HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0751.000 2000-2002
I All LAND COMPANY
PO BOX 10 HONOLULU HAWAII 96810
808-523-1000
September 18, 2002
To: Chairman Gilbert S. Coloma-Agaran and Board Members
State of Hawaii - Board of Land and Natural Resources
Post Office Box 621, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Re: Your proposed repeal of 13-5-23 (L-6), HAR which allows Single Family Residential use in the
Limited subzone and your proposed amendments to Chapter 13-222, HAR (shoreline certification)
I recently heard of your proposals and immediately contacted some Big Island landowners affected by
them. None were aware of your proposals. I asked DLNR if notices by mail will be sent to the landowners?
DLNR said no, so I asked to see DLNR's land inventory for mailing to Conservation landowners, Limited
subzone landowners, shoreline landowners. DLNR said no such land inventory is maintained by DLNR. I
asked to access a maps database of such lands via interna or otherwise. DLNR said no such map database
is maintained by DLNR. I recall many years ago substantial funds were appropriated by DLNR to prepare
a comprehensive land inventory and maps database. We provided Ed Henry at DLNR at that time and as a
courtesy a detailed inventory of Conservation lands that took us months to prepare. He was to add subzone
designations to it and maintain it - yet today it no longer exists! I cannot help but respectfully ask BLNR
how DLNR can possibly manage Agy lands without maintaining such critical land inventory/information?
DLNR staff, a few days ago, courteously allowed me to review their binders of colored USGS Quad maps
with Conservation subzones noted on them. Subzoner; are color-penciled on the maps, but no parcel
boundaries are shown on them so one must approximate at best to determine such boundaries relating to
any land parcel. I looked at maps for the Big Island and noted a number of properties that I'm familiar with
appear to be in the Limited subzone. I have since contacted approximately thirty of those landowners and
none were aware of the above proposals! This is a strong indication that none (or very few at best) of the
landowners who will be affected by your proposals saw notice of your hearings to be held nine davs from
today. Today a very few landowners know of the hearings, but only because of calls or emails from me, or
others who have tried to contact unsuspecting landowners about the proposals. I hope that this greatly
concerns you and I respectfully ask that you kindly mail notices to affected landowners and defer or
continue such hearings until all landowners affected by your proposals receive fair notice of such hearings.
Meanwhile I would like to share with you the common reaction of the thirty landowners affected by your
proposals when they just heard about them from me. These are landowners who have all owned their lands
for over ten years and many whose families have owned the land for fifty years or more and well before the
1964 creation of the Conservation District that became the two-million-acre-catch-all for lands that did not
seem to fit into the Urban, Ag, Rural District designations created then. The families were told by the state
that they would always have the right to build a home or faun their lands which were then classified as
"non-conforming lots with the right to build a home or farm" and the state assured them that any proposed
changes that might affect their use of the lands would require that the landowners be first notified in writing
by mail. So these families were shocked upon finding that their right to receive such notice by mail was
taken from them by a process that "disappeared" their statutory right to such written notice by mail, after
which their "non-conforming lots with the right to build a home and farm" status was taken from them
without giving them any written notice by mail of the process - and now you are proposing to drop the ax
on their right to ever build a home on their properties! 'Their response is "Auwe! Why is DLNR doing this
to us?" Hopefully you can answer the question and give these good people time to see your proposals and
defend their private property rights formerly assured them by the state when the state staff decided to put
half of all lands in Hawaii into the Conservation District catch-all. And lastly, please schedule a hearing
Kona-side, so that these landowners don't have to drive six hours to/from Hilo for your night-time hearing.
Mahalo, CoY in., No.
File No.
John Michael White
President Ref. To•
JMW:m Ref. bate e L 3~
cc: Governor Ben Cayetano, SLUC members, county ,nayors, council members, planning directors, others