MIN CHARTER 2018-12-14 (2018-2020)

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Hawaii County Charter Commission -6 December 14, 2018 MS. WARD: Good afternoon. Good afternoon Council, sorry, Charter Commission. My name is Deborah Ward. I am Chair of Sierra Club of the Moku Loa Group and I am speaking for them today. There are a thousand members of our club. We have voiced strong opposition to the Commission's approval, or ah, proposal of CA -7 to repeal and replace of the land fund. Our members voted to support overwhelmingly this three times. Many of our members worked very, very hard to get out the vote, to put out signs, to talk it up, to attend you know the meetings, and to communicate with people all over the island in order to support this and Hawai `i County is the least developed of all of the large high islands in the archipelago. It still has large parcels, undeveloped land that are suitable for preservation, for agriculture, for beach access which is getting harder and harder to get. For cultural significance, for parks, for significant vistas and even more. And many of us have chosen to live on this island precisely because it is not overdeveloped and over commoditized as are Maui, Oahu, and Kauai and our members have worked tirelessly to create, support, petition, and vote for this fund and the proposal the Charter Commission is to reduce the fund and replace critical provisions, has left our members perplexed and very, very disappointed. Reduction of the funding assessed and capping the total, would make the purchases of the parcels that have been proposed for protection out of the question. Your proposal would hobble the work of the volunteer PONC committee and the finance department with unreasonable caps of the funds that can be utilized to match with other funding agencies to purchase parcels. Your proposal to delete the clause that protects the land from sale in perpetuity, would throw into doubt any participation with the other agencies with matching funds, such as the Legacy Lands Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Trust for Public Lands and other organizations and private donors. And providing funds to match under circumstances where the land could later be disposed of, it wouldn't make any sense. Nobody would loan or give money to do that. The maintenance fund is another critical part of the protection, support, and upkeep of these lands and I must say that despite our Mayor's statements to the opposite, I believe that he is actually misinformed about the maintenance fund. He says it is not being used for protecting those lands, but it is and I just spend an hour and a half this morning with a family that just gave birth or they would be here today and they talked about their experience with Parks and Recreation and their inefficient to provide those maintenance funds even after they have been awarded. They have applied, they have received assurances that they will get the money, and it is sometimes six, nine, and 11 months after they have been given those maintenance funds, before they are actually distributed. In the meantime, if that family and their commitment to the proposal... CHR. ADAMS: Please summarize MS. WARD: Okay, well that is going to come up next month and they will be here. The goal of Sierra Club is to strengthen the land fund, the two percent land fund, by improving the way properties are acquired and by awarding stewardship grants funded by the maintenance to help community groups care for these lands Page 14