Conference Room 405 on the fourth floor of the Leiopapa A Kamehameha building on South Beretania Street is small.

So small, in fact, that many of those who wished to testify on the controversial Koa Ridge community development at Thursday’s Land Use Commission meeting were left out in the hallway. They craned their necks to peer through two open doors on opposite ends of the room. Some listened to the discussion through the wall.

The lack of adequate space was the first thing that hit me when I showed up early for my first LUC meeting — a chance to watch Hawaii’s most powerful land use agency in action. I come to Honolulu via sleepy little Kauai, but the Historic County Building where I spent many hours covering the Kauai County Council today looks like Aloha Stadium by comparison.

One person standing near me told a friend he wondered if the environs were intimate or if they made commissioners feel as if rabid fans were at their neck.

My still-healing broken ankle didn’t much enjoy my decision to stand for two hours straight. I considered leaving even before the commission took its lunch break, and can only imagine how some kupuna must have felt.

The physical limitations wouldn’t matter as much if the LUC broadcast its meetings on public access television or at least streamed them live over the Internet. But that’s not the case. So showing up in person and waiting in the hallway is still the only way to stay on top of proceedings.

Thursday’s agenda included the continuation of a public hearing on the proposed Koa Ridge community in Central Oahu and deliberation on a 96-acre parcel in Waianae that could go from agricultural to light industrial use. The Koa Ridge proposal calls for a new master-planned community of 5,000 homes and depends on the commission rezoning 768 acres of agriculture lands. Check back at Civil Beat soon for more on those stories.

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