First piece of info from my inquiry into Hawaiian Homelands and if/how County zoning and building codes apply.

Spoke today with a man who farms 20 acres of family land in Panaewa (Hawaiian Homelands). I did not get a lot of details as yet, but basically he said DHHL rather than the County has jurisdiction in terms of land use. For example, for a project on his family land, he goes to DHHL and tells them what his plan is, and needs some kind of OK from them. I don’t know what the formal procedure requires – he made it sound pretty informal actually.

He says he needs no permits from the County unless grid power is involved, in which case the usual kind of building permit process is required. As I understood it this is because HELCO has to be involved and they won’t play unless the rest of the County process is the game.

I am involved in portions of an alternative building project on this person’s family land. It will include graywater and also blackwater systems as well as building with a variety of non-code-approved materials and methods. He is not at all concerned with what the County may think because to his knowledge it’s none of their business anyhow.

Hope to find out more in the near future, will post additional info as I get it.