A Big Island project’s land-use change approval is subject to certain conditions

The state Land Use Commission has provided conditional approval for urbanizing 272 acres on the Big Island, advancing a plan to develop 2,330 homes initiated by the state to provide work-force housing.

Last week’s decision, opposed strongly by the property’s former owner, advances the estimated $734 million master-planned community called Kamakana Villages at Keahuolu for consideration by various Hawaii County entities, including the County Council.

On Friday the LUC filed an order to convert the land from agricultural use to urban use after a 7-2 vote by commission members.

However, the approval was granted subject to several conditions.

One condition is that the production and distribution of affordable homes be agreeable to the county.

Developer Forest City Hawaii LLC has proposed providing 1,169 homes — or just over half of all Kamakana homes — at affordable prices under federal guidelines.

The developer has committed to providing 1,138 multifamily homes and 31 single-family homes at prices estimated between $200,000 and $400,000, though about 400 homes would be rentals.

Market-price homes at Kamakana would include 531 multifamily homes and 630 single-family homes at estimated prices from $300,000 to $700,000.

Another condition is that the developer produce a traffic impact analysis report that is approved by the county and state Department of Transportation, and that the developer implement any mitigation measures recommended by the government related to direct impacts from the project. Also, the developer must contribute its fair share of regional transportation improvements.

The traffic mitigation issue was a main point of objection to the project from the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, which expressed concerns that other landowners and taxpayers would be left to make traffic improvements necessitated by adding so many homes in the area.

The trust also argued that the state, which bought the property from the trust in 1992 under threat of condemnation, originally wanted the site and neighboring land for a broader range of public uses, including a University of Hawaii campus and a sports complex.

A state agency charged with facilitating affordable-housing development, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., initially advanced the conceptual plan for Kamakana, and selected Forest City to develop the state property with assistance of a $25 million loan.

HHFDC said Kamakana will help meet an acute need for affordable housing in West Hawaii and reduce regional highway traffic that is bad in part because many workers at nearby hotels commute to the area from far away.

The development agreement between the agency and the developer requires that at least 50 percent of the homes be sold at prices affordable to people earning no more than 140 percent of the Big Island’s median income, or $65,370 for a single person or $93,380 for a family of four.

Forest City has proposed making 58 of the 1,169 affordable homes affordable to residents earning up to the maximum limit. Another 286 homes would be affordable to those earning 100 percent to 120 percent of the median income, and 825 homes would be affordable to those earning between 80 percent and 100 percent of the median income.

The state Land Use Commission has provided conditional approval for urbanizing 272 acres on the Big Island, advancing a plan to develop 2,330 homes initiated by the state to provide work-force housing.

Last week’s decision, opposed strongly by the property’s former owner, advances the estimated $734 million master-planned community called Kamakana Villages at Keahuolu for consideration by various Hawaii County entities, including the County Council.

On Friday the LUC filed an order to convert the land from agricultural use to urban use after a 7-2 vote by commission members.

However, the approval was granted subject to several conditions.

One condition is that the production and distribution of affordable homes be agreeable to the county.

Developer Forest City Hawaii LLC has proposed providing 1,169 homes — or just over half of all Kamakana homes — at affordable prices under federal guidelines.

The developer has committed to providing 1,138 multifamily homes and 31 single-family homes at prices estimated between $200,000 and $400,000, though about 400 homes would be rentals.

Market-price homes at Kamakana would include 531 multifamily homes and 630 single-family homes at estimated prices from $300,000 to $700,000.

Another condition is that the developer produce a traffic impact analysis report that is approved by the county and state Department of Transportation, and that the developer implement any mitigation measures recommended by the government related to direct impacts from the project. Also, the developer must contribute its fair share of regional transportation improvements.

The traffic mitigation issue was a main point of objection to the project from the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, which expressed concerns that other landowners and taxpayers would be left to make traffic improvements necessitated by adding so many homes in the area.

The trust also argued that the state, which bought the property from the trust in 1992 under threat of condemnation, originally wanted the site and neighboring land for a broader range of public uses, including a University of Hawaii campus and a sports complex.

A state agency charged with facilitating affordable-housing development, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., initially advanced the conceptual plan for Kamakana, and selected Forest City to develop the state property with assistance of a $25 million loan.

HHFDC said Kamakana will help meet an acute need for affordable housing in West Hawaii and reduce regional highway traffic that is bad in part because many workers at nearby hotels commute to the area from far away.

The development agreement between the agency and the developer requires that at least 50 percent of the homes be sold at prices affordable to people earning no more than 140 percent of the Big Island’s median income, or $65,370 for a single person or $93,380 for a family of four.

Forest City has proposed making 58 of the 1,169 affordable homes affordable to residents earning up to the maximum limit. Another 286 homes would be affordable to those earning 100 percent to 120 percent of the median income, and 825 homes would be affordable to those earning between 80 percent and 100 percent of the median income.

Silver and palladium prices also reach highs as concerns mount over European debt

Gold topped $1,400 an ounce, extending a rally to a record, on investor demand for an alternative to currencies. Silver reached a 30-year high, and palladium climbed to the highest price since 2001.

On the Comex in New York, gold futures rose to a record $1,410.40 yesterday as the euro dropped after concerns mounted that governments in the region will struggle to pay debt. The metal has jumped 28 percent this year, heading for the 10th straight annual gain.

“No one wants to hold currencies now,” said Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago.

“The big money is looking at gold as an alternative asset.”

Gold futures for December delivery traded at $1,409.40 as of 4:30 p.m. in New York after gaining $5.50, or 0.4 percent, to settle at $1,403.20 in regular trading.

Gold for immediate delivery jumped as high as $1,410.60, a record.

Ireland is seeking support from the European Union this week to avoid a Greek-style bailout as investors shunned buying the country’s bonds. Gold reached a previous record in June when investors were concerned that Greece would go bankrupt.

“Gold will benefit from any sovereign-debt fallout,” said Matthew Zeman, a metal trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. “Gold is going to continue to be bought on dips because no one believes the dollar can stage a significant rally.”

Last week the greenback dropped against a basket of major currencies to the lowest level since December after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would buy $600 billion in bonds to support the economy.

“The debt load that countries are carrying makes people want to go into gold,” Zeman said.

Precious metals will benefit as China invests in more commodities, Klopfenstein said. The country has become the world’s biggest market for commodities-futures trading, Jiang Yang, the chairman assistant of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at a conference in Guangzhou on Saturday.

Silver futures for December delivery rose 68.4 cents, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $27.432 an ounce on the Comex.

In after-hours trading the price reached $27.735, the highest level for a most-active contract since March 1980.

Palladium futures for December delivery gained $25.50, or 3.7 percent, to $710.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier the metal reached $713.95, the highest level since April 2001. Platinum futures for January delivery rose $2.20, or 0.1 percent, to $1,771.10 an ounce.

Big Island-based ML Macadamia Orchards LP suffered a wider net loss in the third quarter over the same quarter last year due to lower nut production and effects from its purchase of another nut producer.

The state’s largest macadamia nut producer lost $308,000, or 4 cents a share, in the July-September period compared with a loss of $42,000, or 1 cent a share, in the same three months last year.

Much of the degraded financial results stemmed from a 14 percent decline in ML Macadamia’s third-quarter harvest, which totaled 5.4 million pounds of nuts. The company said drought conditions in its Kau orchards caused the drop.

Lower production translated to $4.1 million in nut sales in the quarter, down from $4.4 million a year earlier.

Revenue from work ML Macadamia performs for other orchard owners also declined in the quarter, falling 51 percent to $615,000 from $1.27 million.

The contract work was reduced largely because ML Macadamia acquired a company from which it previously derived farm service revenue.

Maui October 2010 Sales Statistics

Days on Market for Residential homes = 182 DOM, Condos = 141 DOM, Land = 199 DOM.

(General DOM Note: this is the average DOM for the properties that SOLD. If predominantly OLD inventory sells, it can move this indicator upward, and vice versa. RAM’s Days on Market are calculated from List Date to Closing Date [not contract date]. As such, it includes approximately 60 days of escrow time.) Also – Short Sales transactions can often take 4-6 months to close thereby extending the marketplace’s average DOM.

“Year to Date Sales” numbers only compare January – October 2010 to January – October 2009. Short timeframe (monthly) views do not necessarily reflect the longer timeframe trends.