Comm No 0021.116 - Testimony - CA-7 - PONC fund and Maintenance fund

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THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND’S TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO COMM. NO. 21.55 TRANSMITTING CA-7, DRAFT 2 FOR FIRST READING: PROPOSAL TO AMEND SECTION 10-15 AND SECTION 10-16, BY REPEALING AND REPLACING PROVISIONS FOR THE PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION FUND AND MAINTENANCE FUND, RESPECTIVELY, AS SUBMITTED BY COMMISSIONER HAMANO 1003 Bishop St. HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION Pauahi Tower, Ste. 740 11:00 A.M., FEBRUARY 8, 2019 Honolulu, HI 96813 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaii T: 808.524.8694 Hawaii County Building, Room 1401, Council Chambers F: 808.524.8565 Aloha Chair Adams and Commission Members: The Trust for Public Land opposes advancing CA-7 through first reading. The Trust for Public Land was originally involved in and supported the creation of the PONC fund through its 501(c)(4) organization, the Conservation Campaign. The Trust for Public Land thanks the staff of the PONC 2% fund and the volunteers who serve on the PONC Commission for their hard work in advancing the wishes of the voters of Hawaii County who voted for the 2% Fund. We appreciate the work of the Ad Hoc Committee in reviewing Charter provisions that established the 2% fund, but recommend that more work and analysis be completed – interviewing the staff of the 2% fund, the volunteers of the PONC commission, the groups who have applied is maintenance/management funding, and other stakeholders with special expertise in land conservation such as The Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, and The Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. As discussed below, The Trust for Public Land in opposes passing CA-7 through first reading. Specifically, The Trust for Public Land opposes reductions to land acquisition fund amount and opposes capping the amount. Land is very expensive in Hawaii and where opportunities arise where land that the community wants to preserve is available for sale, the County needs to be prepared to act. If the fund’s balances had not built up, it would never have been able to purchase the seven Kaiholena parcels in North Kohala for $10.5 million. The Trust for Public Land works with conservation partners throughout the nation to conserve land. A steady source of funding is necessary to build up sufficient capital to quickly move on significant properties that the community wants to protect. We know from working with Kauai County, which has a lower percentage for its open space fund, that it takes many years for the fund to build up enough money to purchase land or contribute to a purchase of land that the community wants very badly to preserve. Landowners are not willing to wait for the fund’s reserves to build up and