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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CRCOC 2023/01/24 (2022-2024)Committee on Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight 2nd Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii January 24, 2023 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Communications, Reports, and ORDER: Council Oversight was called to order at 9:31 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair. ROLL CALL - Present: Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Item. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The Chair called Rebecca Melendez, who registered to comment regarding Comm. 1089 and came forward when called. COMMUNI- CA TTONS Comm. 1089: REQUESTS DISCUSSION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, IRONMAN (2020-2022) RACE DIRECTOR DIANA BERTSCH, AND THE HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT REGARDING THE IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACE EVENT HELD IN KAILUA-KONA ON OCTOBER 6 AND 8, 2022 From Council Member Rebecca Villegas, dated October 24, 2022. Postponed: November 15, 2022 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 (Note: There is a motion by Ms. Kierkiewicz, seconded by Ms. David to close file on Comm. 1089.) ; and Comm. 1089.10: From Council Member Rebecca Villegas, dated December 27, 2022, transmitting a request to postpone Comm. 1089 to the February 21, 2023 meeting Vote on Motion to: Ms. Lee Loy moved to postpone Comm. 1089 (2020-2022) to Postpone: February. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, and Chair Villegas — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. VILLEGAS: Moving on to the next order of business. Comm. 53: 2022 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION COMMISSION From Mayor Mitchell D. Roth, dated December 27, 2022, transmitting the above report pursuant to Hawaii County Code Section 2-218, providing a detailed summary of the purchasing history and status of lands acquired through the fund, a report on management and stewardship of acquired lands, and the updated prioritized list for proposed acquisition of land. Motion to Close File: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 53. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. CHR. VILLEGAS: Mr. Ventura, would you like to come up here to answer questions? Anyone else here from the Administration to present any of this? Okay, with that I'd like to open it up for conversation from any of the members here on the Council. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Aloha, Mr. Hamana. (Note: At this time, Real Property Manager Hamana Ventura came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. HAMANA: Good morning, Hamana Ventura, Property Manager. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. I just had a question about the program in general. So we have the list for this coming year and Page 2 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 MR. HAMANA: The list for last year. MS. GALIMBA: Oh, for last year. Okay, right, which you will be working on in the years going forward, according to priority. Is that—or maybe you could talk me through a little bit about howI mean I do know something about the program, but serving a different position here. So, if you could talk about how you would be working on this list going forward? MR. HAMANA: Sure. So this is the list that was provided by our commission and from now on we'd like to just call it our preservation fund because it's such a long acronym. But our commission spent all of last year evaluating our properties, provided this to Mayor, Mayor passed it on to Council. Currently our Commission is in the process of evaluating the 2023 applications, to provide for next year. It's an ongoing commitment from our Commission to our partners in our community to provide evaluations on a yearly basis, and recommendations to our Mayor. Now once the list gets passed on to the Council, you as Council Members for your districts can bring forth resolutions to move forward on these parcels. For a good portion of these already have resolutions, these have been presented in the past. But if there's new ones and they fall in your districts, and if you feel that they're worthy of a resolution then we encourage you to bring forward a resolution. Once a resolution is passed by Council, then we in Finance have the ability to move forward with acquisition. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. So sort of due diligence that would go on between this list and a resolution, would be in the County Council Members Office. Would that be correct? MR. VENTURA: Correct. MS. GALIMBA: Okay. MR. VENTURA: We'll work with Council to, if you need to be brought up to speed, if you need contacts, or if you need more information on these parcels. Then we're glad to provide all the information, help you with site visits or any background information that you need in addition to what we already have on file. MS. GALIMBA: One more question. MR. VENTURA: Sure. MS. GALIMBA: How many projects or properties do you have that are in that state of having the resolution passed, but the property has not yet been acquired? Page 3 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 MR. VENTURA: Have to get back to you on that, there's quite a few. And then we've been doing this since 2006. MS. GALIMBA: Okay, thanks. You'll get back to me. MR. VENTURA: When I was 29. Just kidding. MS. GALIMBA: I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Anyone else? Ms. Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Mr. Ventura. I'm also newish, so I just had a couple of questions. I noticed on this list that most of these properties are in North Kohala. I'm just wondering is that a concerted effort to focus on that area, or it just happen to be that those properties rose to the top? I noticed that, you know, you note that there in the report it says there were 15 stewardship grant requests received. But I'm not I don't have a sense of how many were received for the PONC (Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission) ones. Were there more than these eight received? Only these rolls to the over 50 percent rating, is that what happened? MR. VENTURA: Yes, I believe so. But to get back to your original question, now since 2006, suggestion forms have come forward. Some of them have been presented on a multi-year basis. Now what we've come to the conclusion, is that when it comes to Kohala there's an abundance of history as it relates to Hawai `i. I mean this heed of the Hawaiian Monarchy when it came to King Kamehameha and a lot of the history of Hawaii the seed is in Kohala. And so these properties have been presented multiple times, and as we go through the evaluation process we keep on looking at how can we connect the quarters. Provide public access or look at even better, being able to preserve some of these properties from development. And that's why we don't do it, but the commission values these parcels in North Kohala. There's always going to be parcels in your district as well, that have huge significance. It's just a matter of applicants, lineal descendants, somebody bringing forward these parcels putting in front of them the commission and getting the word out there. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. So it wasn't necessarily devised, we're all going to just focus on North Kohala. But these are just rising to the top right now and a lot of them are available when—and meet that higher threshold, when they decide on the priority. MR. VENTURA: Yes. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you, so much. Page 4 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 MR. VENTURA: Thank you. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: I just wanted to mention, and I thank you for mentioning it to that the Kamehameha's birthplace, and the cultural significance of the properties in North Kohala are pretty amazing. And right now, there's been a huge pressure from people from the outside. Developers coming in and buying these large parcels with ideas of either housing, or there's one in particular that was zoned fora resort. And the communities just come out and like major come out to stop it brand new. Another Maunakea up towards Kohala they've come out and major trying to stop that project. And if we get this property under this, then that zoning which will allow resort it will obviously protect it into the future. So I want to thank the commission for recognizing. The timing of this is really important, because of the development pressure on that part of the island. Thank you. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Yes, Mr. Goro Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, Mr. Ventura. When it comes to the scoring is it a 50 percent cutoff that allows a property to make it on to this recommendation list? MR. VENTURA: Yes. MR. INABA: Okay. And then looking across different priority list from recent years, how does your office once authorize resolution by the Council? Kind of juggle properties. Say a number one from this year, versus the number one's from the last five years. In terms of trying to acquire those properties, if authorized by the Council. MR. VENTURA: Well, we need support from our Administration which we totally, I mean our current Administration is totally on board. In the past previous Administrations had other ideas what they wanted to do with the fund. If they wanted to continue operating the fund or look at taking part of the fund back to help balance budget. But with this current Administration totally supported the program so it gives us ability to reevaluate what we're looking at. We were kind of stormed for a little bit, but now we're looking at moving forward with our acquisitions, with our maintenance programs. Being able to align with non -profits, and maybe some programs that we've mentioned in the past. To really look at building the program, building capacity, and moving forward on acquisitions. Page 5 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 So truth is it's starts with our Administration and being supportive with a program and this time around everybody seems to be on the same page. So sustainability is a huge, huge issue. And being able to get back to that point where we look at our past to get us to a sustainable environment. That's what our Administration is pushing, and that's what we're on board with. MR. INABA: Okay. And just in terms of the internal workings right now when we look at these properties. I know we have multiple stakes in the fire and we don't put all our eggs in on one property. Are there certain number of properties that are far more advanced to the process? Like the appraisals that have been done, and we might be getting close. Do you have any of that information? MR. VENTURA: We did, we have properties that were close to coming to an end on appraisal process. And then it's going to be at that point where we have a number then we're going to talk to our partners in and around the area to see if we're actually a good fit. How can we contribute to the overall scheme of things. Truth is when I was on Billy's watch, we wanted to make sure that we could buy in every district. And we still want to do that, we want all of our districts to participate. But sometimes there are properties that come to the forefront whether it be a need, or potential for development. So those are all of the criteria that we need to consider. MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. And the last question as we continue to make progress with this program, is there or will there be a map or some type of resource so that the public knows which lands are part of this program. Because some of these smaller parcels it might be assumed it always has and still is private land but it's now part of the program. MR. VENTURA: Yeah, so thank you for asking that question. What our intent to do, is look at the contracting how to build a website for the program. And then start looking at creating links with some of our non -profits and utilizing some of the areas like OuterSpatial where we can look at areas for hiking, outdoor access. It's being able to integrate some of our non -profits State, Federal programs to maybe be a repository of information. In addition to a map is being able start integrating some of the great work that our non -profits are doing to be able to provide photos, videos, information for potential visitors and then volunteers alike. So that's some of the exciting things that we're starting to look into this year. MR. INABA: Music to our ears, thank you so much. Chair, I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Mr. Goro Inaba. Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Hamana, for being here. I had more of a long-range kind of question. You know as this program kind of evolves over the years we've been able to not only take on new property, but also have a maintenance fund. And so my question is has the Commission look at the Page 6 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 longevity of the program? Because we know as we acquire more properties and as you mentioned we have non -profits helping out or park agreements, and or preservation agreements which stewardship. I'm just looking at the future forecast about maybe possibly increasing the maintenance fund, because we know as we acquire more properties there's going to be a need. So my immediate question is has the Commission evaluated the properties that we have against the maintenance fund, and if there would be a need for more resources towards our maintenance fund? MR. VENTURA: So thank you, Commissioner Lee Loy. So one of the things that our commission is forming is starting to look at evaluating the fund. Maybe looking at what if anything, what are we looking at future impacts if like you said that are we going to reach capacity. We're in the first year of actually dispersing out, so that our non -profits can get compensated. But we're also looking at is being able to do multi year grants. So we have two to three year programs, and so we're hoping that those staggered amounts keep the fund going for a while. But yeah, they're looking at looking at personal interaction groups, to evaluate that situation. MS. LEE LOY: Excellent. And I ask that question because what I really appreciated about the report is it also evaluated it's opportunities and constraints, right? We have a strength and weaknesses. And often times those strengths, incredibly valuable to community, but the care and maintenance is also some of the challenges. And we want to be able to make this program successful. And so, if we could utilize part of the report within the strengths and weaknesses and maybe kind of evaluate it from a resource perspective. I think that would go a long way for not only this Council, but future Councils on how we not only allow the Commission to do the good work, but make sure they have all the tools and resources that they need. MR. VENTURA: Yeah, I agree. MS. LEE LOY: Thanks, Hamana. Chair, I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Hamana, so good to see you, thanks for all your hard work. MR. VENTURA: Oh, thank you, MS. KIERKIEWICZ: You know, when you were talking about doing an evaluation of the maintenance fund and how often you award grantees, would that require a code or a charter amendment? MR. VENTURA: It's probably going to be code. Page 7 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I think it's very strategic to do these multi-year awards because it takes our non -profits. I mean we've seen the applications, an absorbent amount of time to really think through and prepare each of those application every single year. And so if we know based on previous successes, it's all a track record with these folks. I mean it just makes sense to award them on a multi-year basis. And I think that also helps to take some of the pressure off the Commission and Finance. Because there's a lot that goes into, I think, distributing those funds. MR. VENTURA: What I've been told is that it opens up other avenues for other sources of funds once they get to the multi-year platform. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. So was music to my ears like you've mentioned earlier about going digital with some of this work. I've always thought that we needed to be mapping out where all of our PONC parcels are and then layering information around what non -profits are managing those parcels. But beyond that which ones have stewardship management preservation plans and which ones don't? That way we can start taking a look at leveraging those maintenance fund monies, to outsource getting some help. And making sure that we have plans in place for each of these parcels. And I talked to you about workforce development opportunities, right? Working with `aina, just came back from a climate change conference a couple weeks ago. There's a lot that we can be contributing in terms of data to all of these online portals that exist right here in Hawaii that will help us to inform different climate change mitigation and adaptations and strategies and policies. Would love to talk story with you and your team offline to see how we can make some, not just steps but really leaps. We need to be leaping forward and tackling the stuff in an accelerated manner. MR. VENTURA: Okay. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Is it just you and Maxine right now managing everything related to PONC? MR. VENTURA: And Corp. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And what? Corp Counsel, okay, Jean? MR. VENTURA: Yeah. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, you guys are solid. Like you are the work of an army, you do so much. But can you be honest with us about what kind of resources you folks need, do you need more staff? Because this is really important to us, very important to our community. Page 8 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 MR. VENTURA: We actually have a proof, we're in the process we have approved staffing that's coming through. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's going to be coming through this upcoming budget cycle? MR. VENTURA: Yep. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And then do you also potentially see maybe internship opportunities? I know there's a lot of bright folks that are in our university system right here locally, that I think would be really interested in working with you. MR. VENTURA: Sure. I mean what we have access to is that we have teams of experts on island, and they overlap on a few of our projects. So if they can be, I mean if we can have interns in place to help provide feedback and to learn, yeah. But we would support our stewards as well. Sometimes to put those types of programs in place, easier to run through as a stewardship application with somebody on staff through them. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. This little interaction has gotten super jazzed. I'll be reaching out to you, to kind of talk story about next ups. But really excited to hear that more resources are going to be going to your office. Right on, thanks for all your hard work. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Aloha, thank you so much. Anyone else today? Looks like that's it. So Mr. Ventura, thank you so much for your leadership, your vision, and your determination to be a champion for the PONC stewardship process. Not only the acquisition of the properties but also the maintenance fund. And I think there's been a lot of positive changes in the last few years, especially for the maintenance fund and the resource distribution. I did want to also say that Ms. Maxine Cutler is in Hilo, so if for any reason Maxine there was anything you wanted to add please feel free before we wrap up here. I am constantly learning on this, but I would deeply agree and very grateful for the support of this program from this Administration. For District 7 there's been a number of resolutions passed for properties in this district, not all have been purchased but I am hopeful that we will continue with the process and I'll circle back with you about some of the other ones. I look forward to putting forth resolutions for the properties that are listed here as well. And I think as Council Member Galimba mentioned, it would be great to see a list of where we're at, with a list from prior years. If they just kind of fall off or if there's motion. But we can circle back with you after that. Page 9 CRCOC-2 January 24, 2023 I know that this takes a lot of work and a lot of consideration from our Commissioners, and there's a lot of details. But I am so deeply grateful that this program is in existence. I'm so grateful to those who work so diligently, and for the voters for getting it on the agenda and requiring that we do this for our continued work. Thank you for everything that you've done. I saw the gentlemen who owns the goats that are at Pu`u Wa`awa`a just this weekend. And I had a great conversation with him, so it was really cool. Just really grateful for all of that outside of the box work that you're doing and continue to look forward to supporting you. MR. VENTURA: Mahalo. CHR. VILLEGAS: Alright. And with that may I have a motion to adjourn? Oh sorry. May I have a vote to close file on Communication 53? All those in favor, any opposed? Vote on Comm. 53: The motion to close file on Comm. 53 was carried Filed by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, and Chair Villegas — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. VILLEGAS: May I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 10:01 a.m., Ms. Kimball moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, and Chair Villegas — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Page 10 CRCOC -2 CHR. VILLEGAS: We are adjourned. Approved: Ms., ebecca illegas, Chair Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee RV/rk January 24, 2023 �7' I ou 1'� I ( ate)' Page 11