PL-SMA-2023-000038 02.26.24 C. FREITAS TESTIMONY

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February 26, 2024 Cindy Freitas makainanqi@gmail.com Leeward Planning Department February 29, 2024 At 9:30am LPCtestimony(cD-hawaiicounty.gov Item: # 4 KONA HAWAI'I DEVELOPMENT LLC (PL-SMA-2023-000038) He Mele komo a he mele aloha no na kupuna o ke au i hala Aloha mai kakou. Aloha, My name is Cindy Freitas and I'm a Native Hawaiian descended of the native inhabitants of Hawai'i prior to 1778 and born and raised in Hawai'i. I am also a practitioner who still practice the cultural traditional customary practices that was instill in me by my grandparents at a young age from mauka(MOUNTAIN TO SEA) to makai in many areas. I'm in OPPOSITION for the following reasons: Construction will have significant cumulative adverse impacts on cultural, archaeological, native plants, rare plants and animal species and historic elements resources in the proposed 1.76 acre parcel situated in the Special Managment Area TMK: (3) 7-5-018:011 that is irreversible. The Constitution of the State of Hawai'i clearly states the duty of the State and its agencies is to preserve, protect, and prevent interference with the traditional and customary rights of native Hawaiians.Article XII, Section 7 requires the State to"protect all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes and possessed by ahupua`a tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778" (2000). In spite of the establishment of the foreign concept of private ownership and western-style government, Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) preserved the peoples traditional right to subsistence.As a result in 1850, the Hawaiian Government confirmed the traditional access rights to native Hawaiian ahupua`a tenants to gather specific natural resources for customary uses from undeveloped private property and waterways under the Hawaiian Revised Statutes (HRS) 7-1. In 1992,the State of Hawai'i Supreme Court, reaffirmed HRS 7-1 and expanded it to include, "native Hawaiian rights...may extend beyond the ahupua`a in which a native Hawaiian resides where such rights have been customarily and traditionally exercised in this manner" (Pele Defense Fund v. Paty, 73 Haw.578, 1992). Act 50, enacted by the Legislature of the State of Hawaii (2000) with House Bill 2895,relating to Environmental Impact Statements,proposes that: ...there is a need to clarify that the preparation of environmental assessments