2008-01-11 THALEKII - Laserfiche WebLink

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In answer to the question, will we proceed to develop the south half of the highway in spite of the appeal, the answer is I have recommended, and our team has recommended, that we not proceed until there is a legal resolution to this matter. And here to be considered is a couple of things. The segment of the road that we require as a right-of-way through the Coupe property represents roughly over 1,000 feet going north to south that would then enable us to get south and finish the highway up to Napoopoo, the junction of Napoopoo. Should the Coupe family prevail on appeal either in the Intermediate Court of Appeals, or the Hawaii Supreme Court, or for that matter the US Supreme Court, an order more than likely would be issued for Oceanside or someone, the County, to restore the land that had been developed. If they prevail on appeal, it’s not just a matter that concerns a 1,000 feet. What it does is it renders everything south of it useless; and a whole new alignment that could affect the north half of the highway would now be part of the re-engineering of this. There has been a concept, and I emphasize concept, discussed with members of the County in Public Works as to how Oceanside would respond if the County found Oceanside harmless, financially harmless, in the event the Coupes prevailed on appeal. And I emphasize only concept because it’s a very complex issue; and I go back to the fact that the cost that would have to be borne by the County and its taxpayers is not restricted the restoration of 1,000-foot by a 150-foot right-of-way that crosses the Coupe property. It would require greater sums of money which have not been totally examined yet because such an adjusted alignment has not even been proposed or looked at.And any other alignment would cause us to cross the Coupe property as well.So I’m prepared at this time to answer any questions, or feel free to dismiss me immediately, given that we’re waiving the speeding charge on Mr. Hayashi through -. No, but I’d be happy to answer any questions. WATANABE: Do we have any questions for Mr. DeFries? Well, thank you, Mr. DeFries, for your time. DEFRIES: Thank you. WATANABE: Mr. Shimaoka, would you state your name and address for the record please; and then you can proceed with your testimony. SHIMAOKA: Sure. By the way, my dress in no way implies that I’m trying to intimidate you guys one way or the other. I’m responsible for a local school evacuation drill today, so that’s why I’m addressed like this. I’m Sonny Shimaoka, 75-264A Aloha Kona Drive, Kailua-Kona. I’m representing the Kona Coalition of Concerned Citizens. We got involved in late 2004 because of the frustration with the traffic flow up to Kealakekua, commonly known as the Kainaliu Krawl. And one of the things that we felt that was necessary in our coalition was to look for ways to open up the Bypass Road. We actually initiated a, I guess a card that we call communities’ suggestions on what to do with the Hokulia Bypass Road. And we entitled it more roads now because we felt that here you have a road that’s not being used. We secured over 2500 signatures to at least get the process going in the Courts and to let the community know that we felt that the litigation that the Oceanside was going through was not of the opinion of all of the community as, you know, with the things that were coming out in the paper. It seemed like the majority in the community were against this Bypass. And so we secured 2500 signatures that at least said to us that we need to be doing something about this road. I want to commend the County, Jiro and his group, for at least taking the initiative to look at so many different alternatives. I appreciate the presentation and the passion which I think is commendable for our County. I would also like to commend Hokulia and Oceanside for hanging with this community EXHIBIT A 25