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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-03-09 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission MinutesHAWAII COUNTY PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES - REGULAR SESSION March 9, 2009 Department of Liquor Control Conference Room 75 -5722 Hanama Place, Suite 1107 Kailua -Kona, Hawaii 96740 Present: Chair Kim Garcia Vice -Chair Hannah Springer Commissioner E. Kalani Flores Commissioner Bill Gilmartin Commissioner Steven Hirakami Commissioner Larry Komata Commissioner Terri Markovich (arrived at 10:12 a.m.) Absent: Commissioner Sarah Moon Others Present: Amy Self, Deputy Corporation Counsel Deanna Sako, Deputy Director, Finance Harry Yada, Property Manager, Finance Daryl Inaba, Property Management Specialist, Finance Alexandra Kelepolo, Clerk III, Finance CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair Kim Garcia at 10:03 a.m. Chair Garcia welcomed Mr. Steven Hirakami as a new commissioner representing District 5 (Puna). He introduced himself as the director of the Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science public charter school and shared his passion for the preservation of open space. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS DEBBIE HECHT (Ms. Hecht provided a handout to the Commission regarding the Mayor's raid of the 2% fund to balance the budget; the open space bond and use of the 2% fund for park maintenance). As the campaign coordinator for the 2% for the land fund campaign in 2006 she asked the commissioners to send a message to Mayor Kenoi and the Council to not use the 2% fund to balance the budget. (Ms. Hecht reviewed the handout with the commissioners.) She strongly asked that the Commission make a motion to vote and send a message to the Council to not raid the 2% fund and to consider using an open space bond to leverage the monies instead. - 1 - Mr. Hirakami asked Ms. Hecht if she or the Commission has ever considered non - monetary asset contributions to the 2% fund (i.e. idle lands in Hamakua). He added that if the County is managing assets they could profit by doing a 1031 exchange and in addition benefit from capital gain taxes whether it's income property or idle property. Ms. Hecht replied that she doesn't know if that's allowable according to the ordinance but thinks that it's a great idea. Ms. Springer asked Ms. Self if the Commission could vote on a recommendation to the Mayor. Ms. Self noted that they should take action when discussing under the appropriate agenda item. MIKE VARNEY Mr. Varney thanked the Commission for their hard work in the acquisition of the Waipi`o and Kawa`a parcel and is hopeful that the remaining parcels in Kawa will also be acquired. He spoke to the Commission in regards to a parcel in North Kohala owned by Parker Ranch (aka old Coast Guard road) comprising of approximately 17.5 acres. He noted that it's currently on the market for 3 million dollars and wants the Commission to consider purchasing to preserve for open space. He asked the commissioners if they had any idea on the status of the road and the public's ability to access the parcel. He noted that the parcel above (Tax Map Key: 3rd/5 -6- 10:56) is owned by the U.S. government and was proposed to be a park at one time. Mr. Varney noted that he is on the board of the Na Ala Hele advisory council and has been researching this road and have not gotten a clear answer from the State. A recent opinion in regards to "roads in limbo" from the Attorney General's office is stating that jurisdiction of roads is falling back on the County. Ms. Self mentioned that she thinks it's owned by the U.S. government. She added that Planning Department (PD) sent a letter to the State suggesting that they take the easements since a majority of the surrounding lands were owned by them. She thought that the coast guard road was going to be given to the State but have not heard what happened with that. Mr. Komata suggested that he fill out this information on the revised suggestion form. Ms. Garcia added that he contact the PD in regards to access and Ms. Laura Dierenfield of Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii (PATH) who has done extensive research on accesses in the area. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Flores noted that changes be made to: Page 2, 5th Paragraph — change "Council" to "Commission" Page 10, 4t paragraph — change "yea" to "year" Page 10, 1St paragraph — change "re- asses" to "re- assess" Ms. Markovich noted that changes be made to: Page 3 — 6th paragraph - change "comply" to "compile" -2- Page 3 — 6th paragraph - change "Community Group Alliance" to "community group alliance (OLAPA)" Page 3, 7th para raph — change "enquire" to "inquire" Page 4, 2"d & 4t paragraph — change "complied" with "compiled" Page 4, 1A paragraph - change `Olapa's to "OLAPA alliance" Page 7, 4th paragraph — change "it" to "them" and "committee" to "Commission" Vice -Chair Springer moved for approval of the minutes of February 9, 2009, regular session, as amended, seconded by Commissioner Markovich and carried unanimously by voice vote. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE REPORT Mr. Yada introduced Ms. Deanna Sako, Deputy Director of the County Finance Department who is present to answer questions. He regretfully informed the Commission that he has accepted a position with the University of Hawaii at Hilo and will be leaving the County. He mentioned that the Council accepted the Mayor's recommendation of the PONC 2008 Annual Report at the recent Finance Committee meeting. In regards to the acquisition of the remaining Kawa parcels, Mr. Olson is not willing to accept the lower value. A letter was sent by the County to confirm the status and is still awaiting a response. Mr. Flores asked if the funds would be lost from the federal and state grant monies. Mr. Yada replied that if they don't do something by the end of this year they will lose the state funds. However if a property is found that is targeted for the same purpose as Kawa (i.e. turtle nesting) then maybe the federal funds could be transferred. Mr. Komata asked how much the difference in value for Kawa was. Mr. Yada replied that the initial agreement was for 6 million and the appraisal valuation came out to 3.6 million. Mr. Gilmartin noted that the only other potential sites that have hawksbill turtle nesting's are Punalu`u and Pohue bay in Ka`u. Mr. Yada mentioned that there's a 3,000 acre parcel next to Pohue that is currently on the market with turtle nesting sites. FINANCE DEPARTMENT TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM DEBBIE HECHT REGARDING THE POSSIBLE USE OF BONDS AS ADDITIONAL FUNDING SOURCE TO PURCHASE LANDS UNDER THE OPEN SPACE FUND Ms. Hecht requested that the County post the accounting report for PONC on the website to be available for the public. She noted that the monies set aside in the 2% fund can be used to pay the principal and interest payments to borrow 45 to 50 million in bonds at no added expense to the County or taxpayers. Two examples that she used were: 45 million dollars @ 5% interest — 3 million (yearly payment) & 50 million dollars @ 5 % interest — 4 million. She compared this to a home mortgage, where you pay the principal and interest. However unlike a home mortgage, bond monies are borrowed only as needed. Since land prices are down 30 %, they should look at the properties that are currently for -3- sale such as Puapua`a and Kaiholena. She wants to know why the County is not pursuing these properties and strongly feels that the 2% funds should be used for acquisition and not park maintenance. Ms. Sako noted that the current interest rate is 5.25 % and with the bond it would go up higher. The County's current bond rating is "A" by two bond raters and "AA" by one bond rater. Due to the economy the market has changed and bond insurers have lost their credit rating. The premiums are so great which makes the bond rating extremely important and critical. At this time the County is trying not to borrow the money unless needed. In addition to the bonds that are outstanding, the Council has approved 119 million in bonds that has not yet been issued. By State law the County is getting very close to their 15% cap and based on Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) standards, it should not be over 15% of total expenditures. The total budget for next fiscal year is 16 million less than the current budget. As the expenditures go down the 15% will also go down. Ms. Hecht asked what the County's bond rating is based on and how much money is in reserves. Ms. Sako replied that the 2 million in the "rainy day fund" does not get very far and the bond rating is affected by many different factors. Ms. Hecht asked. Ms. Sako if the County floated bonds. Ms. Sako replied that they floated 50 million. Ms. Hecht said that she doesn't feel that now is the time to consider the bond, maybe after the budget is approved. However she told the Commission to vote to send a strong message to the Mayor and Council to not use the 2% monies to balance the budget. Mr. Flores asked if certain amount of properties would need to be identified before going out for a bond. Ms. Sako replied that the Council is requiring that they be specific to what properties and amount is being applied for. The investors who are buying the bonds want to know what the monies are being used for. WRITTEN COMMUNICATION Communication No. 09 -001: Letter to Chairman Yoshimoto and Council Members from Mayor Billy Kenoi regarding nomination of Steven Hirakami to the Hawaii County Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission for Council District 5. Communication No. 09 -002: Letter to Chairman Yoshimoto and Council Members from Mayor Billy Kenoi regarding Mr. Kenoi's comments and recommendations on the 2008 Annual Report from Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission. Ms. Garcia noted that both communications will be filed. OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL'S REPORT Ms. Amy Self had nothing to report. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT Ms. Garcia noted that she met with Councilmember Guy Enriques who was upset with her comment in the paper regarding park maintenance. He suggested that a survey be put out there to the public inquiring on whether they still want money to go into the fund based on the current economic situation. UNFINISHED BUSINESS • Commission to discuss previously submitted suggestion forms regarding public access in the various districts Ms. Garcia asked the commissioners if anyone had time to review their forms in their respective districts. Ms. Markovich reported on District I (Hdmdkua). (The commissioners went into discussion) Ms. Garcia asked that the suggestion forms for O'oma be included. Ms. Springer reported on District 8 (North Kona). (The commissioners continued their discussion) Ms. Self updated the Commission on the PD. She mentioned that Mr. Gilbert Bailado is now working on a Geographic Information System (GIS) layer for public access on the work that was done by Debbie Chang. Upon completion, you will be able to purchase an update of the GIS data and do a Tax Map Key (TMK) layer, water variance, public access, etc. (Mr. Flores provided a handout to the commissioners on the Highways Act of 1892 which was taken from the Na Ala Hele website. It provides a summary of ancient, historic and old government trails and roads in Hawai `i.) Mr. Flores reported on District 9 (North and South Kohala). (The commissioners went into discussion). Ms. Garcia asked the commissioners to review the suggestion forms, do research and submit to the appropriate agency responsible to handle it. Ms. Springer asked Ms. Self where in the County Code they can find guidance on how to handle matters on public access. Ms. Self replied that section 2 -217 lists their duties and responsibilities. Mr. Yada added that the open space fund monies can be used to acquire public access but not necessarily for the commissioners to be an advocate for public access to seek easements /lands where there is none. -5- Ms. Garcia stressed that they review the forms on public access requests for acquisition and develop a prioritized list of accesses. • Commission to discuss procedures for conducting site inspections Ms. Springer provided a handout to the Commission regarding the procedures for conducting site inspections. (She reviewed the handout with the commissioners and they went into discussion.) Ms. Garcia asked if they could have a community group member accompany them on site visits in their district. Ms. Self noted that if there is going to be more than 4 people present, it would need to be agendized. The problem they would have is obtaining landowner's permission to have the public on their property. Lunch -12:31 p.m. Reconvened - 1:54 p.m. Ms. Springer asked if the Commission could proceed with this. Ms. Self replied that she is very hesitant to have the commissioners go onto someone's property without permission. In that case they shouldn't involve themselves on behalf of the Commission but only as a member of the public. She added that as long as there is only two or fewer people it would be okay, but any discussion would need to be on the agenda for the next meeting. (Ms. Springer will provide a revised handout to the Commission at the next meeting) • Commission to review drafts from Ms. Garcia and Ms. Moon for multi -media (TV, radio, newspaper, etc.) approach in order to solicit suggestion forms Ms. Garcia noted that this item will be deferred to the next meeting. NEW BUSINESS Commission to discuss the Mayor's proposed suspension of future deposits to Open Space Fund Ms. Markovich noted that she testified before the Council opposing the suspension of funds and proposed change of ordinance. Ms. Garcia asked Ms. Sako if they retain the monies currently in the fund. Ms. Sako replied yes, as there is currently 8.8 million in the fund and the interest accrued will still be deposited. Commissioner Markovich made a motion to support the continuation of the 2% fund to not change the ordinance and advise the Mayor not to use the funds for other purposes besides acquisition; motion died. KIM Chair Garcia made a motion to defer this item to the next meeting until they have more information. Mr. Hirakami strongly feels that they should consider non - monetary asset deposits into the fund instead of money as a compromise to the mayor's proposal to suspend future deposits. He suggested that some of the Hamakua lands could be transferred into the fund for future exchange. As an example a forestry company might come in and make an offer for these lands. In the meantime, a landowner of an oceanfront property that the County is seeking would have more incentive to sell through a 1031 land exchange by gaining a tax break and escaping from capital gains. Basically it would be trading assets rather than trading cash. Ms. Springer asked if they could get some initial feedback from the County Department of Finance on this proposal. Mr. Yada commented that it's a creative idea but the biggest challenge with exchanges is finding the right parties at the right time to do it. Mr. Hirakami asked if there's a way the properties could be separately identified or designated that it's restricted for open space. Ms. Sako commented that there's no real mechanism to set aside the lands for open space. The County knows who's in control; however the funds would need to be earmarked. She added that in the County's records there is a place to record source of funds for purchase of land but not sure if the two properties purchased were identified as PONC funds or County funds. Mr. Yada added that to sell land it would require Council approval and an Environmental Assessment would need to be done on the parcels involved. Mr. Hirakami feels that it's highly unpopular to go against the voters but if there was a compromise it could possibly be explored. Ms. Markovich noted to include "agriculture or other purposes" in addition to Mr. Hirakami's comment on the forestry industry in Hamakua. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 13, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., at the Department of Liquor Control Conference Room, 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 230, Hilo, Hawaii. ADJOURNMENT Chair Garcia adjourned the meeting at 2:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Alexandra Kel&1o, lerk III -7-