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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN LAAC 2025/03/18 (2024-2026) DRAFT Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions 6th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii March 18, 2025 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions ORDER: was called to order at 11:49 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Acting Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Vice Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada,Member Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinf6lder, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair(via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Ms. As ley'L. Kierkiewicz, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals;registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: John Hamilton: Res. 95-25 (Comm. 164), in support. Janet Snyder: Res. 95-25 (Comm. 164), in support. Arthur Roberts: Res. 95-25 (Comm. 164), in support. Phaethon Keeney: Res. 95-25 (Comm. 164), in support. Dylan Crawford: Res. 95-25 (Comm. 164), in support. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. LAAC-6 March 18,2025 Res. 95-25: AUTHORIZES THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO ENTER INTO NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE ACQUISITION OF ALL OR A PORTION OF THE PROPERTIES IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP KEYS: 2-7-011:001 AND 2-7-010:027, SITUATED IN THE AHUPUA`A OF KAWAINUI AND ONOMEA, DISTRICT OF SOUTH HILO, UTILIZING THE PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION FUND The County seeks to acquire approximately 81.19 acres of land to protect and preserve cultural and natural resources and open certainf areas of the property for educational, gathering, and cultural practices. The parcel is listed as priority number two in the 2024 Annual Report of the Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission. Reference: Comma 164 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to recommend adoption of Res. 95-25. Seconded by Ms. illegas. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Do we have Property Management there in Hilo? MS. KIMBALL: Yes. We have Finance here; Deputy Director will be speaking to this matter. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. Please come forward. And Heather MS: KIMBALL: She's on her way up. She's right here. ACTING CHR. ONISHL You can run this part, okay? MS. KIMBALL: Of course. Did you have specific questions for Finance that you wanted to start with? ACTIN6CHR. ONISHL You can move forward on your discussion on working with Finance on this resolution. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Great. So just asking my colleagues for their support to move this forward to Council. Hopefully some of you took the time to read the written testimony that was submitted and some of the beautiful descriptions of this particular area. We're looking at two parcels roughly 40 acres each for a total of a little over 80 acres. They are currently on the market and that is part of the urgency with getting this resolution. As soon as the report was submitted we had this resolution ready to go. The owners are willing to work with us at the County to move forward with a PONC (Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation)purchase, but they needed some sort of signal that we Page 2 LAAC-6 March 18,2025 were serious about proceeding with that so that we can sort stave off some of the private market offers that have been coming through. As mentioned, you know, this is a unique property on the coastline on the east side here. We don't have a lot of beach areas open access to the ocean. Of course, it has this riparian area which has some unique biodiversity that is well worth preserving. And I do want to just highlight that Makahanaloa Fishing Association, who have been identified as the stewards, are uniquely qualified to steward this area. They have, I believe, the expertise to develop a sound management plan and they have really been excellent about demonstrating boots on the ground effort to malama `aina in the-'epe`ekeo area. So I have every confidence that they will be excellent stewards of this Armand making it available as an important public asset in'this community. I'm happy to answer any additional questions,about the property.,,Finance, I don't know if there's anything that you want to contribute to this discussion at this time with your regard to your position on mewing forward with the negotiation conversations. (Note: At this time, Deputy Finance Director Malia Kekai came forward to address the members of the Committee,)' MS. KEKAL Nope. Nothing further to' add. Thank you. MS. KIMBALL: Alright. With that, I yield, Chair. Thank you. ACTING CHR. ONISHL I'm scary, Ms. Kimball. I was talking to Mr. Inaba. So what was that again, your question? MS. KIMBALL: I yield my time. Thank you. ACTING CHR. ONISHI: And Finance, do you have anything to say? MS. KEKAL No. Nothing to add. We stand ready to work on appraisals or whateveris'necessary to move this forward. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. Good. Okay. Who wants to go first? We'll go with Ms. Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. I just want to thank Council Member Kimball for putting this forward and for the community for working on this land for so long. You know, as we move into a time of uncertainty around food security for our island I think the fishing aspect cannot be underscored enough. And so we do appreciate that we can have a place where people can go to the Page 3 LAAC-6 March 18,2025 land, go to the sea and feed their families. So I really do appreciate this and I'm very happy to support. It looks like a great project. I yield. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Mr. Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Kimball, for bringing this forward on behalf of the community. I'm not sure where this question would go, maybe Ms. Kimball, you could speak to it or Finance possibly. On one of the notes under the special opportunities for acquisition and or management, the last bullet point talks about the tropical hardwoods. So it's claiming that it's adding value to the property but can,any of the stewardship groups or organizations, I'm a little unclear it they can sell out or sell any of the trees on the property for other uses if that's allowable under the conservation lands here under PONC. MS. KIMBALL: I can answer that.-Per the Charter, no, that is not allowable. But they can use the material, it cannot be sold commercially, if that answers your question. So it can be harvested, but it would not be a commercial industry. MR. HUSTACE: So it can be harvested for purpose of use on the site then, or out in the community? MS. KIMBALL: Yes. MR,HUSTACE: Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. Thanks, Chair. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Mr. Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder. R. KANEALI`I-KLEWPIELDER: Thank you, Chair. Just in support. This is a nice,,well beyond nice; this is a really beautiful piece of property with a lot of historic value I don't think we've even touched on today. So to have our association in charge of stewardship and to see community's support and have the Council Member Kimball walking this in with Finance Department, it really is clean, and I�think will be tremendous as far as preserving properties and space like this for future generations. So, perfect use for PONC and I look forward to supporting. Thank you. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. Any other members? MS. KIMBALL: Chair, may I make one additional comment? ACTING CHR. ONISHL Yeah sure, Ms. Kimball. Page 4 LAAC-6 March 18,2025 MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. I actually forgot to mention one of the most important points, which is the fishing association has already been able to secure through the land trust a million dollars towards the purchase of this property. So we're already one step ahead of the game in terms of funding support for this proj ect. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. Thank you. I just have a couple. This is for basically Finance. So what Mr. Hustace was mentioning; so if the community or nonprofits use the hardwood on this property, if say'they make a product, are they allowed to sell those products? MS. KEKAL Malia Kekai, Deputy Director of Finance, I don't think they're allowed to sell anything from these. I think that basically what would need to be done is a management plan would need to be put forth that would create more of what would be done with these woods, how they would be handled,that sort of thing; with the timber. I'm sorry. But yeah, I don't believe there would be obviously we'd look more into the deed,and into the other language as we go through the purchase, but I don't believe any sale would be allowed. ACTING CHR. ONISHL`Okay good, because what we have in front of us is not real clear, so I just wantto make it on the record.''The second thing is what if the County does purchase this then it gets turned over basically to Parks and Recreation for their monitoring of this properly, correct? MS. KEKAL% No. Property Management is in management of all PONC land. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay but not all properties purchased by PONC is under'the Finance,correct? MS. KEKAL ,Currently they are all under Finance. ACTING CHR. ONISHI: Okay. Because I remember back before when we purchased Kawa, the beach area down in MS. KEKAL Kawa. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Yeah. Parks and Recreation were the ones that got the nonprofit to monitor or to maintain that property. MS. KEKAL Yeah,previously Parks and Recreation was part of the process but that has since been transferred back to Finance and Property Management. So I don't want to misspeak for every single parcel, but from my understanding Property Management in Finance is responsible for all PONC lands. Page 5 LAAC-6 March 18,2025 ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay good. And then so are you folks also in charge of providing the funding with, I guess it's like ten percent they take from PONC to help maintain those properties, correct? MS. KEKAL Yes. There's a PONC maintenance fund. It's not ten percent, it's an annual accrue of up to $3 million dollars that can get disbursed to stewardships and also used by the County to maintain the properties. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay, thank you. And the gentleman with the fishing, can you come forward? I have one question. Arid you can introduce yourself. (Note: At this time, Makahanaloa Fishing Association Secretary Dylan Crawford came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. CRAWFORD: Dylan Crawford, Secretary of Makahanaloa Fishing Association. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. You knew', I do have some friends that fish in Kona up in mauka side and stuff like that, and these couple guys, they're really involved with I guess that fishing, the State Advisory Fishing, yeah, Committee. MR. CRAWFORD: Yeah. I understand what you're getting at. The community subsistence programs. ACTING CHR, ONISHL And they mentioned, you know, like last year about flow either the state of the federal wanted to, I guess, put a moratorium in certain areas—So they're like taking away a lot of areas for fishermen to go and fish, correct?- MR. - R. CRAWFORD: Yeah. I'm more familiar with what's actually been done on M61oka`i just because I have family over there; the Poepoe's and what they're doing on Mo`omomi and I know it does create some divisions among families. And so'yeah, it can'be complicated. But as far as Makahanaloa is concerned, we haven't started working with DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) on any of these programs, but we are open to it because it is valuable in my opinion to close off some of the season because as somebody who grew up in Hawai`;i, dive, see what we're actually dealing with on the ground, in the reefs, we are losing a lot of species that are highly targeted. So yeah, actually shutting some areas down I think would be a good idea. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. You know, and then if they're allowable to purchase it and we do purchase it, I'm hoping that it does protect the fishermen and have you guys being able to go and fish over there. Page 6 LAAC-6 March 18,2025 MR. CRAWFORD: Yeah. That is ideally what we want. We just want to be able to, I mean, I know of certain individuals who do break the rules, you know, we have drug problems on this island. There are certain individuals that will go out of season to get mullet, moi, et cetera. So in a sense, having a presence there, identifying those individuals and actually having the ability to, you know,just make contact with them and explain to them what our goals are, that should help with these problems at least in that macro scale in our area. And then, yeah, I just wanted to reiterate too that as far as the wood in the upland is concerned, we did go through, and we measuted,,some of the DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) of the trees and we did bring da miller and we kind of figured out that the value of the trees is somewhere roughly around half a million dollars for the 50 acres. So that is an issue. It's not something that we're looking to necessarily capitalize on, but as was discussed earlier with food security, we do want to use that upland to plant `;ulu, avocados, you know, various subsistence crops that can be gathered by the community regardless of whether it's, you know, community gardens. I mean that upland area is very, you know, it's Hamakua soil. We would be able to use into grow food. Now if the trees are just there and, you know,it's pretty densely forested with these hard woods. They've never thinned it out. So there is some issues. The first thing we could do is thin some'of this stuff out to grow up some of the rest of the trees to create more value. If it was worked out with the County that we could mill it and some of the money could go back towards PONC we would be, you know, agreeable to that. I obviously don't know how this all works. But, you know, we're willing, we did look into that, and we are willing to work with the County,to address the situation. ACTING CHR. ONIS I: Okay. And just the last thing, if you folks do hear anything from,like DLNR"doing, you know, what they usually, you know, try to shun off our resources and so forth, let us know so that we can help support you guys. MR. CRAWFORD: Okay. Appreciate it. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Thank you. MR.CRAWFORD: Alright. Mahalo. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. Any other questions; anybody else? Okay. So all those in favor of approving Resolution 95-25 with a positive recommendation to the full Council say "aye." Page 7 LAAC-6 March 18,2025 Vote on Res. 95-25: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 95-25 was (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kimball, Villegas, and Acting Chair Onishi —6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba, Kierkaewicz, and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—3. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Okay. That's it. ADJOURN- There being no further business, Acting Chair Onishi adjourned the meeting MENT: at 12:18 p.m. ACTING CHR. ONISHL Thank you., Approved: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair (Date) Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee HI/tk Page 8