2010-01-08 TCOUNTY - Laserfiche WebLink

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support the first plan, Plan A, and that was done through an email from the Downtown Improvement Association, they rallied the troops, they said come support the Plan -. The only plan on the books then was Plan A that we could even possibly have known of. Those folks came and said we don’t like Plan A, a 142 of us want Plan B. How Plan B got better was it removed so much hardscape from the shoreline area. I commend Parks and Rec for that. I did that publicly. I have no gripe with Park and Rec. Now to the Special Management Area issues, what concerns me, I’ve gone in detail through these construction plans, not just the drastic demolition of the existing trees, which many are considered exceptional trees according to State and County law. And it’s unfortunate they planted banyans, at least in the mind of many people. But our exceptional tree lists state-wide are littered, if you want to call it that, with invasive trees.Monkey pods invade thousands of acres of Kau. They’re beautiful in Hilo where they’re at. You – don’t we all like those down Bayfront? So that should not be the primary concern. And as I ran a petition on this to get people, we simply asked Park and Rec we said please stop this Plan A that you have and consult with the public. They did do that, to a degree that they feel was satisfactory. We’re at this point where what this body needs to focus on is the elevations. It’s problematic for the people that want to stay driving on the beach, it’s problematic for the planners. It’s problematic when you ask for a waiver in which the Department, excuse me, Planning Department can make that call on the shoreline. When, a shoreline against a cliff is not a problem. That’s where you should have a waiver, something where there’s a structure so far back there’s no way it could impact it. What we’re talking about here is a shoreline that now comes up on an elevation where a one- or two-inch rise in a high tide can push it in 20, 30 feet. And I’ve been taking video of this. I’ve got it documented. I don’t know if the areas where, there are actually areas that I videoed where the water is plainly and clearly 40 to 50 feet inside of what was represented as a certified shoreline. You now know it was not. I brought to Parks and Rec’s attention 18 months ago they did not have a certified shoreline, they needed to get it. It fell in the cracks. There’s no attempt to sandbag anybody. I brought it again to Mr. Darrow’s nd attention on December 22. You’ll notice the date of the letter speaking about this, it’s rd December 23. I have to say one last thing. I consider the largest banyan tree there, the Chinese Weeping Banyan, a living memorial. If that was planted by the President of the American Legion and the First Women’s Auxiliary, President of the American Legion, I consider that a living memorial to our young men and women; and I will fight for it. And what I will do is I will seek an injunction if this plan goes forward disrespecting the thoughts of our forebearers that were appropriate. And there’s no one can tell me a weeping benji, a fitus benjimina (phonetic) is an invasive. They’re only where they’re planted by man. They do not do what the other banyan, unfortunately, does. And the real problem is the signature tree that’s invading our shorelines all over the place. It’s another fightus (phonetic)? It’s the strangling banyan I believe, you know. So we need to look at what’s going on here. The elevations are problematic. Please, please look at that. We need sand replenishment. Everybody wants to do the right thing here. We have one shot at it. I suggest what Mr. Higa suggested. He said, Tim, go to Park and Rec, tell them to run the bathroom separately so there’s 18 EXHIBIT C