Governor signs Boy Scout camp land exchange bill

Gov. Linda Lingle held a bill signing ceremony Thursday to highlight a land exchange that will give the Aloha Council of Boy Scouts the title to the 29-acre Camp Alan Fay.

The camp is located within the Kokee State Park and has been used by the Boy Scouts for over 60 years.

House Bill 83 approves a land exchange between the State of Hawaii and the Boy Scouts that is being called a “win-win” proposition for both sides.

For camping and recreational purposes, the Boy Scouts currently lease, for nominal fees, state conservation lands at Pupukea on the North Shore of Oahu, at Kokee and at Honokaa on the Big Island.

The Boy Scouts are set to purchase for $1.2 million commercial land at Waikele in Leeward Oahu from Alexander & Baldwin. The land will then be deeded to the state in exchange for the three campgrounds.

The exchange allows the State to acquire the light industrial lands that have significant revenue generation potential in exchange for the leased conservation lands that have no current and little future potential for generating revenue.

The zoning designation of the camp lands is to remain conservation, and their use will be strictly regulated. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is assisting in the land exchange.

Kauai state Rep. Ezra Kanoho, D-East Kauai along with Kauai native Rep. Kika G. Bukoski of Maui, and Rep. Cynthia Thielen of Oahu, both Republicans, co-sponsored the bill.