HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0488.017 2008-2010Murashige, Laura
From: geomike5@att.net
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 5:56 AM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us; dyagong@co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Bill 132 Finance Committee transparancy
Aloha Committee members:
I urge you to support Bill 132 regarding the public disclosure of documents prior to
selling County Land.
While I recommend your support, I do not believe the County has a right to sell County
owned land. Past sales have been illegal. This land is an asset to the people of the
County and is in effect owned by them. The County may, trade, borrow, exchange, lease,
rent, convert to County usage (parks and recreation, park and ride, open space) or barter
such lands but it cannot reduce a County asset.
Presuming an ordinance is placed in effect for the County to sell assets, then an
amendment to Bill 132 should be made. This is a difficult amendment to construct and will
require careful deliberation to achieve a proper maximum revenue goal for the County and
to prevent or discourage the common act of flipping property.
The land should be appraised to meet its maximum potential usage. That is, if the land is
currently zoned agriculture but could be rezoned to residential or even resort, then the
appraisal should reflect the maximum value for any upward rezoning potential.
The difficulty is that perhaps the buyer has a different planned usage of a lower-zoned
application. Two things could happen. One, the County could specify the usage of the
land at the time of sale. That would be consistent with the various Community Development
Plans. This topic is lightly touched upon by the Bill. Two, the County could set a time
frame for a rezoning request, say 5 years, and the County has first right of purchase at
the original price of the land.
Michael Reimer
GeoMike5@att.net
~3
~~
r, y ~
,-,
_ (`-•
M ~ -.
..
~
°~L *, E
...... ~ ~
~`^^~
Ref. Tor~"~'esed ~
1 Q~f. D;ate~ P ~ ~~~