U.S. Army leases on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island expire in five years, and the Board of Land and Natural Resources is considering a land exchange as an alternative to new leases.
This idea was met with overwhelming opposition at a recent BLNR meeting, where testifiers argued that any future land disposition should first require the Army to thoroughly clean the land.
For the past 65 years, the U.S. Army has conducted live-fire training on lands it leases from the state at Pōhakuloa on Hawaiʻi Island, as well as Kahuku, Poamoho and Mākua on Oʻahu.
BLNR Chair Dawn Chang said no lands have been identified for the exchange, but to start the process, agency staff recommended the board hire an appraiser to determine the fair market value of lands currently leased by the U.S. Army.
“The recommendation is not to authorize the chairperson to enter into a land exchange, but it’s to start the process to at least get an appraisal. We need to know what is the value of our state lands that the Army is using,” Chang said.
“I think we all agree, and I think even Gen. (Charles) Flynn will agree, the days of $1 are gone. We need to know what is the value of these lands so that we can determine either what are we going to charge for a lease or what are we going to charge for a land exchange,” she continued.
After more than three hours and more than 500 pages of public testimony, land board members agreed to defer decision-making so as to not rush a vote on the matter. No date has been set for decision-making.
Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of the U.S. Army Pacific, said retaining these lands is important for training and deployment in the region, especially the Pōhakuloa Training Area.
The draft environmental review for leased lands at Pōhakuloa will be released within the next two weeks, with public meetings set for next month in Hilo and Waimea.
The draft environmental review for the U.S. Army’s leased lands on Oʻahu will be released in early June, with public meetings to follow.
