§167-12 Lands included within irrigation projects. Except as otherwise expressly permitted in the chapter, lands to be included within an irrigation project shall be only those used or to be used in farming. The number of acres of agricultural and pasture land of each land occupier within the project shall be determined by the board of agriculture and shall not be increased or decreased, nor shall any such land included within a project thereafter be withdrawn, after final determination to construct the project, except in the manner and with the limitations specified in this chapter by redefining the boundaries of a project. The project shall include only such lands as can be adequately irrigated by the quantity of water and facilities to be provided under normal conditions of supply. No land which at the time of formation of the project is irrigated, or is devoted to the cultivation for commercial purposes of sugar, pineapples, coffee, bananas, citrus, papayas, or macadamia nuts, or other horticultural crops, whether or not the land so devoted is irrigated, or is being devoted to an industrial or townsite or other use of greater economic value than agriculture shall be included in the project if the owner of the land (or the land occupier thereof if other than the owner, in the event that the land occupier is legally chargeable with the acreage assessments) shall object in writing to the inclusion. The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall be applicable to all irrigation projects.

Notwithstanding the limitation expressed in the foregoing paragraph, lands of the State used by the University of Hawaii for experimental farms may be included in irrigation projects, provided the board of regents undertakes the payment of water tolls and acreage assessments and for the purposes of the inclusion the University of Hawaii shall be deemed a land occupier within the meaning of this chapter. Lands within the farms shall be assessed accordingly as the same are of the character of agricultural or pasture lands, as defined in this chapter, although they are used for experimental purposes. The assessments shall not, however, become a lien upon the lands. [L 1987, c 306, pt of §1]