HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0047.008 2018-2020 P/COW1II
COMIC.47
COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAII
From: Polestar Gardens Information
To: Council Testimony 2019 .fA —8 9: 1 7
Subject: In SUPPORT OF COMMUNICATION 21
Date: Tuesday,January 01,2019 8:50:23 PM
P/COUNCIL BILL 10/COMM. 47 (1/9/2019 HILO MTG)
Aloha County Council Members,
FIRST OF ALL...
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!
and
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
The restoration of highway 132 is essential to the residents, farmers and ranchers with land
inside the kipuka that was not inundated. Please quickly allow limited access with a
temporary road over the existing highway 132 alignment. I mourn the loss of what is no
longer. Time however can only go forward.
It took PGV 1 day to gain access to their kipuka once the bulldozers were given the green
light. The distance needed to scrape over Hwy 132 is three times that of PGV's distance
cleared. Conceivably, with additional finishing touches perhaps (we're not demanding them,
but they might be needed with cinder truck travel) a 4wd road could be established within 2
weeks of work commencing. FEMA funds released by the legislature could be tapped at a
later date for a permanent road.
Many neighbors have been attempting to maintain their properties that remain after the
uncontrolled brushfire (on July 28, 2018 - burning down many homes and structures that
would have been fine otherwise), be it dwellings, orchards, other improvements or all three,
with considerable inconvenience to their lives. What was once a 5 to 7 minute drive out of
Pahoa is now an extensive journey by foot or air. (AND NOT A CHEAP AIR RIDE
EITHER!) Imagine your home being there, but you not being able to live in it because of
the lack of road access that makes it impossible to go to work/school/shopping/post
office/appointments etc. We need solutions. We need access. We need a ROAD. I'm
running short of patience; as time passes, properties'become more overgrown and
improvements more degraded.
Every time we make the journey back to maintain what is left, the list gets so much
longer of what needs to be done and the amount of equipment and supplies needed
to do this work.
HVO has been invited by a number of kipuka residents for siting monitoring equipment to
replace what was lost to the lava or wildfire (or Iselle, in one instance); much of the papaya
land remains and is going feral, but could easily be replanted and put back into production;
fruit and nut orchards in the area need maintenance. There are so many reasons for a
TEMPORARY ROAD ON THE 132 ALIGNMENT to be fast tracked.... There is money and
help available from the PGV relocation fund, the money outlined in Bill 10 etc. Please
release the funds. It is time!
Comm. N 41 l• _
Ref. To:
Ref. Date AN 0 8 2019
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Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
bernadette sabath
resident of Polestar Gardens
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