2014-05-19 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – May 19, 2014 baseline study – what we can do and what we cannot do. Good idea to obtain a consultant or something to help achieve our goal so everybody can understand it. It was determined that a recommendation from GMAC would be entirely appropriate when situations arise regarding public access or anything that relates to its mission statement. In addition, this commission needs to come together and formulate a motion. It is not GMAC’s responsibility to actually put together a study but GMAC have to move to do something. The letter may be brief just stating the motion itself. Once the county staff receives your letter, if there are any questions about the scope or the range of the questions or the proposal that you’re making in the motion, then they can come back to you and follow-up with that. Q.: Is a resolution needed to move forward to conduct a comprehensive public access program? A.: No clear answer given. Possible motion would be to advise the Mayor to conduct a uniform practice comprehensive public access plan for the County of Hawaii whether it be on public or private land. Request involves a dedication of financial resources on part of the County for a consultant to do this and an extensive public outreach program and dedication of staff to manage a project. Q.: If a road is shut down and gated, no public access to the area which is now ten acres or five acres lots. Owner will say why do we have to reopen the road? A.: The Chapter 34 and the six-lot subdivision rule is only going to kick in if they try to subdivide. If they don’t try to subdivide it doesn’t come into play at all. The only other alternative you have is called prescriptive rights and that’s where the public has used a right of way over a given period of time, usually quite extensive period of time, with no restrictions, as I understand it. The attorneys are going to have to be a little more specific on this than I can be. But as I understand it, it requires a lot of documentation to be able to establish a right under prescriptive rights – a right of access. The other way, would be if we can purchase the right-of-way. Either the land owner agrees to grant an easement for a fee or to sell the right-of-way fee simple to the government. The last way, without having something like Chapter 34 or some other mechanism that we haven’t created yet, kick in. In a situation where like what you’re talking about – we have private property, we used to go there – because we got permission from the plantation operator – to go up there to go hunting – or fishing or whatever, is if you can establish a public right-of-way under the Highways Act of 1892, where it’s a public right-of-way that existed on the maps prior to 1892, then if we can prove that, then it’s a public right-of-way no matter what the landowner says. 7