"Solutions" to Housing

[timkona]

First of all, it's very important to remember that "housing" does not imply "houses" automatically. If we continue to build subdivisions, we will eventually chew up all the ag land. That's what happened in Orange County. Now they have no more oranges. But they do have a building height restriction. When building heights are restricted, the result is called urban sprawl.

Dwellings are least expensive when the economy of scale of taller buildings is utilized. Common walls, plumbing, electrical, land cost, etc reduces per/unit cost of a dwelling. This economy of scale does not kick in until the buildings design is at least 6 stories. The taller, the better.

We also must pursue "mixed-use" zonings. The same building needs a store, some retail, some office, some small studios, some 1 br, some 2 br, some 3 br, and a few penthouse suites.

When there are enough "dwellings" the price of a dwelling will stabilize. If we continue with the "mainland" mentality of "subdivisions", then we are certain to destroy the arable land.

Low-density development should be forbidden. Single use zonings should be forbidden. The politics of NO should be forbidden.

Remember, we can grow children on the 97th floor, but we cannot grow oranges or graze cattle up there.

[Jewlipino]

Re: "Solutions" to Housing

I agree that the solution at least in part is to build up and not out. I am not overly concerned that ag-land be used as ag per se but that the open spaces are preserved for a variety of reasons. Speaking of which.... Del Monte is officially getting out of the pineapple business, think of the possibilities! I would put good money that the debate over what to do with all that land will dominate 2008 politics. Del Monte has some 6000 acres of land in central Oahu according to this link -> http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/delmonte/dmc_p1.html
I have a couple nutso ideas:

1) Keep a bunch of it zoned Ag, have the county or state buy up around 2000 acres of that at the low low prices from it being ag-land. Rezone and put in..... Solar & Wind! Given modern efficiency rates of 15% for PV you can expect around .75 kw/day per yard, or 3630 kw/day per acre.... which translates to 3.6 mw/day per acre.... HECO maintains a generating capacity of 1700 mw in mostly traditional fossil fuel plants for oahu so if we used 2000 acres for mixed solar/wind we could potentially reap well over 6000 mw and power the whole darn state! The Central Oahu plain is sunny 99% of the year and provides a favorable environment for mixed solar/wind farms, plus the soil is relatively marginal for things other than sugar or pineapples.

2) Fulfill the state's obligation regarding Hawaiian Homelands! I have a lot of mixed opinions about the whole subject but a PROMISE IS A PROMISE. We could build on the second city concept but do it in such a way that we make it so we don't have MORE people commuting to honolulu to work. The idea that you should be able to walk to work must be embraced to its fullest extent. While we are at it we can build affordable housing for other people besides Hawaiians out there too!

3) With the remainder of the land we could change it to conservation (especially around the mountains) and build up our watershed while ensuring that Oahu retains some of the tropical beauty that serves as a major motivation for encouraging people to visit.

Of course it is still necessary to build a transportation system that can help us to reduce the use of cars and mitigate the growing traffic problems in order to make it all work.... Anyway comments and criticisms are welcome, fire away!

Jewlipino