Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0189.019 2020-2022 ) Resolution 83-21—Holualoa Community Forest—Testimony in Favor ` " I s= ' Aloha distinguished Council Members, Please vote'YES"on resolution (#83-21)to purchase the Holualoa Keala Ka Kou (Holualoa Community Forest) parcel(TMK 7-6-004-003). My name is Anne(`Antu') Harvey. I am a village resident in Holualoa and serve on the Boards of Pulama Ta Kona Heritage Preservation Council and the Holualoa Village Ohana. Please consider the following when making your decision. Locally based,long-term open space conservation plans help communities protect their environment,improve quality of life,and preserve critical elements of the local heritage,culture,and economy. Like development, conservation can be either planned or haphazard.Well-managed open space programs protect a community's natural green infrastructure, providing places for recreation, preserving important environmental and ecological functions, and enhancing quality of life. Lack of planning can lead to fragmentation of conserved lands and civic spaces.There are three additional Kona parcels with resolutions requesting acquisition now via PONC funding. Each is very special and precious for their own merits.Together,these four parcels would preserve the strong mauka makai cultural connections that are rapidly being lost forever to subdivision and development. We hope all four will be acquired for our future. Our specific parcel has unique compelling reasons for purchase and preservation-as natural space,for riparian zone conservation,as an outdoor education space, etc. However, purchasing this parcel simply from the proposition to designate it as a 'greenway'corridor would yield extraordinary value toward saving the village and its surrounding community.This is our last opportunity to reserve land that can connect our two important civic places. We no longer walk through this village safely.We have only one road,the Mamalahoa Highway.The Right-of-Way is only 20 feet wide in places.There are no long-range growth plans for a new lateral arterial through Kona to help relieve the growing congestion on the main 'Belt Road'highway. Increasingly vehicles race along the upper road and through the village trying to make up time.We are blessed to have two valuable public facilities, one at either end of the village. However,we cannot walk between the Kona Imin Community Center and the Elementary School without walking on the highway roadway. If these facilities were connected by a path (half the length would be assured by the acquisition of this parcel), both facilities would become much more usable.These facilities are so small by themselves;they are seriously constrained by parking and activity area limitations. Most years, our school receives Title I eligibility.Connecting these civic facilities will enable us to better support all our families. The village of Holualoa is over 125 years old.There has been no planning to ensure historic villages like it can survive the piecemeal development that happens. Cities and villages across the country are struggling with fostering connections between citizens and city halls and public service providers. Creating public inter-connecting walking corridors between civic, public spaces can help bridge these divides.These spaces are an easy and available opportunity for kids and families to feel some ownership and sense of belonging in civic institutions. In civic spaces,geographically and socioeconomically diverse families converge to gather, access services and facilities and get things done.Civic spaces are—or can be—the physical expressions of public values. Providing visible spaces for kids,families and play in civic spaces communicates that they are welcome,that they are valued and that they are an important part of the civic landscape. Comm. No. Ito • i'7 Ref. To: PFG Ref. Date APR 2 0 2021 As two long standing 501c3 nonprofits,we will steward this parcel faithfully together as a village and take great pride in its continuing gifts to our community. Please support our keiki.Support our future. Please vote yes on this resolution to purchase the Holualoa Community Forest parcel.Thank you.