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This spring 1994 episode centered on a book by David Callies, a professor of law at the University of Hawaii, titled Preserving Paradise: Why Regulation Won't Work. Callies argued that recent United States Supreme Court decisions on regulatory takings had made Hawaii's traditional approach to land-use control constitutionally precarious: the state could no longer restrict agricultural or conservation land without risking liability, and he urged a shift toward purchasing development rights rather than imposing regulatory prohibitions. Harold Masumoto, the state director of planning, disagreed that regulation was finished, arguing that courts would find sufficient remaining economic use — including grazing — in most restricted lands and that careful regulatory design could avoid successful legal challenges. Both guests agreed, however, that Hawaii's land-use system was overdue for structural reform. Masumoto had recently sponsored legislation to abolish the State Land Use Commission and transfer major planning decisions to the county level, a proposal Callies supported, though it did not advance in the legislature. The central question is how the state can preserve open space and manage vast tracts of land formerly used for plantation agriculture without incurring constitutional liability as economic conditions change and landowners grow more willing to sue.
Transcript
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