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this and other FEMA publications and as a result may have misled her fellow Council Members and the public. We in the professional community work with FEMA a~ drainage design on a regular basis. During our nrview of her public statements we have found many of them to be inaccurate and misleading. We recommend verification of the accuracy of statements supporting the amendments to Bill 151. For your reference we have attached the Reasonable Use Rule (see attached Historical Evolution of Surface Water Drainage Law). We understand that Hawaii courts use this doctrine to settle drainage disputes. All property owners are allowed to pass water from their upstream neighbors to their downstream neighbors. It is impossible and nnnan,ral to stop the flow of water. Property owners must design their grading and improvements so that they do not cause undue harm to either their upstream or downstream neighbors or themselves. The County Storm Drainage Standards mandate that increases in runoff caused by impervious surfaces be disposed of on-site. To date the existing County Storm Drainage Standards appear to do an excellent job of mitigating flooding problems. Our drainage standards ere conservative due to our unique drainage system design and methodology. Proposing changes to these storm drainage standards without any information or background as to whether our corneal standards work and with no regard to costs and benefits to taxpayers and consumers is at best irresponsible. Contrary to what has been presented to the public, the increase in drainage infrastructure costs will not uhimately be home by developers. All additional costs will be passed onto homeowners, consumers and taxpayers. The technical community is opposed to the flawed process of lawmaking which does not allow adequate review and inclusion of technical expertise and evaluation. Before the Council implements laws that increase costs for communities across the island, whether or not there is a flooding problem, we ask you to research whether the existing standards and codes when applied appropriately provide adequate protection and mitigation. This will not be a difficult task, as there are many subdivisions throughout the island designed to the current standards. We need to do our homework and research fast and then pass laws based on sound infomaation. The azchitecturai and engineering communities have worked closely with representatives of the County adminishation and Council and FEMA to amend Bi1151 to add protection to those in flood prone areas without denying property owners reasonable use of their land or unnecessarily burdening taxpayers. Our 8-hour working session with County engineers resulted in a recommendation to include a 50' buffer zone along documented drainage ways. This helped address a problem Bill 151 posed to the handicapped community due to the proposed 1-foot mandatory elevation of buildings above grade throughout the island. We ask that you support our efforts. Please pass Bill 51 and defer the amendments proposed in Bill 151 until the proper evaluation showing scientific and economic merit has been completed. We aze sure that Council Members want to strive to achieve open and honest government and avoid misrepresenting facts in public forums. In order to achieve this goal, we need to avoid making public statements about members of the Big Lsland community which may appear to be prejudicial. To date, the ugly atmosphere in which we have operated is evidence that we Gave fallen short of this goal. We strongly believe that a respectfirl working relationship between professionals, public officials, County Council Members and other members of otu community is critical to serving our island in the best way possible.