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Chairperson Holeka Inaba and Members of the Hawaii County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 March 25, 2026 Dear Chairperson Holkea Inaba and Members of the Hawaii County Council Subject: Testimony of Stella Larsen, Trustee of the Stella May Swain Trust, in support of Resolution No. 499-26 seeking Authorization for the Exchange of Real Property to Align Wailele Road and to Ensure Public Access to the Hilo Forest Reserve, Mauka of Honomu TMK: 2-8-010: 999; Honomu, South Hilo, Hawaii I, Stella Larsen, am the trustee for the Stella May Swain Trust ("Trust") that owns the properties upon which Wailele Road currently navigates along its way from Akaka Falls Road to the Hilo Forest Reserve. I humbly request your support of Resolution No. 499-26 to help finally bring closure to a decades -long journey for myself and for my parents who once owned these properties before passing them on to me. For the past 14 years, I have endeavored to resolve the misalignment of Wailele Road in a manner that benefits both the County of Hawaii and the Trust as well as the public and government agencies that have utilized this road for decades, whether for conservation research activities or public hiking and hunting. These efforts, as discussed further below, have greatly improved a dirt road previously only accessible in certain places by 4-wheel drive vehicles, now providing a much safer access for all users and also making the area accessible to emergency response vehicles. In an attempt to correct the misalignment of Wailele Road, and in full coordination and cooperation with the County Departments of Public Works and Planning that began during Mayor Billy Kenoi's administration, I was successful in securing final subdivision approval (Subdivision No. 13-001295) on September 6, 2017 to reconfigure seven (7) existing Trust properties in order to accommodate the physical alignment of the recently named "Wailele Road" and to facilitate a land exchange with the County for the remnant paper homestead road rights -of —=way. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that the title company could not issue clear title since it required documentation that the State of Hawaii had no interest in the former 30-foot wide government public access and 56-foot wide paper government homestead road alignments intended to be exchanged for the new alignments that now accommodates Wailele Road. This realization promptly stalled any further attempts between the County and the Trust to complete the land exchange.