HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0595.128 2020-2022 Comm,
April 5, 2022
.1
Re: Testimony in support, with amendments, to Bills 112 and 115
Aloha mai e Chair David,Vice Chair Chung, & County Council Members
My name is David Keali'i Maielua and I am a homesteader in the Kailapa Hawaiian Home
Lands Community inKawaihae. I am asking you today to support passage of Bills 112 and 115
(the"Kumu Hou" at Waikoloa Project),but only if the language proposed by the project
developer is added. That language would require that two percent (2%) of the gross sales
proceeds derived from the first-time sale or resale of any residential unit or time share interest be
donated to the Waikoloa Foundation, and at least 25% (or 1/4) of those funds support water
resource development for Hawaiian Homes Commission Act projects within the South Kohala
district.
As you may know, our community lacks a sustainable, secure, and affordable source of water,
even though the water uses of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) for
homesteading are one of the four"Public Trust"uses of water that are supposed to be secured
water before private commercial uses of water are provided for.
Homesteads in our community receive water from the private Kohala Ranch water system, at
rates that are at least four to five times the county rate. In addition:
• Under certain circumstances, the Kohala Ranch can give DHHL notice and stop
providing water within two years.
• Despite having agricultural lots, we lack any water provided for irrigation.
• DHHL has no water for additional homesteads beyond the currently available or
leased lots, even though the DHHL waitlist is notoriously long and DHHL has
land holdings right here in a community that desperately needs housing for DHHL
beneficiaries.
Our community has been in communications with DHHL, the County, and private companies for
many years on how to provide a sustainable, secure, and affordable water source now and into
the future for our community. None of the potential options can be implemented without
significant funding, and meanwhile our community continues to suffer.
Please support passage of Bills 112 and 115 only if the language proposed by the project
developer is added to fund water resource development for our community.
Aloha no,
David Keali'i Maielua
Comm. No. All
Ref. To® PILmnW
Ref. Date APR - 6 202-7