

Planning Committee Chair and Council Vice Chair Jay Furfaro, who introduced Bill No. 2813 last month, said that accomplishing all the bill set out to do is “easier said than done.” He said removing a requirement for a use permit could create the potential for a lot of abuse, and added that some issues may have to be addressed through an upcoming update to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. In short, Farm Worker Housing legislation is not a cure-all.

“I am looking forward to the Planning Committee meeting next week to work out some of the details,” Furfaro said in an interview during a caption break, with all but a few chairs full of yet-to-testify farmers.

“Why can’t we feed ourselves? We have the Garden Island here, so where’s the garden?” asked Keone Kealoha of Malama Kaua‘i in his testimony. “This is something that we have the ability to manage ourselves. ... I think that together we can figure out what those details [should be].”

Bill 2813 Timeline

• June 3 — Introduced by Jay Furfaro, passed on first reading by a 7-0 vote

• July 8 — Public hearing held, dozens of farmers attend to show support

• July 15 — Planning Committee meeting to be held, amendments to be discussed

Additional ideas for amendments presented on behalf of JoAnn Yukimura were:
1. The definition of "farm worker" should include farm owner or contract worker.
2. The requirement of $35,000 gross proceeds in two preceding years per farm worker unit does not fit the economic realities of farming various crops. Other Hawaii counties allow farmers to meet alternative criteria in lieu of the $35,000 [or less]. One alternative might be demonstrating that 75% [or less] of the farm's land is used for farming (including fallow land).
3. The required farm plan should not be approved by the Planning Dept. who do not necessarily have farming background. The farm plan should be approved by either the Soil & Water Conservation District Committee or by the Real Property Tax Div. Agriculture Inspector.

One other point to add:
"...One of the biggest issues many of us who are living on a CPR will face is having the bill address each individual farm as its own entity. This includes all of the Molo’a Hui lands, our own farm, and most of the north shore farmers. Really, in talking to some of the Kapahi people at the hearing, they also are farming on CPR lands. Aloha, The Wooton Family, Kauai Kunana Dairy"

Other good amendment ideas were mentioned at the July 8th Council meeting that will hopefully be brought forward to the best, most realistic ordinance bill possible on July 15th.

Here is a copy of the original bill No. 2318 with the key section of it below:
http://www.kauaiinfo.org/Billl%20%202318%20Farmworker%20Housing.pdf

...“Farm” means an operation or enterprise in operation for at least one year, the core function of which is the commercial cultivation of crops, including but not limited to crops for bioenergy, flowers, vegetables, foliage, fruits, forage, and timber or the raising of livestock, including but not limited to poultry, bees, fish, or other animal or aquatic life that are propagated for commercial purposes as evidenced by the annual filing of a Schedule F form with federal income tax filings by the owner or lessee.
“Farm worker” is an employee or intern who works no less than nineteen (19) hours per week in farm-related operations on a farm.
“Farm worker housing” means housing over and above the residential density allowed in the Agriculture District, as established in Section 8-7.5, which meets the following criteria:
(a) Is accessory to a farm that has generated at least $35,000 of gross sales of agricultural product(s) per year, for the preceding (2) two consecutive years, for each farm worker housing unit on the lot, as shown by State general excise tax forms and Federal Schedule F forms.
(b) The owner or lessee of the respective lot on which the farm worker housing is being proposed shall provide a farm plan to the Planning Department that demonstrates the feasibility of the respective farm’s commercial agricultural production.
(c) Is used exclusively for the housing of farm workers and their immediate family.
(d) For a family – the living space does not exceed 1200 square feet in area
(e) For a single person – the unit does not exceed 650 square feet in area
(f) If the farm ceases operation or fails to meet the definition of a farm, the owner shall remove all farm worker housing from the subject parcel within four (4) months of the triggering event (the cessation of a farm or failure to meet the definition). If the farm worker housing is attached to a primary dwelling unit that is part of the density allowed on the subject property, only the additional kitchen shall be removed, and not the additional
structure itself. At the time the owner is allowed another kitchen to create a farm worker housing unit, the owner shall sign a unilateral agreement giving the Planning Department the right to make two (2) unannounced inspections per year by the Planning Department for the purpose of ascertaining compliance in the case where the farm worker housing must be removed. Said agreement shall be recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances or the Land Court, as the case may be. Nothing in the agreement shall prevent the Planning Department from making as many properly executed announced inspections as may be necessary for the enforcement of other planning laws.
(g) Said housing shall be located on the subject parcel where the farming is occurring and the owner shall not, subsequent to obtaining the required zoning permits for the farm worker housing, subdivide said housing from the farm nor form any condominium property regime around said housing.
(h) Said housing may be portable and or temporary, but in all cases shall meet all health, safety and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (O.S.H.A.) requirements.
(i) A property shall be eligible for farm worker housing only when all of the subject property’s respective maximum permitted residential densities, as established in Section 8-7.5, have been permitted and constructed.
(j) The owner of farm worker housing shall annually certify to the Director of Planning that the Farm Worker Housing meets the conditions of subsection a through i above and shall give written consent to the Planning Department for an annual announced inspection by the department.
(k) Prior to the issuance of the building permit, the applicant shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Planning Director that the applicant has recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances or the Land Court, as the case may be, the above conditions, explicitly stating that the use permit does not run with the land but is personal to the specific applicant, and that any subsequent owner must secure a separate use permit for farm worker housing...