The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Hawai‘i County Leeward Planning Commission on August 21, 2025.
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Aug. 21, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
West Hawai‘i Civic Center
To: Hawai‘i County Leeward Planning Commission
Dean Au, Chair
Donna “Kinuko” Noborikawa, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Jonathan Helton, Policy Analyst
RE: Bill 52 (2025) — RELATING TO HENNERIES
Aloha Chair Au, Vice Chair Noborikawa and other members of the Commission,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports Bill 52 (2025), which would allow people to own backyard hens, geese, ducks, turkeys and other poultry for the purpose of noncommercial egg production in single-family residential, double-family residential, multifamily residential and residential-commercial mixed-use zones under certain conditions.
Specifically, the birds would be limited to two per the first 3,000 square feet of lot area, with an additional bird per 1,000 additional square feet of lot area.
The benefit of this proposal is that it would enhance Hawai‘i Island’s self-sufficiency efforts, since raising birds for egg production would also reduce the need for egg imports.
Grassroot also supports the planning director’s third recommendation in his planning analysis of Bill 52.[1] This proposed change would add household henneries as a permitted use in the residential agricultural zoning district, since this would also support food self-sufficiency.
However, Grassroot does suggest striking paragraph (4) of Section 2 of the bill, which would prohibit egg sales, and omitting the word “noncommercial” from the definition of “hennery.”
Instead, backyard henneries should be permitted as a home occupation, which would enable residents to earn extra income and better afford Hawaii’s high cost of living.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Jonathan Helton
Policy Analyst
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
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[1] “Planning Department Background and Recommendation,” Hawaii County, p. 4, accessed July 14, 2025.
