HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0941.018 2022-2024From: Debbie H
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2024 4:56 PM
To: Kierkiewicz, Ashley; Lee Loy, Sue; Michelle Galimba; Inaba, Holeka; Evans, Cynthia F.W.;
Council Testimony; Kimball, Heather, Kanealii-Kleinfelder, Matt; Villegas, Rebecca;
Kagiwada, Jennifer I I-) --
Subject: RESOLUTION 561-24 Requesting PONC funds to purchase 68.84 acres locally kn�, , Wnl
as Royal Vistas in Kailua Kona
RE: Resolution 561-24 Requesting approval to use PONC funds to purctyase.'�-,-,�!
68.84 Acres locally know as Royal Vistas in Kailua Kona, Hawaii
I urge you to approve the Royal Vistas project with PONC funds so IF the property becomes available
for purchase the county is ready, willing and able to purchase it. Your approval does two things:
9 Supports the Kona community in their wish to add this property to the Kona Open Space
Network as part of the Kona CDP's vision for the community.
* Provides the developers with a ready, willing and able cash buyer if they decide to sell in
the future at fair market value. Government must pay fair market value. This is only an
OPTION IF they decide to sell to the county in the future.
Although the Royal Vistas property of 68 acres is not currently for sale, it may be in the
future. Approval of this property for PONC funding has nothing to do with the 10 year request to
extend the 40 year old subdivision plan. This proposed subdivision should be required to go back to
the drawing board to consider all current floodplain, a plan to protect the numerous cultural sites,
traffic, surrounding schools, capability of hospitals, emergency services that will be necessary for 450
homes and adding 900-1200 more population to this overcrowded area. Where are the sewer lines,
where are the additional water wells? SEE BELOW for information on WILLING SELLERS.
The PONC Process, Willing or Unwilling Sellers, the Takings Issue
Aloha Council members,
When I worked with Brenda Ford in 2006 to write the legislation to form the Public
Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Program (PONC), the intent was to compile a
list of properties that were suggested by the public as properties worth of preservation
in perpetuity. To date this program has purchased almost 11,000 acres by fee simple or
conservation easement to be preserved for the use and enjoyment of the people of
Hawaii County in perpetuity. Here is the list of properties that have been suggested for
acquisition to the PONC commission from inception to
5.2024: https: //records. hawaiicounty.gov/weblink/l/doc/135142/Pagel.aspx
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1. Suggestion form filled out by member of the public and submitted to the PONC
commission. https: //records. hawa iicou nty.gov/webi ink/ 1/doc/ 1 26798/Pagel. aspx
2. Commission accepts the application, hears presentations, forms PING groups to
do site visits and discusses each property.
3. The commission fills out the criteria form for each Suggestion Form which rates
each property with the same criteria
11ttp5-j//records. hawa i icou nty.gov/webl ink/ 1/doc/ 1 26766/Page 1.asp and the
results are tallied by the PONC secretary.
4. Properties that are rated at over 50% make the list and are included in the
Report to the Mayor.
5. Once the Report to the Mayor is approved by the Mayor it is passed to
the county council for your approval.
6. The community group or member that submitted the Suggestion Form will ask
the Council member for a resolution that instructs the Department of Finance to
use PONC funds to acquire the property.
7. Then the county, if there is a willing seller, can start negotiations. The county
has never condemned a property to purchase with PONC funds.
8. There is approximately $10 million place in the fund as 2% of our property
taxes each year.
WILLING SELLERS: There was never any requirement in any of the legislation for a
willing seller(s). If a property makes the PONC list, and the seller is unwilling to sell,
nothing happens. If they want to sell, they could start negotiations with the county and
the county will pay cash and by law, has to pay fair market value, which is established
through a stringent appraisal process.
Many of the properties that are on the list today originally had unwilling sellers. I know
this firsthand, when I wrote the resolution in 2006 for the Puapua'a Property (12 acres
on Ali'i Drive in Kona), the sellers were unwilling to sell. That property changed hands 4
times with unwilling sellers until a sign went up for sale about 4 years ago and it was
finally acquired. There are many cultural sites: a canoe ramp, a heiau, burial sites and
platforms. O'oma was also held by unwilling sellers for many years until it was
purchased as a county PONC property. The developer even donated $2 million. Most of
the sites that have been acquired in Kohala were unwilling sellers at the start:
Pao'o, Kaiholena (north, Central, south), Kapanaia (3 properties), Hapu'u, Mahukona.
You just approved the Waimea Trail about 2 weeks ago that is a plan for a 14-mile-long
trail easement. The resolution you approved allows the county to negotiate as the
properties become available and not have to go through this lengthy process. Many
properties are lost because the PONC process can take at least 1-year and usually takes
two years. During this time the owners still have to pay property taxes and may need
the funds quickly for other uses.
THE TAKINGS ISSUE: Since 2006, the county has never condemned property to
purchase with PONC funds. I think what Council member Kierkiewicz was talking about is a legal
term which means that all economic value would be extinguished if there is a PONC designation.
That is just not true. The "Takings Clause", the last clause of the Fifth Amendment, limits the power
of eminent domain by requiring "just compensation" be paid if private property is taken for public
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use. Takings was adjudicated in Kelo vs. New London Connecticut at the Supreme Court
.bttr)s://en.wikipedia.or,q/wiki/Kelo v. City of New London
ADDITIONAL STAFF STILL NEEDED: In 2020, voters approved a charter amendment to use 2%
Land Fund monies to pay for additional staff to administer the PONC program. That has not been
done. Property manager, Hamana Ventura has done a great job, but there is much more to be
done. Besides the property acquisition there is a Maintence Fund to support the non -profits that pay
for these lands. There are now 25 properties that have been acquired by PONC funds, but the
Maintance Fund has lagged behind in the grant funding applications by the non -profits, who do the
"boots on the ground" work. The county Parks Department does not care for these lands. Four years
later why hasn't this been done?
MORE INFORMATION ON PONC:
Here is the list of 25 properties, totaling almost 11,000 acres that have been acquired as
of May 2024: ..https://records.hawa'iiicounty.gov/weblink/1/doc/126798/Pa_cie 1. aspx
Here is the list of properties that have been suggested for acquisition to the PONC
commission: https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/weblink/1/doc/135142/Page l.aspx
With warm aloha,
Debbie Hecht
Kailua Kona, HI
Hecht.deb(cbqmail.com