Thielen

MEMORANDUM *

The facts and procedural history of this case are known to the parties, and we do not repeat them here.

Appellant Waimea Bay Associate One, LLC (“Waimea Bay”), argues that the topographical delineation utilized by Hawaii Administrative Rules § 13-5-23(c)(L-6) violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution by irrationally discriminating between landowners whose land is located in flood plains or coastal high-hazard areas within the Hawaii Conservation District’s Limited Subzone and landowners whose land is located elsewhere within the Subzone.

A classification that neither infringes fundamental constitutional rights nor proceeds along suspect lines must be upheld if it is rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose. Schweiker v. Wilson, 450 U.S. 221, 230 , 101 S.Ct. 1074 , 67 L.Ed.2d 186 (1981). This standard allows states “wide latitude” in formulating policy, City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., 473 U.S. 432, 440 , 105 S.Ct. 3249 , 87 L.Ed.2d 313 (1985), and reflects the “presum[ption] that, absent some reason to infer antipathy, even improvident decisions will eventually be rectified by the…