Elton John to christen new MACC pavilion
His ‘Greatest Hits Live’ concert set for Feb. 25
January 7, 2011 - By RICK CHATENEVER, Entertainment Editor
Article from: The Maui News
KAHULUI - One of the biggest names in the music industry will launch the next chapter of history at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center when Elton John and his band inaugurate the new Yokouchi Pavilion with a “Greatest Hits Live” concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 25.
“Elton John is an icon in the music industry, and his music has stayed classic throughout the decades,” said center Chief Executive Officer and President Art Vento on Thursday.
Over his five-decade career, which includes a British knighthood, the piano-playing singer/ songwriter’s classic hits include “Your Song,” “Daniel,” “Rocket Man,” “Bennie and the Jets” and the proverbial many more. His “Candle in the Wind ‘97″ was the biggest-selling single of all time, with 37 million copies. With 35 gold and 25 platinum albums, he has sold more than 250 million records worldwide.
Presented by Concerts West, Tom Moffatt Productions and the MACC, the event will be the only Hawaii appearance for Sir Elton and his band, including Davey Johnstone on guitar, Bob Birch on bass, John Mahon on percussion, Nigel Olsson on drums and Kim Bullard on keyboards. It also will be John’s first performance on Maui, according to Vento.
John’s shows with the band are known for having audiences standing, dancing and singing along. The song list also includes selections from “The UNION,” his Grammy-nominated collaboration with Leon Russell.
“The Maui Arts & Cultural Center is ecstatic to have Elton John perform in the new Yokouchi Pavilion. It is an honor to add the MACC to the list of venues in which Elton John has performed during his incredible career,” Vento said.
Ticket prices are $77, $97, $152 and $252, with applicable fees added to each ticket. Tickets go on sale to MACC members at 10 a.m. Tuesday, continuing through noon Jan. 14. They go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Jan. 15.
“We highly encourage becoming a MACC member before tickets go on sale Tuesday,” said Box Office Manager Jason Carbajal.
The maximum number of tickets that can be purchased by an individual will be determined by the level of membership, from two to six. There also will be a six-ticket limit per customer when tickets go on sale to the general public.
Tickets and more information will be available from the MACC box office, online at mauiarts.org/tickets or by phone at 242-7469.
John’s appearance will be the first public event in the glass-roofed, $12.8 million pavilion that has transformed the outdoor space previously known as Yokouchi Founders Court. Occupying the same footprint as the previous stage, the capacity of the A&B Amphitheater remains the same, at around 5,000. Vento said fundraising for the pavilion project is ongoing and about $750,000 short of the amount needed.
Vento attributed booking an artist of John’s stature to fortuitous timing.
“We were just lucky,” he said. “We had been talking over a series of months. There was the possibility that Elton would come to Hawaii at the beginning of the year, and Maui had made the investment in upgrading the facility that would possibly be completed during that time frame. So we very aggressively pursued the idea. We kept in dialogue as we were building, and the timing became a realistic possibility. The fact that the pavilion is built and able to handle a show of this magnitude allowed for the discussions to continue.”
The center’s staff is inviting audiences to “celebrate a new beginning with the opening of the Yokouchi Pavilion,” which will bring state-of-the-art capabilities to producing outdoor shows.
Work on the pavilion has been going on over the last 20 months, generating about 155 jobs. Vento had called the project “a leap of faith” on the part of the MACC’s board of directors, embarking on major construction during a recession.
While he observed last summer that it had helped “put Maui back to work,” he also noted it was the worst of times to try to fundraise.
Now that the pavilion is complete, he pointed out, “The stage doesn’t stick out any further than it did before, and the rock wall at the back didn’t move. It’s just that there’s a real concert pavilion there now, able to accept shows with larger production capabilities.”
He saw the project as continuing the legacy of its namesake, Pundy Yokouchi, the visionary cultural trailblazer who shaped every aspect of the unique facility, generated support for it and oversaw its construction to fruition.
Likening it a “Field of Dreams” approach - if you build it, they will come - Vento described Yokouchi’s approach as “build it right, build it once.” It was a bold approach that resulted in putting Maui on the map of world culture.
“Why build the Castle Theater in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in the first place? And why invest $13 million in a 16-year-old facility?” Vento asked rhetorically.
“The complete package allows us to move forward for the next 16 years. We have to keep reinventing ourselves.”
* Rick Chatenever can be reached at scene@maui news.com.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Positive Signs for the Economy in the Nation’s December Employment Report
U.S. jobless rate falls to lowest level in 19 months
By Associated Press
Jan 07, 2011
Article from: Honolulu Star-Advertiser
WASHINGTON >> The nation’s economy added 103,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent last month, its lowest level in 19 months.
But the job growth fell short of expectations based on a strengthening economy. And the drop in unemployment was partly because people stopped looking for work.
Private employers added a net total of 113,000 jobs last month and the government shed 10,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.
“It’s a bit of a mixed bag,” said Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Analytics. Many analysts hoped to see larger job gains, and the drop in the unemployment rate is unlikely to be sustained, he said.
“The labor market ended last year with a bit of a thud,” he said. “But I think things will get much better this year.”
The economy has shown signs of steady improvement in recent weeks, leading many economists to expect more job creation. The Labor Department said Thursday that fewer people applied for unemployment benefits over the month than in any four-week period in more than two years. An increase in consumer spending made this past holiday season the best in four years.
There were positive signs in the December jobs report. Government revisions showed more people were hired in previous months than the government first estimated. The economy added 210,000 jobs in October, above the previous figure of 172,000. November’s total was revised to 71,000, up from 39,000.
President Barack Obama said the new jobs report shows the economy is moving in the right direction. But he acknowledged that hiring and growth must still accelerate.
Over the past three months, the economy has added an average of 128,000 jobs. That’s just enough to keep up with the population growth. Nearly double is generally needed to significantly reduce the unemployment rate.
But other factors can affect the unemployment rate, at least temporarily. One key reason for the drop was that the government no longer counts people as unemployed when they stop looking for work.
Fewer people said they were out of work last month. The number of unemployed fell by more than 500,000 to just under 14.5 million, the lowest since April 2009.
Still, the unemployment rate has topped 9 percent for 20 months, the longest such streak on record. And even with last year’s job gains, the unemployment rate fell only from 9.7 percent to 9.4 percent.
Stocks edged lower after the disappointing report was released The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 44 points in midday trading.
Through all of 2010, the nation added 1.1 million jobs, or an average of 94,000 jobs a month.
Economists expect hiring will ramp up this year, with some predicting double last year’s total of jobs or more. A tax cut package that goes into effect this month should boost consumer and business spending.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a more optimistic outlook for the economy during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Still, Bernanke said it could take four to five years for unemployment to drop to a historically normal rate of around 6 percent.
“Persistently high unemployment, by damping household income and confidence could threaten the strength and sustainability of the recovery,” he warned.
The health care and leisure and hospitality sectors showed the strongest job gains last month. Health care added about 36,000 jobs, while restaurants and hotels hired more than 29,000 new workers.
Retailers added 12,000 net new jobs, after shedding jobs the previous month. Manufacturers hired a net total of 10,000 new workers, after losing jobs for four straight months. The bleeding continued in construction, which cut 16,000 jobs.
Companies hired nearly 16,000 temporary workers, the fewest since July.
Including those who are working part time but would prefer full-time work, and those who have given up looking for work, the underemployment rate was 16.7 percent last month. That’s down from 17 percent in November.
The average work week didn’t increase, remaining at 34.3 for the third straight month. But average weekly earnings ticked up by just over a dollar, to $781.35. The additional jobs and slightly higher pay translates into a modest gain in incomes, economists said, which could bolster future spending.
By Associated Press
Jan 07, 2011
Article from: Honolulu Star-Advertiser
WASHINGTON >> The nation’s economy added 103,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent last month, its lowest level in 19 months.
But the job growth fell short of expectations based on a strengthening economy. And the drop in unemployment was partly because people stopped looking for work.
Private employers added a net total of 113,000 jobs last month and the government shed 10,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.
“It’s a bit of a mixed bag,” said Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Analytics. Many analysts hoped to see larger job gains, and the drop in the unemployment rate is unlikely to be sustained, he said.
“The labor market ended last year with a bit of a thud,” he said. “But I think things will get much better this year.”
The economy has shown signs of steady improvement in recent weeks, leading many economists to expect more job creation. The Labor Department said Thursday that fewer people applied for unemployment benefits over the month than in any four-week period in more than two years. An increase in consumer spending made this past holiday season the best in four years.
There were positive signs in the December jobs report. Government revisions showed more people were hired in previous months than the government first estimated. The economy added 210,000 jobs in October, above the previous figure of 172,000. November’s total was revised to 71,000, up from 39,000.
President Barack Obama said the new jobs report shows the economy is moving in the right direction. But he acknowledged that hiring and growth must still accelerate.
Over the past three months, the economy has added an average of 128,000 jobs. That’s just enough to keep up with the population growth. Nearly double is generally needed to significantly reduce the unemployment rate.
But other factors can affect the unemployment rate, at least temporarily. One key reason for the drop was that the government no longer counts people as unemployed when they stop looking for work.
Fewer people said they were out of work last month. The number of unemployed fell by more than 500,000 to just under 14.5 million, the lowest since April 2009.
Still, the unemployment rate has topped 9 percent for 20 months, the longest such streak on record. And even with last year’s job gains, the unemployment rate fell only from 9.7 percent to 9.4 percent.
Stocks edged lower after the disappointing report was released The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 44 points in midday trading.
Through all of 2010, the nation added 1.1 million jobs, or an average of 94,000 jobs a month.
Economists expect hiring will ramp up this year, with some predicting double last year’s total of jobs or more. A tax cut package that goes into effect this month should boost consumer and business spending.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a more optimistic outlook for the economy during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Still, Bernanke said it could take four to five years for unemployment to drop to a historically normal rate of around 6 percent.
“Persistently high unemployment, by damping household income and confidence could threaten the strength and sustainability of the recovery,” he warned.
The health care and leisure and hospitality sectors showed the strongest job gains last month. Health care added about 36,000 jobs, while restaurants and hotels hired more than 29,000 new workers.
Retailers added 12,000 net new jobs, after shedding jobs the previous month. Manufacturers hired a net total of 10,000 new workers, after losing jobs for four straight months. The bleeding continued in construction, which cut 16,000 jobs.
Companies hired nearly 16,000 temporary workers, the fewest since July.
Including those who are working part time but would prefer full-time work, and those who have given up looking for work, the underemployment rate was 16.7 percent last month. That’s down from 17 percent in November.
The average work week didn’t increase, remaining at 34.3 for the third straight month. But average weekly earnings ticked up by just over a dollar, to $781.35. The additional jobs and slightly higher pay translates into a modest gain in incomes, economists said, which could bolster future spending.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Just steps from Keawekapu...
This awesome condo with fantastic ocean views is just steps to world renown Keawakapu Beach.
This magnificent two bedroom two bath top floor unit is perfectly located to enjoy great views and fantastic beach and pool time.
Wailea Ekahi is known for great facilities including ocean front pool pavilion and is close to all Wailea amenities including tennis, golf, 5 star dining and The Shops at Wailea.
Please contact Donna D. Hansen, Realtor, (S) @ 808.280.1650 or Bob Hansen, BROKER (R) @ 808.283.9456
New Housing Units in Central,South and West Maui Will Soon Have to Pay New Impact Fees
Developers to be assessed impact fees for new schools
January 6, 2011 - By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer
Article from: The Maui News
WAILUKU - Landowners who want to build new housing units in Central, South and West Maui will soon have to pay new “impact fees” for the construction of new school facilities.
The state Department of Education announced Wednesday that it would immediately begin collecting the fees, which range from $5,373 to $5,778 per single-family home, and from $2,055 to $2,451 for each new multifamily unit.
Previously, developers could be required to pay school impact fees as a condition of county or state land-use approvals. But a 2007 law gave the DOE the power to collect the fees directly in areas that are expected to see a rapid growth in school populations. Maui is the first place in the state to see the new fees implemented, with West Hawaii expected to be the next in line.
“These are all areas where we anticipate the next big wave of residential growth,” said Heidi Meeker of the DOE Facilities Development Branch.
On Maui, all properties in the Maui, Baldwin and Lahainaluna high school complexes will be affected.
That means anyone seeking to build in an area served by those schools will be required to pay the fee - including both large developers and individual homeowners, Meeker said.
Major projects would likely trigger the requirement when they start to apply for permits with the county Planning Department, while small landowners would be required to pay when they come in for building permits, she said.
Public hearings on the proposed fees were held in October at Lahainaluna High School and Pomaikai Elementary School.
Meeker said she couldn’t estimate the amount of money that would be collected through the program.
“It’s really going to depend on the rate at which things are built,” she said.
While the fees would not cover the total cost of building new schools, they would help provide classrooms for a growing population, she said.
“It’s just a little bit of assurance that we will have adequate land for new schools, and some amount of construction money,” she said.
* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.
January 6, 2011 - By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer
Article from: The Maui News
WAILUKU - Landowners who want to build new housing units in Central, South and West Maui will soon have to pay new “impact fees” for the construction of new school facilities.
The state Department of Education announced Wednesday that it would immediately begin collecting the fees, which range from $5,373 to $5,778 per single-family home, and from $2,055 to $2,451 for each new multifamily unit.
Previously, developers could be required to pay school impact fees as a condition of county or state land-use approvals. But a 2007 law gave the DOE the power to collect the fees directly in areas that are expected to see a rapid growth in school populations. Maui is the first place in the state to see the new fees implemented, with West Hawaii expected to be the next in line.
“These are all areas where we anticipate the next big wave of residential growth,” said Heidi Meeker of the DOE Facilities Development Branch.
On Maui, all properties in the Maui, Baldwin and Lahainaluna high school complexes will be affected.
That means anyone seeking to build in an area served by those schools will be required to pay the fee - including both large developers and individual homeowners, Meeker said.
Major projects would likely trigger the requirement when they start to apply for permits with the county Planning Department, while small landowners would be required to pay when they come in for building permits, she said.
Public hearings on the proposed fees were held in October at Lahainaluna High School and Pomaikai Elementary School.
Meeker said she couldn’t estimate the amount of money that would be collected through the program.
“It’s really going to depend on the rate at which things are built,” she said.
While the fees would not cover the total cost of building new schools, they would help provide classrooms for a growing population, she said.
“It’s just a little bit of assurance that we will have adequate land for new schools, and some amount of construction money,” she said.
* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Rare Oceanview, Wailea Kai
OCEAN VIEWS IN WAILEA KAI!
Come see this unique home. Beautiful view deck with wet bar and BBQ area for entertaining while enjoying lovely ocean views and sunsets. This electronically gated and secluded home in cul-de-sac locale has been beautifully maintained.
Step down living room with beautiful secluded pool is heated & salt water. Built-in Polaris cleaner tropical gardens fully automatic irrigation system Ceramic tile, concrete & flagstone walkways around house & garage a unique rooftop lanai w/180 degree panoramic ocean view. Built- in wet bar entertaining station Private gated.
One of the three bedrooms has converted the closet to be used for a Murphy bed. There is a formal dining room area and breakfast room, both with lush garden views. The tropical gardens allow for private sitting areas or private sunbathing by the pool. This very large lot with long driveway is ideal for the person looking for privacy yet convenient stroll to world famous Keawakapu Beach.
It just doesn’t get any better.
Please contact Donna D. Hansen, Realtor (S) @ 808.280.1650 or
Bob Hansen, BROKER @ 808.283.9456
Loonie Edges Higher & U.S. Posts Good News on Employment in the Service Sector
Canadian dollar heads higher amid strong American data on jobs, service sector
Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press, On Wednesday January 5, 2011
Article From: www.yahoo.ca
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar moved higher against the American currency Wednesday amid good news on employment and expansion in the U.S. service sector.
The greenback gained against other currencies but the loonie ended the session up 0.21 of a cent to 100.36 cents US.
The Canadian currency had been below parity earlier in the day but strengthened after U.S. payroll company ADP estimated that the American economy created 297,000 jobs during December.
That’s nearly higher than the general forecast by economists.
“The Canadian dollar is doing better because a good U.S. number should be good for Canada,” said John Curran, senior vice-president at CanadianForex.
“If you get a good number out of the U.S., it’s going to basically flow into Canada at some point.”
The ADP data was released two days before the release of the U.S. non-farm payrolls report for December. Economists expect the official data to show that the U.S. economy created about 150,000 jobs during December.
Other data showed a strong reading in the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index for December, which rose to 57.1, a faster pace of expansion than the 55.3 reading that was expected.
On Monday, the ISM’s manufacturing index for December came in at a six-month high of 57, which raised hopes for economic growth in the neighbourhood of four per cent.
Also supporting the loonie was a turnaround in oil and copper prices.
Oil prices started to turn around amid data showing a larger than forecast drop in U.S. oil consumption last week, pushing the February contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 92 cents to US$90.30 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a bigger than expected decline in U.S. crude-oil inventories for last week, dropping 4.2 million barrels, almost double the decline that analysts had expected.
Copper finished higher with the March contract on the Nymex up four cents to US$4.41 a pound while gold prices continued to fall back as the positive economic data strengthened the U.S. dollar against many currencies and persuaded investors to trim their bullion holdings. The February bullion contract in New York lost $5.10 to US$1,373.70 an ounce.
Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press, On Wednesday January 5, 2011
Article From: www.yahoo.ca
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar moved higher against the American currency Wednesday amid good news on employment and expansion in the U.S. service sector.
The greenback gained against other currencies but the loonie ended the session up 0.21 of a cent to 100.36 cents US.
The Canadian currency had been below parity earlier in the day but strengthened after U.S. payroll company ADP estimated that the American economy created 297,000 jobs during December.
That’s nearly higher than the general forecast by economists.
“The Canadian dollar is doing better because a good U.S. number should be good for Canada,” said John Curran, senior vice-president at CanadianForex.
“If you get a good number out of the U.S., it’s going to basically flow into Canada at some point.”
The ADP data was released two days before the release of the U.S. non-farm payrolls report for December. Economists expect the official data to show that the U.S. economy created about 150,000 jobs during December.
Other data showed a strong reading in the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index for December, which rose to 57.1, a faster pace of expansion than the 55.3 reading that was expected.
On Monday, the ISM’s manufacturing index for December came in at a six-month high of 57, which raised hopes for economic growth in the neighbourhood of four per cent.
Also supporting the loonie was a turnaround in oil and copper prices.
Oil prices started to turn around amid data showing a larger than forecast drop in U.S. oil consumption last week, pushing the February contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 92 cents to US$90.30 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a bigger than expected decline in U.S. crude-oil inventories for last week, dropping 4.2 million barrels, almost double the decline that analysts had expected.
Copper finished higher with the March contract on the Nymex up four cents to US$4.41 a pound while gold prices continued to fall back as the positive economic data strengthened the U.S. dollar against many currencies and persuaded investors to trim their bullion holdings. The February bullion contract in New York lost $5.10 to US$1,373.70 an ounce.
Molokai Ranch Owners Seek Ruling On Land Use
Molokai Ranch owners seek ruling on land use
The filing asks that 5,000 acres used for cattle ranching be designated as agricultural land
By Andrew Gomes
Article from: Star-Advertiser
Molokai’s largest landowner is seeking to designate nearly 5,000 acres of property mostly used for cattle ranching as important agricultural land that would qualify the owner for state benefits.
Molokai Properties Ltd., better known as Molokai Ranch, has applied to the state Land Use Commission to preserve 4,919 acres for agricultural use under a 3-year-old state law that provides financial incentives for preserving ag land.
Cheryl Corbiell, a director for the nonprofit Molokai Land Trust, said that while details of the case have yet to be determined, in general the idea of preserving agriculture land from development is good. “I think any kind of conservation in the state is good news,” she said.
Molokai Properties’ application to preserve the land, filed Nov. 30, became the third case to use the new law, but it is the first attempting to protect land better suited for cattle than crops.
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. received commission approval in 2009 to protect 27,105 acres on Maui used by subsidiary Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. and 3,773 acres on Kauai used mostly by subsidiary Kauai Coffee Co.
The law provides incentives for dedicating land for agriculture in perpetuity.
Incentives include $7.5 million in annual tax credits for investments in agriculture facilities, a $2.5 million loan guarantee program, expedited ag processing facility permits and allowance of employee housing on prime ag land.
There is also a controversial benefit that allows owners of prime agricultural land to urbanize land equivalent to 15 percent of the acreage protected for other uses, including housing.
But like A&B, Molokai Properties in its application waived any rights to claim the benefit for urbanizing land.
A Molokai Properties official could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Some longtime opponents of Molokai Properties question whether a company should derive benefits from preserving what they see as low-quality ag land. Others say helping sustain ranching will benefit Hawaii’s most economically depressed neighbor island, where unemployment is about double the state average.
In its application, Molokai Properties said the benefits of the law will help secure and expand ranch operations on an island where ranching has historically been important both culturally and economically.
“The protection and preservation of Molokai’s cattle ranching heritage and tradition is a vital goal of this petition,” the company said in the filing.
The company said ranching on Molokai dates back to 1833 when about 200 longhorn cattle were introduced by Kamehameha III. Molokai Ranch was formed in 1897 on about 100,000 acres. Disease threats devastated the industry in the 1980s.
Then three years ago, after much rebuilding effort, Molokai Properties quit ranching. The company shut down operations — including a luxury hotel — after failing to win enough community support for a plan to finance investments in its strained resort and ranch operations by developing 200 lots for luxury oceanfront homes at Laau Point.
The development plan included conveying 50,000 acres to a community land trust for perpetual protection, but opponents said the trade-off was not worth it.
The company laid off about 120 employees and shuttered most of its business. But cattle operations were turned over to longtime ranch manager Jimmy Duvauchelle.
Duvauchelle, a fourth-generation Molokai cowboy, established Pohakuloa Ranch and manages about 500 cows on about 3,000 acres leased from Molokai Properties.
The operation is the largest ranch on Molokai, but Duvauchelle said the last two years have been rough.
“I’m doing the best I can now, but I’m too small,” he said. “In the cattle business, volume helps. Without the volume, it’s not working as far as making money.”
Much of the difficulty for Pohakuloa Ranch, according to Duvauchelle, is that it ships most young cattle to the mainland to be fattened up and slaughtered. Rising shipping costs and falling cattle prices have hurt operations.
Duvauchelle said he wants to keep more cattle on Molokai for Hawaii consumption, but to do that he needs more land for grazing and has to invest in other improvements. His goal is to double the number of cows and export only half his animals for fattening and slaughter on the mainland.
Under the expansion plan, Pohakuloa Ranch would lease more Molokai Properties land and take over another ranch, Diamond B Ranch, which Duvauchelle manages for a Maui owner. Diamond B operates on about 1,000 acres leased from Molokai Properties.
Molokai Properties in its application said it will grant Duvauchelle a 20-year lease for roughly 5,000 acres and grant a 99-year easement to Molokai Land Trust to ensure the land is restricted for agricultural use.
Molokai Properties also said the land holds future potential for large-scale crop production, perhaps for biofuels or seed corn, if sufficient water could be provided.
Presently, the water supply to the land comes from mountain streams and can sustain cattle but not crops, though pineapple, a dry-land crop, was once grown on much of the land.
Molokai Properties said breakthroughs in technology such as desalination combined with wind power could create an economical water supply for the land to sustain crops.
The filing asks that 5,000 acres used for cattle ranching be designated as agricultural land
By Andrew Gomes
Article from: Star-Advertiser
Molokai’s largest landowner is seeking to designate nearly 5,000 acres of property mostly used for cattle ranching as important agricultural land that would qualify the owner for state benefits.
Molokai Properties Ltd., better known as Molokai Ranch, has applied to the state Land Use Commission to preserve 4,919 acres for agricultural use under a 3-year-old state law that provides financial incentives for preserving ag land.
Cheryl Corbiell, a director for the nonprofit Molokai Land Trust, said that while details of the case have yet to be determined, in general the idea of preserving agriculture land from development is good. “I think any kind of conservation in the state is good news,” she said.
Molokai Properties’ application to preserve the land, filed Nov. 30, became the third case to use the new law, but it is the first attempting to protect land better suited for cattle than crops.
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. received commission approval in 2009 to protect 27,105 acres on Maui used by subsidiary Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. and 3,773 acres on Kauai used mostly by subsidiary Kauai Coffee Co.
The law provides incentives for dedicating land for agriculture in perpetuity.
Incentives include $7.5 million in annual tax credits for investments in agriculture facilities, a $2.5 million loan guarantee program, expedited ag processing facility permits and allowance of employee housing on prime ag land.
There is also a controversial benefit that allows owners of prime agricultural land to urbanize land equivalent to 15 percent of the acreage protected for other uses, including housing.
But like A&B, Molokai Properties in its application waived any rights to claim the benefit for urbanizing land.
A Molokai Properties official could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Some longtime opponents of Molokai Properties question whether a company should derive benefits from preserving what they see as low-quality ag land. Others say helping sustain ranching will benefit Hawaii’s most economically depressed neighbor island, where unemployment is about double the state average.
In its application, Molokai Properties said the benefits of the law will help secure and expand ranch operations on an island where ranching has historically been important both culturally and economically.
“The protection and preservation of Molokai’s cattle ranching heritage and tradition is a vital goal of this petition,” the company said in the filing.
The company said ranching on Molokai dates back to 1833 when about 200 longhorn cattle were introduced by Kamehameha III. Molokai Ranch was formed in 1897 on about 100,000 acres. Disease threats devastated the industry in the 1980s.
Then three years ago, after much rebuilding effort, Molokai Properties quit ranching. The company shut down operations — including a luxury hotel — after failing to win enough community support for a plan to finance investments in its strained resort and ranch operations by developing 200 lots for luxury oceanfront homes at Laau Point.
The development plan included conveying 50,000 acres to a community land trust for perpetual protection, but opponents said the trade-off was not worth it.
The company laid off about 120 employees and shuttered most of its business. But cattle operations were turned over to longtime ranch manager Jimmy Duvauchelle.
Duvauchelle, a fourth-generation Molokai cowboy, established Pohakuloa Ranch and manages about 500 cows on about 3,000 acres leased from Molokai Properties.
The operation is the largest ranch on Molokai, but Duvauchelle said the last two years have been rough.
“I’m doing the best I can now, but I’m too small,” he said. “In the cattle business, volume helps. Without the volume, it’s not working as far as making money.”
Much of the difficulty for Pohakuloa Ranch, according to Duvauchelle, is that it ships most young cattle to the mainland to be fattened up and slaughtered. Rising shipping costs and falling cattle prices have hurt operations.
Duvauchelle said he wants to keep more cattle on Molokai for Hawaii consumption, but to do that he needs more land for grazing and has to invest in other improvements. His goal is to double the number of cows and export only half his animals for fattening and slaughter on the mainland.
Under the expansion plan, Pohakuloa Ranch would lease more Molokai Properties land and take over another ranch, Diamond B Ranch, which Duvauchelle manages for a Maui owner. Diamond B operates on about 1,000 acres leased from Molokai Properties.
Molokai Properties in its application said it will grant Duvauchelle a 20-year lease for roughly 5,000 acres and grant a 99-year easement to Molokai Land Trust to ensure the land is restricted for agricultural use.
Molokai Properties also said the land holds future potential for large-scale crop production, perhaps for biofuels or seed corn, if sufficient water could be provided.
Presently, the water supply to the land comes from mountain streams and can sustain cattle but not crops, though pineapple, a dry-land crop, was once grown on much of the land.
Molokai Properties said breakthroughs in technology such as desalination combined with wind power could create an economical water supply for the land to sustain crops.
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