Jeff Lindner
• Age: 70
• Occupation: Agricultural developer, farmer
• Town of residence: Anahola
• Prior experience in government/leadership: President of non-profit K-12, A Kula Hawai‘i, 25-year operator of Moloa‘a Water Irrigation system
Q: The median price of a single-family home on Kaua‘i is over $1 million, and the County’s 2018 General Plan reported 44% of all households are cost-burdened. How will you address the affordable housing crisis in Kaua‘i County?
The cost-burden on households is much greater now in 2022. The county’s 2018 General Plan also assigned 47% of development to Lihu‘e for the next 15 years. That’s problematic considering the surrounding land around Lihu‘e is owned by a single entity, Grove Farm.
There is no one else to compete for the incentives the county might create to build middle-class and affordable housing. In other words, in a monopoly the only one in the market sets the price.
And if that one entity can get a better price for resort property, there’s no incentive for them to do middle and affordable housing. But to be fair, corporations aren’t responsible for the public’s well-being.
The sale of all Lihu‘e land to a single buyer in 2000 contained land over 500 acres that had been converted to urban by the state.
That urban-zoned land was granted in 1996, with the condition, “provide affordable-housing opportunities for low-, low-moderate and gap- group-income residents… within the entire petition area.” After 28 years, no “affordable-housing opportunities” have been “provided.”
Only the state has the power to remove the land from urban for non-compliance.
There may be an intervener on the original petition that could be supported to force compliance by the state. There are also over 450 acres of Grove Farm’s, or previous owner’s, land zoned residential 4 (four houses per acre) not being developed after many years. That zoning should be sunset if not developed in two years.
Q: Kaua‘i continues to look for a new landfill site years after its search began. The clock is ticking: The Kekaha Landfill is currently projected to reach capacity in January 2027. What is your preferred solution?
Too much time may have passed to implement a preferred solution on the landfill. There appears to be one site secured, although of limited capacity. Unless the county still has options on some of the other sites, or can come up with new sites, the existing solution is not ideal.
Some have suggested waste-to-energy as a solution. That depends on where the technology is at regarding emissions. I know as one of the founders of Green Energy Team, most any pollutant can be scrubbed, but the cost may be prohibitive. I have also heard, since I am no longer affiliated with the biomass-to-energy plant, it is for sale. It was my understanding the plant had the potential to be converted to waste-to-energy, but there was a significant cost. The county owns the waste stream, and sale of that supply would have to be worked out with a third party if they were to operate the plant.
The budget controls a lot of the decision options. It’s important to invest in things that really matter. One of the things we should have invested in a long time ago was the recycling program. We need to do that now.
The coronavirus pandemic decimated the tourism industry Kaua‘i – and the state – is so reliant upon. Should Kaua‘i County make economic diversity a priority, and if so, how?
Kauaʻi should definitely have more economic diversity. There is nothing more perfect for Kauaʻi
with its ideal climate than diversified small farms. The County should allow the vertical integration of farms where they grow, process, market, and sell. The County has recently removed some of those past restrictions which is commendable.
The County should adopt policies to encourage development of small farms. An opportunity was missed when the plantations shut down but it’s not too late. One of the positive recommendations the General Plan 2000 had for agricultural subdivisions was to “create greater flexibility in site planning in order to afford a more efficient subdivision”. Unfortunately, that never happened.
The County should also bring back ADUs on agricultural parcels, which was sunset 20 years ago, to provide for new family members to reside, keep alive, and expand their farming legacy.
The Council is currently working on better programs to help farmers with property tax breaks.
That is helpful but not a full commitment from all the County agencies to support an industry that is hard to make money in. The County needs to invest in water resources to be able to provide more affordable agricultural water rates. The State needs to finally sort out its water resources to provide water equitably to the agricultural users over commercial use. Commercially zoned land need to be made available in smaller communities to prevent residents from making long drives for basic and essential things.
Q: The County Council sets real property tax rates as part of the County budget process. What changes, if any, would you make to the way that property is taxed on-island?
The restrictive policies on development of agricultural dwellings over the past 25 years, and the
County’s failure to prioritize housing development in urban areas, as well as allowing development rights to become concentrated to a single entity where the County loses power to affect public policy even if they wanted to, are responsible for the housing crisis. That crisis has created a shortage of housing, and a corresponding increase in pricing from market forces, where demand is chasing a manipulated short supply.
The biggest beneficiary of this, economically, is Grove Farm, the one with the most development rights. To be fair, that property should pay taxes on their development rights, whether the right has been developed or not. In fact, even though the County Charter requires property to be valued at its “highest and best’ use, the County is not putting this into practice. The result is the property owner is holding on to their development rights at no cost, and if taxed on it, they would be more likely to put that property on the market to avoid the cost of land banking it.
As regards the tax on homeowners, they will pay more taxes because the value of their property has gone up. It’s hard to justify raising rates when the County was responsible for the shortage of housing and subsequent increase in market prices. Regarding non-residents, they are already taxed more but that may need to be raised.
Property taxes on resorts are too low.
What is driving you to seek election or re-election, and why should voters give you their vote?
After 35 years of developing large agricultural parcels, i know the systemic inequity and partiality
of the development of Kauaʻi, and I want to bring that knowledge to the people, and to the Council who can do something about it.
The State’s predominant purpose of adopting the Agricultural classification of land was not to promote agriculture, but rather, to limit development rights of the land the big five companies had no plans to develop. Policies were put in place by the State and Counties, and continue today, that give the original developed land by a handful of companies, control of all development rights by restricting agricultural land. In other words, Agricultural land, basically, has no development rights.
For example, to live on agricultural land, a “farm dwelling agreement” stating you will be fined, and your house removed if you’re not farming, has to be signed. However, the State refuses to clarify what amount is legal. Everyone is left a suspect, and the County uses that to give a perception of illegal dwelling.
Additionally, dwellings are not afforded a direct connection to the County, they must join a quasi-government organization called a CPR, where another member can take away your rights with the County.
A 1,000-acre parcel of agricultural land needs to get a permit to build more than four houses, triggering a public hearing where doubts of “ legitimacy of use” are raised.
These are just a few of the grandfathered policies to maintain development rights for elite land holdings.
WOW— Jeff Linder I am voting for you!!! Kauai needs a person with your agriculture and land development knowledge!!! Yes to ADU on Ag zoned land when it is really being farmed and has adequate infrastructure. Great !!! there is hope!!!!