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Yahoo! Mail - hawaiicountycouncil~ayahoo.com Page 1 of 2 ~AH[~Q~ M A j L Print -Close Window ~ From: "COUndI Testimony° <councilcestim~ny~~?c~.has.aii.hi.us> To: hawailcountpr_owxil nyahou.com Subject: F.'v` Eill c~ Date: Vdzd, '_1 Feb 'Ou7 09:43'55 -lope Fwm: Charles Flaherty [mailto:oneheart@abha.net Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:01 AM To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us Cc: Pilago, K. Angel Subject: Bill 52 Aloha mai members of the Planning Committee, The 1250 Oceanside Partners Settlement Agreemen states that the County Administration, which includes the Planning Department and the Department of Public Works, "shall work with the plaintiffs" in order to revise Chapters 10, 23, and 27 in order to reduce flooding and destruction of historic and cultural sites. This work was to have occurred by September 14, 2006, a date which has came and gone without much apparent concern on the part of the Administration. The Hokuli'a plaintiffs were not notified nor consulted on the revision of Chapter 27, despite the fact that Mayor Harry Kim and his cabinet committed to working with the plaintiffs on revision of this ordinance. While discussing creation of scenic corridors legislation and revisions to Chapter 10 in a series of meetings, the County Administration made no mention was made to the ongoing revision of Chapter 2. Therefore, the introduction of Bill 52 represents a clear violation of the Settlement Agreement by Mayor Kim, Chris Yuen, and Bruce McClure. Bill 52 does not call for the remapping of FEMA floodways. The Natural Resource Conservation Service, a Federal agency, has stated that the County current maps are no longer accurate. The floodways of Kona have not yet matured. Their courses will continue to change. Therefore, there should be NO construction allowed within or adjacent to SFHA's. This is not an unreasonable conclusion. One of the Kona Community Development Plan's primary themes (from over 100 community meetings) is that all floodways in Kona should become green space open and park areas. There are FEMA funds available to purchase property and/or development rights to property within and adjacent to FEMA floodways. There are a number of developments which the County has permitted within floodways including Hokuli'a, Hokukano and Kealakekua Ranches, Pualani Terrace, Pua'a, etc. West Hawaii Today recently published an article about a nearshore condo development (Sunstone LLC) and mauka-makai connector which are being proposed within a floodway. This is not prudent. The NCRS has also stated that drywells are not an appropriate flood control measure within one mile of the coastline due to tidal influences, yet this bill calls for nearshore drywell use. In addition, the Kona Soil and Water Conservation District has proposed a study of storm run-off flooding events in the Kona District. The study design is very similar to the proposal contained within the Hokuli'a settlement agreement to create an information-gathering/assessment system within DPW that would allow for the tracking of grubbing/grading permits and incidences of flooding county-wide for the purposes of determining cause-and- effectand implementing timely corrective actions. When I made this suggestion during a meeting with the , ~ e, 7 Administration last May, they stated that the proposal was more related to Chapter 27, Flooding no Er~rion and j~,.- Sedimentation Control. They did not disclose that they were beginning or were in the process`d1'~~sir~~rdid PL~~_ Chapter 27 at that time nor at any time since. Raf• FE Raf. Date,~~"' I have been following the "Arians Farms" situation for some time now. I am also familiar with causes of the Hokuli'a runoffs, those from Hokukano Ranch, as well as an increasing number of flooding incdences and situations throughout Kona. I'm also aware of the massive amounts of sediment that have buried the coral reefs offshore the Kohala Ranch area caused by unregulated grubbinglgrading. These events have proven that there http://us.f588.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLettef?box=Inbox&MsgId=7827_5928186_2735_... 2/21 /2007