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HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 <br />HUD Grant agreement for $83,000,000. Our group previously known as Imua <br />Lower Puna representing all areas of lower Puna effected by the 2018 lava <br />event we have conferred with Mr. Roth and were delighted to hear that his <br />position on replacing roads lost to lave in 2018 is that it isn't a legal obligation <br />due to force majeure but a moral obligation. This is quite different than the <br />outgoing Kim administrations position which has been to refuse to commit to <br />road recovery, specifically highway 137 from Pdhoa to Pohoiki, and has publicly <br />supported not allowing the area to be repopulated. This is not in the best interest <br />of community. Puna needs a public roads circulation plan in place for it <br />threatens the public health, safety and economic interests of our community. It's <br />absurd not to recover highway 137 as Pohoiki will once again become a major <br />commercial fishing spot thanks to the work that the State ... and it serves as the <br />hub for recreational marine resources in Puna. Now speaking to this action plan <br />the community has repeatedly signaled its lack of support for this buyout plan. <br />And speaking to the director of the HUD field office in Honolulu, Ryan Okuhara, <br />he expressed dismay that that was the only thing that this action plan contains, <br />a buyout. HUD disaster relief funds can be spent on more than just housing, as <br />he explained, economic development efforts leading to job creation, <br />infrastructure, this is what lower Puna residents have been asking for but none of <br />those contain in this plan which is built on incomplete data. Many effected <br />residents won't speak out today as ?? on not being heard and as noted <br />previously an Office of Information claim was filed on October 6th and the <br />county is in violation of that in it has not yet responded, 10 working days has long <br />since pasted. Tom Callis of the Lava Recovery Team told us that there are 305 <br />households that might qualify for buyout. Many of these households are not <br />interested in a buyout and have expressed that. They want roads to their <br />properties which is being denied to them by their current administration in spite <br />of the county receiving nearly double the funding in FEMA needed to replace <br />the 1 1-12 miles of public roads lost. Many will not qualify as medium low income <br />per this buyout plan. Many of those 355...305 properties were previously valued <br />at less than 230,000 which is the cap and if you multiply 230,000 x 305 you'll <br />come to around $70,000,000 and we know all these properties won't <br />participate. What of the remaining money? What of the remaining $13,000,000? <br />Under this plan lower Puna has to wait six years before money left over from this <br />poorly planned buyout can be redirected to needed infrastructure and <br />economic development activities. That's too long to wait. Councilmembers you <br />can go ahead and vote on this measure and again tomorrow to approve the <br />funding but were here to let you know the community is rock solid in opposition <br />to this plan [time tone] although were still having a new action plan drafted <br />under the new administration. According to HUD and I've been in touch with <br />local office and the nation director of disaster relief on the mainland, <br />substantive changes needed will require a new plan and we will continue to <br />pursue that. So you can do what you want to do but we will not stop pursuing a <br />plan that meets the community's needs. Thank you very much. <br />Page 9 of 36 <br />