HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0927.015 2004-2006
• Page 1 of 2
Mitchell, Megan
From: Charles Flaherty [oneheart@aloha.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 1:12 AM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us
Cc: Pilago, K. Angel; Isbell, Virginia, 'Bob and Julie Jacobson', phoffman@co.hawaii.hi.us; Holschuh,
Fred; Ikeda, Donald; Arakaki, James; Higa, Stacy; Safarik, Gary
Subject: Resolution 381-06
Aloha mai members of the County Council,
I do not believe Resolution 381-06 is sufficient.
I hope that the County Council will instead create and pass an ordinance which will place a moratorium on both
rezonings and subdivisions with conditions to allow construction of infrastructure and truly affordable housing, that
is, housing for 100% of median incomes and below.
1 ask that the conditional moratorium ordinance expire once the County Council has considered and passed the
Kona Community Development Plan (KDCP) as well as any and all interim General Plan amendments which may
be required.
The KCDP has been promoted as a "community-based" process. However, recent rezonings such as Pua'a and
Lava Kuikini have discouraged many Kona community members from participating further. The Kona community
knows these rezonings will not provide additional housing to the great majority of Kona residents and will make
our traffic crisis only worse.
Your vote today will make it clear to the residents of Kona whether it is your intention to ignore or support our
community.
The Planning Director has testified repeatedly that existing rezonings and subdivision approvals are more than
sufficient to maintain the current level of construction activity in Kona for many years. A conditional moratorium
will have absolutely no effect on the economy, employment level, or real estate prices because it will not reduce
the current level of commercial and residential construction.
The Planning Director and the Director of Public Works have testified repeatedly that they and their staffs are
completely overwhelmed by the current level of growth that is occurring in this County. A conditional moratorium
will not reduce the number of permits applications and approvals. However, a conditional moratorium will reduce
the number of rezonings and subdivisions that must be administered, thereby reducing the demands currently
being placed upon County employees.
I hope you are aware that the Hokuli'a and Ki'ilae rulings made it clear that the County government has not been
complying with several laws for many, many years. Because the county's services are so overwhelmed, the
Administration and this Council have been forced to change laws to conform to illegal practices, instead of
causing the Administration to make changes to policies and procedures to conform to existing law.
Meanwhile, the potential for additional litigation against the County continues to mount. The following four
paragraphs are examples of this potential.
The Hokuli'a court-appointed water monitor has issued reports that prove that golf course and landscaping
activities are causing significant levels of nitrogen pollution in the nearshore marine environment. Also, numerous
sediment samples from the coral reef offshore Hokuli'a contained herbicide levels that violated allowable state
limits.
Most recently, the Kohanaiki SMA permit application stated, "The proposed project will not have any substantial
adverse environmental or ecological effect...... But the Hokuli a water monitor report stated, both intensive
watering, because of drought conditions, and establishment of golf courses and landscaping projects at the
Hokuli'a development would result in nutrients percolating to the groundwater and flowing into the m4ne
No. T S
Comm
Ref. ToePra
6/20/2006 Ref. Date
rage z of z.
environment. We observed increased level of nutrients, most strikingly, Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN) in the
waters off Hokuli'a compared to prior surveys." The Kohanaiki nearshore environment is in a constant drought
condition. Therefore, the Kohanaiki SMA permit application was incorrect and the SMA permit approval was
improper.
Clearly, the nearshore golf resorts at Mauna Kea, Waikoloa, Mauna Lani, Hualalai, and Hokuli'a are significant
contributors to marine water pollution that violate county and state law. Clearly, the Kohanaiki development will
soon be polluting its anchialine ponds and offshore marine environment in violation of county and state law. And
so it is no surprise that the State Attorney General for the Department of Health has testified in court that
nearshore water quality along the Kona/Kohala coast has been rapidly deteriorating for the last ten years.
Finally, the County Administration has admitted to permitting illegal dwellings in the State Agricultural Land Use
District for thirty years and continues to do so, despite the Hokuli'a ruling.
The result of the above facts and more is that our government has created a situation in which any citizen can
now file for injunctions that would effectively shutdown most County ministerial approvals. But thanks to your
approval of the General Plan and Kona's commitment to its community plan, we have a chance to help each other
instead of resorting to conflict.
The KCDP will create the means to avoid future litigation by providing ways to protect private property rights,
while protecting the public trust and fairly compensating property owners. We will be providing suggestions to
improve government and the lives of its employees.
So I ask you, please stop antagonizing the Kona community. Let us all have a chance at solving our many
problems in a harmonious fashion. You have given us the means. Please allow us the time.
We are all working so hard to make Kona a better place. Please give us a chance. Reintroduce this conditional
resolution as an ordinance that will include a conditional moratorium on subdivision approvals.
No jobs will be lost. No businesses will go bankrupt. Real estate inventories will not go down and prices will not
go up.
It will be business as usual in Kona, except you will have brought more hope than you can imagine into the lives
of thousands of Kona residents and government employees.
Mahalo nui,
Charles Flaherty
P O Box 922
Captain Cook HI 96704
6/20/2006