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Message Page I oft Robello, Alfred From: Jocelyn Garovoy [jgarovoy@cades.coml Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 2:02 PM To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: Hawaii Island Land Trust supports Bill 78 Dear County Council Members: Aloha. I am an attorney in Kona and a member of the board of directors of the Hawaii Island Land Trust (formerly known as the Kona Land Trust), acommunity-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Our organization's purpose is to provide an inclusive approach to land preservation on the island of Hawaii. Working in cooperation and collaboration with the local community, our mission is accomplished by interacting with landowners and managers who voluntarily choose to protect their land. We consult and collaborate with private organizations and government to coordinate and optimize a variety of private and public resources. Our objective is to further the interests of landowners and land conservation through a variety of tools such as voluntary easements and land donations or purchases. We recently changed our name because we realize that the time is now to work together as an Island to protect our natural areas. We are working now to outreach to communities all over the island to diversity our board and membership, and receiving a positive response. We support Bill 78 as it is written, and urge you to take steps to create a meaningful, well-funded land fund for the county now. The public has come out in clear support of this bill I witnessed many people testify at the Bill's first reading, and many more at its second reading. I have read letters to the editor in West Hawaii Today, the "tribune Herald, and the Hawaii Island Journal. Their message was clear. Do it. Before it's too late. I urge the Council members to remember their role is to represent the will of the public. The public wants this money, our money, to be invested in a land fund. The Hawaii Island Land Trust feels strongly that protecting natural areas and working farms is critical to all other infrastructure needs of this county. We can decide as a county where to build and improve and grow our infrastructure once we identify and protect the natural areas and farms and ranches that are so critical for our quality of life. 2% of the property tax revenue is small - 98% is left over for other county needs! But 2% also sends a message to the people who live here, who move here, and who invest here that Hawaii County is serious about its commitment to its unrivaled landscapes, natural areas, and working farms. Their are important financial reasons for setting this money aside for a land fund now, too. The County must to be in a position to bargain with private property owners who expect and are often entitled to money in exchange for relinquishing development rights. A case by case approach to these situations is an inefficient use of county resources, and cannot be guaranteed from one administration to the next. These situations, such as Honu'apo, arise with increasing frequency as our population grows, and the county needs to be poised to continue addressing them and cooperating with private fundcrs, nonprofit organizations, and state and federal governments to attract funds to Hawaii County for this purpose. As I hope you are aware, the state and federal money that comes available to us is significant! We can match funds at least 1 to 1, and often more, but only if Hawaii county demonstrates a specific level of financial commitment to conservation projects. As an example, the Maui County land fund provided $8] 1,000 toward protection of a spectacular 277 acre coastal area at Waihec. 1 have walked the parcel. It contains dunes, burials, a wetland. p Comm. No. ~O•~3~ Ref. To: a're~~ 6/1/2005 R~zf. Uate ,~l)N 1