2006-09-11 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission Minutes (Kona Mtg)

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the petition form, that it was entirely deleted and that it was their intent. Ms. Hecht stated that it was clearly not their intent, in all of their educational materials it was reiterated again and again. It wasn't left off on purpose. Ms. Hecht stated if that was deleted, it would gut the ordinance and if they were to follow that logic, they also left off 2 -215 Public Access Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission which would delete the Commission because anything below would be deleted out of the ordinance, since they didn't include it on the petition initiative. Ms. Hecht stated that it made no sense to her and in her mind it's another way to derail their process. Almost 10 thousand people signed their petition. Ms. Hecht stated they submitted to the County their preferred ballot language and their argument in support. The County then gave back to them the ballot question. Ms. Hecht stated in her asking the public what they thought of the County's ballot question, their response was that they thought the County was putting something over them therefore they came back with a little more information as their ballot language and their argument. Ms. Hecht stated they received from the County the ballot question that will be included in November regarding the 2% for open space issue and in essence what this does is adds 2 % of the property tax revenues and deletes the limits of the funds which is what they wanted however it also deletes 214 -D which is the entire purpose of the ordinance. Ms. Hecht stated as the question reads now, she wouldn't vote for it. Ms. Hecht stated the end result would be 2% of property taxes would be deposited in the fund, the limit would be removed and there would be no purpose of the fund since 214 -D would be omitted. Ms. Hecht read 214 -D for the record which says: The fund shall be used for acquiring lands or property entitlements in the County of Hawaii for the following purposes: 1) public outdoor recreation and education, including access to beaches and mountains, 2) preservation of historic or culturally important land areas and sites, 3) protection of natural resources, including buffer zones, 4) preservation of forests, beaches, coastal areas, natural beauty and agricultural lands; and 5) protection of watershed lands to preserve water quality and water supply. Ms. Hecht stated that was the heart and soul of the ordinance and for Ms. Kiriu to say that they wanted to delete that was absolutely wrong. Ms. Hecht then asked for a statement from the Commission would be wonderful as well as individually talking to the council people would be helpful. Mr. Campbell stated he had been working closely with Debbie especially through the Sierra Club and when they saw the language come back it was a flurry of emails and the red flag went up. This was what they all feared; it was similar to what happened with the geothermal. Mr. Campbell stated he emailed Connie and what he got back was a bunch of "gobbly- gook." It was a bunch of legalize language that he could not make any sense of. Mr. Campbell stated he was personally outraged and he asked Debbie to come today and present this to the Commission. Mr. Campbell reiterated that Ms. Hecht's suggestion was to write a group letter. He then asked if it would be okay to use some of their language that they have generated. Ms. Hecht stated absolutely. She stated that the ACLU was looking at it and they were talking to attorneys. Ms. Hecht stated they thought it was outrageous and totally against what all the volunteers worked so hard for and so many people signed the petition, almost 2