HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0496.058 2022-2024 P/Council
�jill 82
GOMM.44(0
From: hedrickhnecacpcy
C-y
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2024 11:55 AM
To: Council Testimony
Cc: hannah hedrick; Steph Bath; Patti Pinto; mhapai@aol.com; Melissa Fletcher; Rem
Greggor Hagan; Kern, Zendo; nannettesavage55@gmail.com; Kristen McC,ardeInc
Subject: Support for Bill 82
Ca
Aloha,County Council Members,
Please consider my support for Bill 82, which describes the process by which duly authorized entities may request
assistance in maintaining"private" (I prefer the term "community-owned") public access roads in subdivisions created
before December 21, 1966.
I commend Matt Kanealii-kleinfelder for his persistence in the multiple significant revisions to various drafts of this
document.
I commend each and every one of the council members for their careful and respectful review and for their insightful
and helpful suggestions for improvement.
Because so few of these subdivisions have any significant public transportation, I implore the council to play equal
attention to the phrase"public safety,"which appears in the body but not the title of Bill 82.
I have been reminded multiple times that Bill 82 differs from our decades long effort to create redundant access to
Upper Puna subdivisions by opening connectivity locations,for regular activities of daily living as well as for emergency
response and preparedness, including evacuation.
But I would again like to point out that the connectivity locations described in the Puna Community Development Plan
are the most logical candidates to fit the criteria in Bill 82.
The connectivity locations, clearly identified in the PCDP(passed as ordinance in 2008), have been emphasized in
regional emergency response and preparedness fairs, and were supported by an allocation of$11 million (subsequently
not released in 2017 by Department of Transportation Deputy Director Ed Sniffen because the funds "could impact
priority projects,such as improving Highway 130).
Maps developed through several years of consideration by the Mayor's Committee on Upper Puna Road Connectivity
describe in detail how relevant these roads would be specifically for"public transportation and public safety."
I believe that passage of Bill 82 is important on many levels, but primarily because I am hoping that it will convince the
entities with authority to request road maintenance assistance through Bill 82 to examine documentation of decades of
resident requests that closed roads be opened and that new connections be created. One petition contains 100
signatures.
Without Upper Puna inter-subdivision road connectivity, public health is significantly impaired on a daily basis, and there
cannot be significant public transportation, including school buses.
Thank you, as always,for considering my testimony. I p
Comm. No. , ` • 5 a
Hannah Hedrick Ref. To: P11WW 1'1 141
1 Ref. Date Al 10 11
Fern Forest Subdivision
Advocate for opening the existing connection between Kaleponi in Fern Forest and Punahelei in Eden Roc, 60-foot
roadways always intended to be open to the public, but barricaded by boards of both road associations
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