HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0105.005 2020-2022 PIFC
COW-10
COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAVI
RECEIVED
Tine 8:11tun.
To: Hawaii County Council Finance Committee Date FEB 1 5 2021
From: Toni Withington on behalf of four North Kohala community groups
Subject: Communication 105 from the POMC Commission Mayor's Report
TESTIMONY
My name is Toni Withington and I am representing the four community groups that
have been annually nominating North Kohala coastal lands for conservation to the
Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission since
the Open Space Fund was established in 2006. They are:
Malama Na Wahi Pana 0 Kohala
Kamakani 0 Kohala Ohana
Malama Kohala Kahakai
Maika'i Kamakani 0 Kohala
We want to thank the commissioners for doing an outstanding job this year under
very difficult conditions. Without their patience at withstanding virtual meetings and
socially distanced site inspections, this report could never have been delivered to
you.
We are also grateful that once again the commission recognized the valuable
contributions to future generations of all our island people that will come with the
conservation of an open, accessible and historically significant North Kohala
coastline. The fifty-year-long effort by our kupuna is shifting to its third generation
of Kohala people dedicated to this vision.
You may be asking why Mahukona is named #1 and #3. Good question. The Kohala
groups have nominated the land between Mahukona and Kapaa Parks, between
Akoni Pule Highway and the ocean, for all 14 years of PONC. Last year the owners
of the property approached Hawaiian Islands Land Trust (HILT) about a
conservation purchase of the makai land and, in addition, the 200+ acres mauka of
the highway. They are basically the same land; #1 just includes the mauka portion.
Our groups have, and will continue, to work closely with HILT as partners in
preserving this and other valuable coastal lands of the North Kohala Coast.
Mahalo
Comm. No.
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Ref. Date-FEB-LL-Za