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prior decision to designate the land as "open" that would constitute a taking under a Hawaii judicial decision called Leone v. Maui County. First of all members of the Steering Committee should not consider whether or not an "open" designation would be legal or not,because questions of whether a CDP designation is lawful is one for the Planning Department and Hawaii county attorneys. But having said that, I read the Leone case and it did not say what the testifier represented it said. That case was about whether a landowner had a right to go to court to sue for inverse condemnation(a claim of a taking because a landowner believes that regulations have rendered his property valueless) or whether the landowner had to first "exhaust administrative remedies" before going to court. In that case, the SMA rules prohibited him from building a house on his ocean front property even though his ocean front property was zoned for a home. The trial court dismissed his case saying that he could not sue until he availed himself of other administrative remedies that were available to him under County regulations. In other words the trial court determined that he had taken his case to court too early;his case was not "ripe". He appealed that decision to the appeals court. The Appeals court ruled that he could sue in court under his theory that the SMA rules rendered his property valueless without first pursuing other administrative remedies. He then went back to court,had a jury trial and he lost. The jury determined that there had been no taking in spite of the county regulations,because his ocean front property still had value even though he would not be able to put up a house on the property. In short,the Leone case does not state or even suggest that if you recommend an"Open"land use designation for Hakalau Point, the Steering Committee will have"taken"the landowner's property. III. CONCLUSION Designating the property at Hakalau Point as"Open"is rational, sensible, and comports with both County and State law. Moreover, there is no question that the residents of Hamakua overwhelmingly also oppose development at Hakalau Point as evidenced by signed petitions from more than 600 citizens opposing development of Hakalau Point. For all the reasons discussed above, this shoreline property, located on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, is worthy of a land use designation of"Open". 4