2008-05-22 TPUNACDP - Laserfiche WebLink

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WATANABE: I can appreciate what you are saying, and I think that’s true throughout the island not necessarily just in Puna -. OLSON: But we, you know -. WATANABE: We spent -. OLSON: Three times a number of lots of any other districts. WATANABE: Mr. Olson, we spent from this morning till 4:00 o’clock this afternoon – and we continued Agenda Item No. 2 – and that was Kona stuff, okay. So it’s not about just Puna; every Community Development Plan is going to -. OLSON: Have the same impact. WATANABE: Right. So how do you pay for it? That’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying it’s wrong; I’m saying how you pay for it. May I propose something, yeah? Why don’t you all create one tax increment district, meaning, okay, if Puna wants to buy up 5,000 acres of land, great, you guys go get a bond, agree to increase your property taxes and you pay for it. And if Kona wants to buy up whatever thousand acres, they do the same. OLSON: Well, I mean, in part we’ve of course listened to Corporation Counsel, we’ve listened to the Director’s discussion on what a taking constitutes; and that did impact our decision. And we did at least in principle agree to his amendment to our Plan, although we weren’t able to vote it. And as far as the tax increment, financing, I mean that is -, given the recent land values increases, I don’t think -, no one that I’ve talked to has any problem with that. We are certainly in the position at this point to pay for our own infrastructure, if the County Council would quit giving the money away. So it isn’t like we’re hat in hand anymore; that day has come and gone. Our land values and population are such that we have a significant tax base in and of itself; so that’s not a bad idea. WATANABE: Okay, well, I’m not following my own advice and I’m dominating this. So I’d better cut it out. Mr. Domingo. DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, 3-10, the Plan says downzone all agricultural zone parcels in the State Agricultural District in Puna. When you say downzone, what are you implicating? OLSON: Well, I mean basically we are looking at those parcels that are -, the State I think has a designation that are -, that a true agricultural parcel is really 5 acres or more, as I recall. I don’t remember the figure that we used. And some of the large parcels, 300 acres here, 1,000 acres there, they have Ag-1 zoning. They could conceivably -, I mean, right now today, if they came into the Planning Department and agreed to putting in the infrastructure on, say, 1,000 acres that has Ag-1 zoning, if they place the infrastructure on that property as the law requires, there is nothing the Planning Department could do to prevent them from building that subdivision. They would simply hand in the papers and say thank you, have a nice day. EXHIBIT C 7