|
BLANCETT-MADDOCK: David Blancett-Maddock.
<br /> VITOUSEK: Mahalo. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on
<br /> the matter before the Planning Commission?
<br /> BLANCETT-MADDOCK: I do.
<br /> VITOUSEK: Okay, please proceed with your testimony.
<br /> BLANCETT-MADDOCK: Well,two things. I—my wife dragged me out here today, and I'm
<br /> running a cold, so please bear with me—but I not only support the councilman's changes to this
<br /> statute,but I also will point out some additional things that I hadn't heard yet since I wasn't here
<br /> for the whole hearing.
<br /> The current administration has taken the position that if a zoning extension is not in front of the
<br /> Council, then it's not subject to a contested hearing; that's very important to us in the public
<br /> because some of these have lasted three, four decades, and zoning has changed considerably over
<br /> the period of time these happen. And in addition, not bringing it into the,this is, this leaves it in
<br /> the shadows, if you understand what I'm saying. And for example, if you take a lookI was
<br /> down the other day at the Judd Trail. The Judd Trail is an example of our failure, our failure to the
<br /> people of this island and the people of Hawaii generally. The Judd Trail is a trail that was built to
<br /> go all the way from here to Hilo, and it was authorized at a time and began work, not finished, at
<br /> the time when the queen's edict went in that said that that property belonged to the State. And it
<br /> isn't, it isn't the trail that belongs to the State; it's the land. So, that trail, even if they build over it,
<br /> still belongs to the State. And even in that position, they've talked about streamlining, which is
<br /> where we got these concepts of moving things over to the administration to approve. It was
<br /> streamlining, and they were warned that that's open to a lot of problems. It's problematic on its
<br /> very nature because of the way that it takes it out of the realm of the legislation, legislative branch.
<br /> So what happened in Judd Trail is there's 75 feet remaining of that trail at the very—go down
<br /> there, go down and be ashamed, I was ashamed—seventy-five feet of that trail and the magnificent
<br /> building of a double-wall trail that was a road, and the rest of it is owned by these, they call them
<br /> mini farms or something, or they have a word for it that's very chep- okay, but, cheap, but that's
<br /> what's left of it. And the bonds are gone. The bonds were negotiated back by the State down
<br /> from 225,000 dollars to eventually 50,000 dollars. It was in, supposed to be in the bank. I don't
<br /> think there's any money left. And now as taxpayers, if you want to restore those trails, we are
<br /> going to pay for them, but the land wasn't even set aside, so now it's going to have to go
<br /> somewhere it wasn't supposed to be in the first place. That's a shameful thing. It's shameful.
<br /> Now, as far as the lapsing of these things go, if it's not afford—first of all, we are not even just
<br /> talking about instances where they are asking for this because they are, they are allowed a 10-year
<br /> period or something to do it; they let it lapse, okay, they don't get anywhere down the road,they
<br /> lapse, and it's called land banking in anywhere else that you go in the world. It's called land
<br /> banking, speculating with the Hawaiian people's land. It's wrong.
<br /> 6
<br /> EXHIBIT G(DRAFT)
<br />
|