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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-08-09 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission MinutesHAWAII COUNTY PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES - REGULAR SESSION August 9, 2010 Department of Liquor Control Conference Room 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 230 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Present: Chair E. Kalani Flores Vice -Chair Sarah Moon Commissioner Bill Gilmartin Commissioner Steven Hirakami Commissioner Terri Markovich Absent: Commissioner Searle Grace Commissioner Wilma Matsumura Commissioner Hannah Springer Others Present: Amy Self, Deputy Corporation Counsel Ken Van Bergen, Property Manager, Finance Alexandra Kelepolo, Clerk III, Finance CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair E. Kalani Flores at 10:14 a.m. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS None. DISCUSSION WITH RICHARD HA, HAMAKUA SPRINGS, AND DOUG SENSENIG, HAWAII ISLAND LAND TRUST (HILT), RE: SUGGESTION FORM FOR RICHARD AND JUNE HA TO SELL AN AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION EASEMENT ON TAX MAP KEY (TMK): (3) 2 -8 -04:05 (COMMUNICATION NO. 10 -014) (Mr. Doug Sensenig provided a handout to the Commission) He introduced himself as the Executive Director of HILT and was here on behalf of Mr. Richard Ha who was not able to be present today. Mr. Sensenig explained that the Commission can purchase a conservation easement and use County monies to leverage other sources of funds. The estimated cost of this easement for 250 acres is about 3 million and the federal Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP) through Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) can cover up to 50% of this cost. Mr. Ha, as the landowner is willing to cover 25% and the County can cover a portion of the remaining 25% since HILT will also be applying to the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Legacy Lands Conservation Program (LLCP) for additional funding. -1- He also noted that approximately 7 million gallons of water flow through these lands everyday and Mr. Ha is working with the U.S. Department of Energy to create enough electricity for a centralized refrigeration and distribution system which would be beneficial to him and the surrounding farmers. Mr. Flores asked if HILT would be the easement holder. Mr. Sensenig replied that yes, a qualified third party should hold the easement in perpetuity. Mr. Flores then asked what the benefit would be to the County using public funds. Mr. Sensenig replied that the County avoids the cost of development by keeping the land open along with the growing consciousness to maintain food sustainability and create a sustainable farming community. In addition, these are "prime" farm lands with soil that is considered "high priority" and must be protected. Mr. Hirakami asked if the County's' portion would be about 750,000. Mr. Sensenig replied yes, approximately. Mr. Hirakami asked if these lands are leased where it would go. Mr. Sensenig replied that in terms of potential use, the property could be leased out in portions but it could not be subdivided. Mr. Ha is giving up a great deal of value since the property may never be converted from agriculture however he can reserve the rights to build agricultural buildings if necessary. Ms. Markovich asked if there is a provision for public access purposes. Mr. Sensenig replied that the easement would not provide for unrestricted public access, however; there are some gulches on the property that may be nice for trails. Mr. Hirakami asked if there are any examples in the State of this working between government and private entities. Mr. Sensenig replied that he's not aware of it. He added that when a conservation easement is purchased, the monies go to the landowner and they can do whatever they want since there's no restriction. Mr. Gilmartin commented that he doesn't see how the County can get involved since there is no equal access on these farmlands. Mr. Sensenig replied that the County is purchasing an interest, it's not really subsidized. The public benefit would be in the maintenance of soils, avoidance of development costs and keeping clean water and food which is demonstrated nationwide. Mr. Gilmartin asked which farmers get access to the land. Mr. Sensenig replied that Mr. Ha has access and if he chooses to sell he has to sell all of it, it's a divided interest for the development rights. Mr. Flores told the Commission that they're not talking about access easements; Mr. Ha is just selling his developmental rights and will still retain ownership. This is the first time that a request for a conservation easement has ever been brought before them since the inception of the Commission and in the County's General Plan it identifies protection of agricultural lands. Mr. Gilmartin asked if there is a requirement that the land be used for agricultural purposes. Mr. Sensenig replied that yes, however; if for some reason it becomes impossible to use the land, the landowner can ask the court to change the property usage. The court would then be limited to conserving the property as much as possible and it could not be subdivided. It is permanent and the landowner must understand. -2- Mr. Flores thanked Mr. Sensenig for coming and providing more information. PRESENTATION BY A REPRESENTATIVE FOR `O`OMA II BEACHSIDE VILLAGE, LLC ON THE PROPOSAL FOR LANDS IN NORTH KONA, ISLAND OF HAWAII, TMK: (3) 7 -3- 09 (Mr. Peter Young, a consultant for the `O `oma project, presented a power point presentation to the Commission and provided multiple hand -outs for their information). He stressed to the Commission that they have no intention to sell and no intention to enter into negotiations with the County. The plan is that 75 acres of land along the shoreline with a 1,100 -1,700 foot setback will be preserved in open space at no cost to the County or taxpayers. The property is zoned in the Conservation District, General Subzone and the objective of this subzone is to designate open space where specific conservation uses may not be defined, but where urban use would be premature. This open space will provide for an Interconnected Public Shoreline Park which will include parking, public pavilion and restrooms at no cost to the County. In addition, these lands will be included in the Coastal Regional Open Space from Kailua to Kekaha Kai State Park. Further, the 10 -foot wide Mamalahoa Trail will have a 50 -foot buffer and a 60 -foot construction setback on each side and they plan to make improvements to the trail. The `O`oma Beachside Village proposal is completely different from prior proposals, as there is no comparison despite prior failed efforts for other proposals. They are proposing a residential village with no hotel that will not be gated. This is the type of project that everyone should embrace regardless of whether your pro - development or anti - development. Local residents can get into an oceanfront project at market prices and at the same time the public can continue to use the open space that they're used to. This project has support from the National Park Service (NPS), County Planning Director, Mrs. Leithead -Todd, former Mayor Harry Kim and conforms to the Kona Community Development Plan. He understands that there are three suggestion forms submitted to the Commission by the public. He emphasized that no one asked them if the properties were available for sale and they should take that into consideration along with the timeliness of the submittals. Ms. Self asked Mr. Young for clarification of what they want. Mr. Young replied that `O`oma should not be on the prioritized list since this project is satisfying what the County wants at no cost. Mr. Van Bergen asked if the 75 acres of open space will be dedicated to the County. Mr. Young replied that they have not gotten to that level yet, however; they're open to discussion. Mr. Flores thanked Mr. Young for his presentation and information provided to the Commission. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion: Commissioner Gilmartin moved for the approval of the minutes of June 21, 2010. Seconded by Commissioner Markovich; all members voted aye, motion carried. -3- WRITTEN COMMUNICATION Communication No. 10 -022: Letter dated June 16, 2010 to the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission (PONC), from Matthews M. Hamabata, Ph.D., Executive Director, The Kohala Center, re: Letter of support for Richard and June Ha's application to sell an agricultural conservation easement on TMK: (3) 2 -8 -04:05 Communication No. 10 -023: E -mail dated July 3, 2010 to PONC, from Roberta F. Chu, re: Support for Richard and June Ha's application to sell an agricultural conservation easement on TMK: (3) 2 -8 -04:05 Communication No. 10 -024: Letter dated June 28, 2010 to PONC, from Pamela Cushnie and LaDonna and Kurt Shively, re: Misuse of County funds for the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Waimea Trails and Greenways Shared Use Path "Ke Ala Kahawai O Waimea" Communication No. 10 -025: Letter dated July 9, 2010 to PONC, from Michelle Medeiros, re: Misuse of County funds for the preparation of an EA for the Waimea Trails and Greenways Shared Use Path "Ke Ala Kahawai O Waimea" Mr. Flores asked about Communication Nos. 10 -024 and 10 -025 and whether they needed to take action on this. Ms. Kelepolo told Mr. Flores that these letters were sent to the Commission in error and have been forwarded to the County Parks and Recreation who will be responding to both parties. Mr. Flores then noted that Communication Nos. 10 -022 — 10 -025 have been received and filed. OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL'S REPORT Ms. Self had nothing to report. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT Mr. Flores had nothing to report. Recess: 11:29 a.m. Reconvened: 11:37 a.m. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE REPORT Mr. Van Bergen reported on the status update for the properties listed below: ( #1) Kawa - The County received an extension from DLNR, LLCP for an additional year to June 30, 2011. He noted that there are some title issues that need to be addressed before the State approves the purchase. ( #2) Pa`o`o - We are currently in escrow which hopefully will close by September 30th since the 945,000 from LLCP was awarded by the State. ( #3) Lapakahi - Trust for Public Lands (TPL) will be closing escrow soon and this property will be given to the State as an addition to the adjacent park. Once completed, a blessing/ceremony could be done for Kaiholena, Pa`o`o and Lapakahi. ( #4) Kingman Trust - Council Member Ford is preparing a resolution and at this time he's not sure where it's at. ( #5) Kahuku Coastal Property — The County received an appraisal for the Kahuku property of which the landowners paid for. The value for this property consisting of 3,000 acres came in at 2.428 million and they are very interested in selling. Mr. Flores asked if a resolution is being prepared for this. Mr. Van Bergen replied that he doesn't know if Council Member Enriques is working on it. ( #6) Kaiholena — The County has already purchased three (North) parcels and two of the three remaining parcels (South) are currently for sale. We may be able to purchase one, however; without matching funds we won't be able to purchase both. Lots D and E combined are appraised at 4.95 million and Lot F is currently in escrow to be sold to a private landowner. Ms. Self asked Mr. Van Bergen if he's had discussions with Aric of NPS for management of the County -owned shoreline properties in North Kohala. Mr. Van Bergen replied that he has not had discussions with Aric but currently it's open to the public. Ms. Self said that since the County, State & NPS signed a Memorandum of Understanding, he should move on it soon. Mr. Flores added that since there's a high concentration of archaeological sites in this area then maybe DLNR LLCP could fund a portion of the acquisition cost for the remaining parcels. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Commissioners to identify and compile a directory of: ➢ funding sources for land /entitlement acquisitions; ➢ funding sources for land maintenance and management; ➢ potential partnerships with other governmental agencies, non - profit organizations, and private entities for land /entitlement acquisitions; & ➢ partnerships with non - profit organizations, community groups, and volunteer organizations to provide maintenance and management for acquired properties (Ms. Kelepolo provided a draft list to the commissioners for their review) Mr. Flores asked the Commission if they should include this listing in their annual report or leave it out. (the commissioners went into discussion) Mr. Flores concluded that these directories will be excluded from the annual report. -5- Commissioners to discuss, review and assess Suggestion Forms submitted by the public for 2010 (Ms. Kelepolo provided the commissioners with a listing of their scores) (the commissioners went into discussion and assessed the 2010 Suggestion Forms) Lunch: 12:28 p.m. Reconvened: 12:52 p.m. Mr. Flores asked if there is any discussion regarding the properties submitted. (the commissioners continued their discussion) Commissioners to discuss scheduling of site visits for properties that are selected for the 2010 Prioritized List Mr. Flores noted that they will defer this item to the end of the agenda since the prioritized list has not yet been determined. Recess: 1:51 p.m. Reconvened: 2:00 p.m. NEW BUSINESS • Commissioners to discuss refining the priority adjustment ranking process, in consultation with the Office of Corporation Counsel, Department of Finance, and the Mayor to guide the integration of newly suggested properties with lists submitted in previous years Mr. Flores asked if anyone had ideas or suggestions on how to handle this. Mr. Gilmartin suggested that they should take the current list that Finance is working on and mesh them with this year's list. Mr. Flores added that once a property's been acquired or is no longer available it should come off the list. Mr. Van Bergen added that there's not much left in the fund so they may want to take that into consideration. Mr. Hirakami asked if deposits into the fund would be restored in June 2011. Mr. Van Bergen replied yes, deposits should resume July 1, 2011. Mr. Van Bergen asked Ms. Self if the 1% got approved by the Charter Commission. Ms. Self replied that it will be on the ballot for this year's election. Mr. Flores stated that there needs to be guidelines on how to handle integrating the previous year's list of properties. WON Mr. Gilmartin feels that they need to look at the lists subjectively, and consider the properties that scored high. Mr. Flores noted that upon acquisition of properties, it will be removed from the list and properties that are still in negotiations should still remain on the list. They should consider adding new properties that have never been on the list. Mr. Van Bergen reminded them that once Council issues a resolution for a property it's no longer in their hands. Ms. Self stated that it's up to the County administration to decide which properties to purchase and if there's matching funds available it helps in leveraging funds. Mr. Flores suggested that "properties from previous prioritized lists should continue to be pursued as far as possible unless: 1) property has been acquired by County; 2) owner not willing to sell; 3) in- sufficient funds; 4) not able to obtain a County Council resolution." Mr. Van Bergen recommended that they include the past prioritized lists in their annual report with a status update for those properties. Mr. Gilmartin added that this should be included as an appendix in the report. Motion: Commissioner Gilmartin moved to amend the status report of all the previous activity, prioritized lists, purchases, resolutions that summarizes all that from 2009 back, and that the new report just has the items we want to add to the list with the language suggesting that we exhaust all means of acquiring earlier properties before moving on to the ones that we're adding within the limitation of funds. Mr. Gilmartin re- stated his motion. Motion: Commissioner Gilmartin moved to add an appendix with all the historical status of all previous properties proposed put on the prioritized list and in the current report for 2010, just list the properties we want to suggest for purchase after we've exhausted the purchase process of the other properties. Seconded by Commissioner Hirakami; all members voted aye, motion carried. Commissioners to discuss establishing a policy regarding properties that are not for sale /acquisition Mr. Gilmartin commented that he doesn't think a property should be put on the list if the owner indicates that they are not willing to sell. He added that it's very misleading. Mr. Flores agreed that they should not include it on the prioritized list; however include it in the comprehensive list of all properties submitted. Mr. Flores clarified that all suggestion forms will always be evaluated and assessed but if the property is not for sale it will not be considered for the prioritized list. 7- Mr. Hirakami asked what due diligence do they take to say Mr. Young is a duly authorized representative of the owner. Mr. Van Bergen replied that this is unique and there won't be too many applicants that come in and say that a property is not for sale. He further stated that he knows for a fact that Carlsmith Ball represents the owners and Mr. Knable from their firm was also present. Commissioners to discuss drafting of the 2010 Annual Report to the Mayor including the 2010 Prioritized List Mr. Flores stated that they will not consider `O`oma and Mahukona for the prioritized list since these properties are not for sale. (The commissioners went into discussion and reviewed the properties submitted) After much discussion regarding Hamakua Springs, the commissioners were unable to determine whether or not they want to include this property on the prioritized list. They concluded that more research needs to be done and additional information obtained. To answer questions and address their concerns staff will have a representative from NRCS present at the next meeting. The commissioners decided that they may consider four properties for the prioritized list (Pohoiki, Hamakua Springs, Hapu`u to Kapanai`a Cultural Corridor, Keawenui Easement) and their homework is to see how they want to rank them. In addition, Mr. Flores assigned them to draft write -ups for the properties listed below: Mr. Hirakami — Pohoiki Ms. Moon — Keawenui Easement Mr. Gilmartin — Hapu`u to Kapanai`a Corridor Recess: 3:59 p.m. Reconvened: 4:01 p.m. Mr. Flores asked the commissioners to review and update sections of the annual report as listed below: Mr. Flores will draft the cover letter. Mr. Hirakami will update page 1 (introduction and commission members) Ms. Moon will update pages 2 & 3 (prioritized list, comprehensive list and commission meetings) Ms. Markovich will update pages 3 & 4 (suggestion form, assessment criteria form and commission and community concerns) Mr. Gilmartin will update pages 4 & 5 (management concerns and next steps) (the commissioners went into discussion) Mr. Flores reminded the commissioners to send their write -ups and updated information to Ms. Kelepolo by mid - September so that it can be compiled for the next meeting. He noted that this item will be continued at the next meeting. am Commissioners to discuss scheduling site visits for properties that are selected for the 2010 Prioritized List (the commissioners went into discussion) Mr. Flores stated that they will not be scheduling site visits at this time. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 11, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. in the Department of Liquor Control Conference Room, at 75 -5722 Hanama Place, Suite 1107, Kailua -Kona, Hawaii. ADJOURNMENT Chair Flores adjourned the meeting at 4:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Alexandra Kelepolo, Clerk III MR