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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0896.235 2022-2024/ ��U k�� "°..~. /oMm.N61 From: inabepacKic Sent: Tuesday, Novernber10' 2024 12:12AK4 To: Council Testimony Subject: OPPOSE 169T|K4E EXTENS|ONSK3 LL[ r [Written testimony for 11/2O/2024 ovai'iCoUnty Council Meeting] Greetings Hawai'i County Council. Members, I want to strongly urge you to deny any further consideration or extensions of any kind in relation to the properties (he[d be Kona Three LLC) which are now eligible and directed for County purchase. The risks are great to the community on a multitude of tevels which have been discussed over and over again in multiple meetings and confirmed by all of your subsidiary and roll -up organizations inctuding the Cutturat Resources Commission, even the State Land Use Commission understood that this a controversial and risky project th@tVerybkOk/couidbeverycoatk/tothecountyofHavvei'iintmrrnaof environmental and habitat destruction inclusive of assorted pubLic safety issues. If you haven't read aLL the minutes of the past roughly 7 years of committee and commission meetings that have al.l. denied this ongoingrequest, I urge you to do so incLuding viewing the key meetings on this matter. In recent months these Devetoper/Investors jumped past the Leeward Ptanning Commission seemingly as a kind of end run to avoid aLt the disturbing facts to be presented to Council, note that the excuse used to hop over LPC was a tack of quorum by Leeward which was actually not the case. It seems Kona Three LLC investors canceled their agenda item for meetings themselves which created a continuation and delays. This seems contrived to get this into Council. without the requested review of the Leeward Planning Commission after the results from the Cultural Resources Commission had been submitted and denied, gave an adverse view of the project in it's entirety. Development in this area is simply a terribLe idea. This property has had extensions and deLays and been heLd as open space since around 1984. It seems that the prospective developers/investors may have feft Like they had an arrangement to get this Land reclassified to make it more profitabLe to them than simply ag tand and open space. Remembering that they purchased this tand for a mere $600,000 in around the 2016-17 time frame. We wiL1 never know if they were back room promises made to make this a profitabLe transaction by buying "cheap" AG Land and important open space and then making it something that wouLd be built on, destroying the contours, waterways, and muttipte other features that have been addressed to the Council. and assorted committees and commissions almost ad nauseam since they purchased this [and. One can only guess what might have been the conversations that made them/anyone think that tong since, decades since expired permits couLd be revived and continue to be oX1OOded7 Our County and West Hawai'i simply cannot afford the infrastructure cost, road widening, sewer connections (noting that vvealready have emajor probionninoonve[dngceaspowbaaonoaathostoteand particularly an issue in Hawaii County), schools and other critical infrastructure just do not have the bandwidth to handLe roughly 500 more housing units and 1,000 more vehicles on our streets pouring There was even some confusion atone point as to affordable housing which was going to be increased had it gone back toward the Leeward Planning Commission, the Kona 3 claimed credits from another builder which were not in fact legitimate and were denied in writing by the other builder, i.e., such consideration was never granted with the stated grantor having basically said they had DOinterest iO being involved with this controversial and risky project. You've heard it before, there are endangered species and habitats on the land, there are cultural resources and archaeological namnuroeonnthe[und,dl8thmabeenprovenenddmoionndbvtheCuhunoi Resources Commission. Additionally the two major vv@te[vvoyothetar8OnthHp[0pmrtyoreoriticeik/ important to avoid massive flooding in and around Kona. Even with these two major waterways, channeling water, flooding has been a problem for decades and probably for centuries including quite evident recently with larger rains coming down from our upstope/mauka regions of this ahupua'a. There has been enough time, more than enough visibility of this profit motive that will be at the expense of our people, of our land, of the habitats, of our culture, of our archaeological preservation efforts, of lineal descendant rights, of our infrastructure, and frankly of our community safety if any development was ever undertaken onthese lands inquestion. In a recent meeting it was suggested and as I recall voted upon that the County Director Finance has now given authorization to negotiate buying the land from the investors. This should keep them whole and allow the community to maintain its safety as well as protect these other concerns that have been expressed over the last many years and reviewed by all of the other commissions and committees who have said notnthis project oraOyex1enaions.VVhyvvou\dtheCounoii.thioCounciivvonttovoteinfovor of something that will with certainty ultimately prove destructive of open space, environments, safety concerns ... ?|don'tthiDkthat's alegacy that you should want tosign Upfor not etthis juncture itmakes nosense itwould bemvery bad choice. It's time to make the right decision, the mindful decision that protects our people and'our lands and retains an ability to safety manage or infrastructure and water flow concerns. It's time to put this to bed and move forward with the purchase by the County as directed. Any further consideration of another 10- year extension which would now take this into basically a 50-year problem is fraught with risk. Kona is not what it was even 40 years ago in another 10 years it will be different still. If we saddle our future generations with excessive density, alteration of key waterways in major floodptain areas, infrastructure costs and problems that are completely unacceptable even now and would only become exponentially worse if further consideration of extensions or any development on these Lands is entertained. So I strongly oppose, as do thousands of people in our community who have signed petitions but unfortunately cannot make themselves available for meetings during a work day. Please respect their voices too. Any further consideration a Bill 169 for any further extensions or reclassification of the land to make it eligible in any way for development that would only be massively destructive and costly for the County of Havvai'i now and well into the future. I know there have been some isolated Council members that think this is something like a NIMBY situation. |timnot! )anlpart ofo long time Local karna'ainofamily bvmarriage and also bvbirth. It is insulting, truly insulting, for some members (again clearly not the majority but concerning) of our Council to make insinuations that this has anything to do with only outsider/maintander/newcomers views. That is patently false and shameful honestly as an accusation. Again many of our local families are not able to attend because they are working during the day and cannot invest multiple hours to sit in Council Chambers to share their man a'o. Again many voices are being represented by those that you see in the chambers or that you hear from in this written testimony as well as in the petitions that are overwhelmingly against this proposed, aged "p 'ect",Peruona|k/'|onmgnatefu\fnrtheene[gythatmvmD newcomers have put into this tOsave our Lands, our culture, our people, our Federally endangered species, protect our infrastructure concerns and focus on flooding issues. Why would we malign such people who are bringing their heartfelt concerns forward to the Council and to our communities? Belittling or maligning them, they are members of our community now, is not aloha and that is also not pono. Opposition to extensions and consideration is in fact spread across demographics and age groups. |truly hope the Council is listening to these voices represented by those that have the time either by age/retirement orjust grit to keep coming backto fight and address what is wrong and what will harm West Hawai'i. Might I also add it would seem incumbent on all the Council members to lean into the direction and wisdom given them by the West Hawai'i council members. Frankly the reason we face some of these situations right now in West Hawai'i is because in decades past East Hawai'i made many decisions for West Hawai'i without any knowledge of the tremendously burdensome consequences to our communities. It's time to just say no... In fact it was time to say no decades ago. Let's Let this Council be the one that has the backbone to do the right thing and stop this progression and churn over a projectthatvViKUttork/ destroy areas OfKona and create safety and flooding issues among all the other important cultural issues and species issues that have already been addressed. Again, it is just time to stop this and just say no. Respectfully submitted, Ren6o\D8b8 From: inabapacific Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2024 11:42 AM To: Council Testimony Subject: Oppose Communication 896.215 12/20/2024 HCC meeting Issue re: Communication 896.215 from Kona 3 LLC Hawaii County Council Members, There is no valid reason for further delays with Bill 169. This has been years in the making and in the proving that any proposed development on this land would be destructive on a number of levels as well as costly to the County of Hawai'i and its citizens and create unacceptable safety issues. No factors have changed, there are thousands of people that have signed petitions against this development and many people in the community that have voiced active opposition and concern related to any development in this area. Any further delays in pursuing the purchase of the property by the County of Hawai'i,which has been authorized by the County Council to direct the Finance Director to move forward with negotiations to complete this purchase, would just result in further unnecessary and improper delays. It is in a way just kicking the can further down the road so that this begins to be the tiresome, dangerous, costly project that is constantly regurgitated or coming back to life like a kind of vampire. It's time to move this on and maintain the safety and security of these waterways, the habitats, the archaeological and cultural aspects and avoid costly and completely unnecessary strain on our infrastructure. Please deny any consideration of further delays of the final hearing and dispatchment of Bill 169 as was requested in the investor/developer communication. Let's focus on moving this issue on toward proper conclusion in support of the timely purchase by the County and PONC. Additional delays on 169 serve no purpose. Thankyou, Ren6elnaba