WAIMANALO — Business owners facing fines and citations for the misuse of farm land say it's time that city and state governments started doing more to help them resolve ongoing problems of illegal land use.

Most of the problems stem from the use of agricultural land for things such as business base yards, which are not legal anywhere in the rural community.

"Waimanalo has no place to legally operate businesses," said Joe Correa, a local businessman. "So we're asking for the city and the state to acknowledge that and help us by creating a community base yard within our rural community."

Hugh Baptiste, of Pukiki Tree Service, and Kaleo Keeno, of Keeno Farms Construction Inc., said they would like to find an acceptable solution to the problems so that they can continue operating their businesses out of Waimanalo. Both say their land use is compatible to agriculture guidelines and they are being singled out while similar businesses are left alone.

"It seems to us they get one witch-hunt and they trying to fight certain people," said Keeno, who owns two acres of agriculture land and grows flowers on one of the acres. Keeno has been cited by the city for parking construction trucks on his property.

Baptiste, leases fee-simple land on Saddle City Road to park his trucks and grow trees for landscape projects. As a certified tree trimmer, Baptiste said, he is in a "green industry" and should be allowed to use the land. He said he's no different than other landscapers who take their trucks to job sites and park them on their agriculture zoned lots.

"We're not raping and pillaging the land," Baptiste said. "We're beautifying it."

DLNR RESPONDS

Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which has 99 Waimanalo tenants on leased land, said he welcomes the opportunity to work through the problems in a broader land-use planning process.

"I don't view that as an opportunity for an immediate solution, but in a long-range planning context we would be interested in working with them," Young said, saying the DLNR would participate in discussions and even consider making suitable lands available for light industrial use.

City officials did not respond to requests for comment.

However, Andrew Jamila Jr., a Waimanalo Neighborhood Board member, said the city has funded a study to locate a base yard in the community. The study is under way.

Hugh Humphrey, a member of the Waimanalo Agriculture Association, said the group doesn't condone nonagriculture use on agricultural land but is aware of the effort to find property in Waimanalo for base yards and would support it.

"We've told Andrew Jamila that if they can come up with a plan that's not prime ag land, we'll support it," he said. "We're not going to give up good ag land."

Government officials worked with agriculture association members for about five months before launching a crackdown last month on illegal land use.

The agriculture association has compiled a list of 10 alleged offenders and asked governments to investigate. State and city actions were taken against four on the list, and the city has taken additional action against two others, including fines of up to $500 a day and notices of violations. State officials are prepared to cancel the lease on one lessee and are investigating three others, state officials said.

Correa said the problems are rooted in the way the city and state define agriculture.

Over the decades, he said, the definition of agricultural use has changed. At one time, agricultural land was limited to growing food crops. That's no longer the case, but there are some gray areas, and the city and state should agree to establish identical definitions, Correa said.

PARKING AN ISSUE

The most challenging problem in Waimanalo is the lack of a community base yard for parking trucks and storing equipment, Correa said. As the sugar industry folded around the island, he said, many of the mill sites were turned into light industrial areas. That didn't happen in Waimanalo. Consequently, some business owners are parking their work equipment at their homes.

Correa has done work for All Tree Service, which could lose its lease with the Department of Land and Natural Resources because of infractions such as dumping of tree-trimming waste and lack of a building permit. But the state agency is giving All Tree time to correct the infractions and has approved the company's plan for the property, which includes an organic nursery that uses the tree trimmings as mulch.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.