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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -7 January 25, 2019 <br />that was my goal since I was 30 and it took me that long to get a piece of land. <br />And 1 worked at a State you know, agency so 1 don't think it is that easy. <br />Trails, mauka areas otherwise inaccessible because of gated pieces of land are all <br />reasons to strengthen and keep this fund. And Commissioner Roehrig mentioned <br />last time that there was a conservation district designation for approximately 50 <br />percent of the lands on the island and that that was sufficient to protect the land <br />and 1 wanted to bring up my concerns about that. The conservation district <br />designations can be changed and not by County decisions, but by members of <br />other islands at the Board of Land and Natural Resources and these are some of <br />the uses that are allowed in a conservation district subzone according to HRS <br />(Hawai`i Revised Statutes) 13-522, and 1 will just read a few of them. "Marinas, <br />harbors, energy conversion, astronomy facilities, mining for natural resources, <br />commercial forestry and harving, harvesting sorry. Single family dwellings"... <br />and then there is a general subzone 13-5-14, that says "the objective of this <br />subzone which is a conservation district is to designate open space where specific <br />conservation uses may not be defined but where urban use would be premature." <br />That doesn't make it sound like there is any protection for it at all when there is <br />urban use being proposed then it is not premature anymore, so it is a concern <br />when you think that conservation districts will preserve land. They definitely do <br />not. DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) and the Land Use <br />Commission can frequently and does re -characterize the land as industrial, urban, <br />commercial, and it allows development to proceed. Mr. Roehrig's <br />characterization of protection is not sufficient to provide the kind of permanent <br />protection envisioned by an overwhelming number of Hawaii County residents. <br />I'll give you some examples. Properties zoned conservation were re -zoned and <br />beach access was limited in big hotels at Waikaloa, where 1 remember when there <br />were vast plains of petroglyphs. They are now covered with golf courses and <br />Kohanaiki, Mauna Lani, O`oma, Kuki`o, the Four Seasons, zoning did not protect <br />that land. So we oppose the provision in CA -7 also, removing the protective <br />covenant requirement. This will jeopardize our ability to leverage County and <br />State funds, grant funds, to acquire these lands. <br />On the other hand, we do support CA -9 because it strengthens the two percent <br />fund that we have already voted for and it provides for Department of Finance <br />oversight and a specific person that will do the work that needs to be done <br />because right now everything is put on the sidelines when we have emergencies <br />and that person is not able to do the work that is otherwise available. <br />We also oppose CA -13 and Mrs. Ford definitely gave us a very good reason, the <br />members of our community in Sierra Club feel the same way. The County has a <br />designated Disaster Relief fund. This fund should be strengthened and fully <br />funded because there is always going to be an emergency. There is always going <br />to be a disaster that's the way this island is and we roll with it. But opening the <br />two percent fund by some siphoning off by the Mayor at his or her discretion <br />would set a dangerous precedent and could strip virtually any County fund at the <br />Page 12 <br />