Sometimes when I’m working with a reporter on a story certain facts or quotes stand out — or make me do a double take.

That’s the case with Land Beat reporter Mike Levine‘s article on a proposal before the Honolulu City Council to limit the size of farmers’ houses.

Consider this one sentence:

“However, the result would be that an owner of agricultural land would be limited to building a house one-third smaller than the national and Western U.S. median in 2008 and 40 percent smaller than the average size house both nationally and in the West.”

How could politicians think that an arbitrary number for the size of a house be something they should be spending their time on?