MIN CHARTER 2019-03-08 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -9 March 8, 2019 STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: DOUG SENSENIG: The Chair directed the Commission to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. My understanding is that Commissioner Hopkins is excused and that Commissioner Galimba is on her way here. At this time we will take statements from the public on agenda items. If I could ask our Hilo side who we have, how many do we have in Hilo? MS. MURAMOTO: Good Morning Chair, we have four testifiers in Hilo. CHR. ADAMS: Four, great. We have six here. Alright, we will start here in Kona then and then we will intersperse our Hilo testifiers throughout. So if I would ask Doug Sensenig and Debbie Hecht please to come to the table, the testifier's table here in Kona. Again I would remind our testifiers to please make sure that the mic is on, to please provide your name, the agenda item or items you are speaking to, and if it is one agenda item there is a three minute limit and if it is more than one, there is a five minute limit. Mr. Sensenig. Proposal No. CA -18 in support and Proposal No. 27 in opposition. MR. SENSENIG: I am Doug Sensenig of Waimea. I am a former attorney and have been involved in land conservation since the late 1980's. As an attorney, I drafted conservation easements and afterwards served as board Chair and Executive Director of Coastal Mountains Land Trust in Maine and as Executive Director of Hawai`i Island Land Trust until its merger with the land trusts on Maui, O`ahu, and Kaua`i in 2011. I am here to urge you to approve CA -18 because it improves the operation of the 2% land fund so that it can implement the mandate of the voters. There have clearly been bottlenecks in the process, and CA -18 should remedy them. As to CA -27, I urge you to reject the amendment referring to the use of eminent domain using 2% land funds. I say it refers to the use of eminent domain because the proposed language in subsection (h) does not add to or subtract from the powers that the County already has. It's redundant and unnecessary. The proposed language does, however, add a discordant note to the fund that also needs to be considered. Historically, the federal government has frequently utilized eminent domain, mainly for large infrastructure projects such as damns, airports, military bases, and interstate highways. Large-scale eminent domain has also been used to create national parks and other conservation areas, especially during the Depression when government wanted to move quickly to create jobs. Perhaps the most notorious use of eminent domain for public parkland was in the creation of Shenandoah National Park. The forcible removal of hundreds of families from their homes and farms created bitterness that persists to this day. Eminent domain Page 2