“Native Hawaiians have a fear that is rooted in a history of dispossession,” said Sterling Higa, who lives on the north side of Maui and works as the executive director of the local nonprofit Housing Hawaii’s Future. “For centuries now, they have watched their land being taken by foreigners.”And the local communities that have been on Maui for generations are also all too familiar with being priced out of their familial homes over the years.
“Before the fire in Lahaina, the same process had continued to unfold in west Maui, where Native Hawaiians, local families, were being priced out of their homes as wealthier people from out-of-state bought second or third homes, investment properties or homes that they could retire into,” Higa told CNN. “And prices of housing in west Maui has vastly outstripped the wages that are paid in Maui, especially for people working in the hospitality industry.” (source)
Gov. Josh Green addressed the fears of Maui residents on the 14th of August, who feared that speculators will swoop in to build hotels or other buildings in the historic, coastal town that was left an ashen wasteland by wildfires a week ago.
“I’ve actually reached out to our attorney general to explore options to do a moratorium on any sales of properties that have been damaged or destroyed,” Green said at a press conference in response to a question about the concerns. “Moreover, I would caution people that it’s going to be a very long time before any growth or housing can be built so you will be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here,” he added(source).
The General Plan 2030 – Maui Island Plan
It is clear that plans for the land on Maui have been developing for years. The General Plan 2030- Maui Island Plan was written over a decade ago in 2012, to provide direction for future growth, the economy, and social and environmental decision on the Island through 2030, according to the Government website (source)
An important element of the directed growth strategy will be to establish Transfer of
Development Rights (TDR) and Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs.
TDR’s and PDR’s have been in use for many years nationally to preserve agricultural
lands, open space, and sensitive environmental resources.
These tools provide landowners the option of being compensated for giving up development rights to lands
that serve an important public purpose in their current use or undeveloped condition.
With PDR programs the landowner is compensated by a land trust or local government
agency that buys development rights from the landowner so that the property can be
preserved in its current condition.
Hawaii government to confiscate lands burned by deadly Maui wildfires?
1 comment:
Whole reality of all occurrences, the madness, the sadness, should be our Nation's wake-up call,
this is what evil wants, to pour sorrow upon our land, our people, IMO!
Wake-up, those Americans already know capable of doing harm like this, need dealt with, our Spiritual War is surreal! Prayers go out to all affected by Maui Fires!
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