2018-07-25 BDHRA Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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DELIMA: Go ahead. YEE: Again I'm not, I'm not, Gordon's the local guy here so he's our messenger to the powers that be, so I understand that, and so part of it is arming you with the best arguments I can, let's say from a planning perspective. And again, you may want to disagree with the science or whatever, but the State has decided that we're gonna assume a 3.5 foot sea-level rise by 2050, and you only have to look at Banyan Drive to realize that's gonna have impacts on the entire area, possibly. So that's another reason, even from a conservation standpoint, why you want to take a look at it as one encompassing EIS around even just simply a sea-level rise. Obviously that's not the only issue that gets looked at, but again, that's a reason why the leadership should come from DLNR on wanting to be part of that effort to get the EIS done. Just food for thought. DELIMA: Gordon. HEIT: Yeah, I think Michael has a good point on that. They were looking at doing studies on, like we said, sea-level rises on future development. I get calls from the lessees down there now, Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. You know when we had those king tides last year, the water was going into the lobby, the downstairs. And they're asking, you know, "What can we do to stop it?" I wish I had that power to, you know, move the tides back; I don't. But yeah, our concern is with the existing structures, never mind the structures that are gonna be developed in the future. Where we gonna put `um? The existing footprint is dynamically changing year to year. Again, it goes back to what I said earlier, how, you know, we're planning for the future here. We're planning for 50, 60 years from now so anything we do, any decision we make has to be taking that into consideration. You know I wear two hats, you know, I am, you know, the local representative, the district land agent for this island. I care about this island, I care about Hilo. I've lived here for the last 40 years. I know this place, I've seen it grow, I've seen it develop. I'm also, you know, representative of DLNR and so I get drilled into me that, you know, funding is a legislative issue. The funds that we generate through Land Division, as Senator Kahele mentioned before is, funds the department. You know, our DOCARE officers, our forestry personnel, parks, boating, they all receive funds from us. And, you know, where do we take the money away from? Who do doesn't get funding to develop this? I understand that, you know, yeah and that's basically Land Division's responsibility is to, you know, we generate funds. I think we're the only division in the department that actually has a, you know, a large capital source. We take care of a lot of things so, you know, we'd ask, we'd go back to the Legislature, you know, help us out. We need to get this thing done. We need to move forward. And EIS would be the most logical way of doing it. You know, we can do a piecemeal, work on Uncle Billy's, work on Country Club, maybe I'll move down the row, but doesn't make sense. Environmental Impact Statement, comprehensive analysis on the whole area will help us determine where to go and how to proceed in the future. DELIMA: Well, I think the discussion has come full circle and what it comes right down to it is there is a proposal for Uncle Billy's, I think everybody agrees that the EIS is something that we need to do. The Mayor is working hard dealing with our overall problems that the community is facing and is putting together a proposal for legislative action, whether it be a special session. So I feel good that everybody is doing a great job in identifying the problems and addressing the solutions for a productive effort to get things implemented. So with that, my suggestion is that we agendize for our next meeting the proposal for Tower Development so we can vet it and we can receive community input and if a majority of the members of the Board support it, we can Page 15 of 17 Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency July 25,2018 Minutes