HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0176.070 2006-2008 May 1, 2007
Thomas Langenstein
P.O. Box 1 165
Captain Cook, Hawaii 96704
Councilwoman Brenda Ford-Committee Chair
Public Works and Intergovernmental Affairs
Hawaii County Council
25 Aupuni St. ,
Hilo, Hawaii
Re: Amendments to Chapter 27, Floodplain Management
Aloha Council members,
Please accept this late testimony. I ask this body to support amendment to the County
Code in the following areas: Change the mitigation standard from a 10 year to a 100
year standard, establish requirements to maintain adequate vegetative cover, create
an integrated electronic informational database, and last but not least, please require
updating the flood maps to include "historic drainage ditches".
Asa 32 year resident who owns commercial property in the path of a "historic drainage
ditch" and a residential property next to one, I ask the County to take responsibility for
additions to drainage water that it continually approves of adding through my
properties in unimproved, unstable ditches. The County currently has no dedicated
easement for these drainage ways, and I get no tax relief or other consideration for the
ever increasing portion of my properties that I cannot use. I consider this a public taking
of my property. Should I choose to individually absorb the cost of engineering and
installing soil erosion mitigation methods such as firming up the banks of this stream bed,
I will become liable for the impacts of my actions on the people who live below me. If
damages occur to those below me due to water the County dumps onto our lands,
there will not only be mitigating costs, but legal costs to correct this injustice.
For those who say that these amendments will cost the County too much, I say that you
can't afford not to do it. It will be either afford it now or pay much more and create
greater hardship on current residents, later. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Thomas Langenstein
~~~0.70
FJ, i; t.fa. b
E<C.P. ~.i; ~jpyJIRG
SAY. ++-.Fa
Rf e.-~ , Lv..'
x.,,