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Home My WebLink AboutComm No 0021.001 - Testimony - CA-7 - PONC fund and Maintenance fund//141111)'' .f,3 01111111N III3 0 //141111111,„1111) 1113 rad 112 J),1 "'haII BJP Consulting yIr°o IP°off IIs,��IIIh, /,'uce r'haIIr Hawaiian Electric Dr„ lgo IIIIIC Iru°o lru°o h,�r, G �Il rasa 11 l Molokai General Hospital StaInford S„ Carr Stanford Carr Development I H� Ih li it°off IIa,a, a rte Karat_ o ka Aina School Kamehameha Schools Steve IIK.eIIII'/' James Campbell Company LLC Mark 11„„.IIInscott Kaiser Permanente Pulama Lana`i �a°lalru°o�asalr°oa°la „ r°Mean Farmer, Rancher, Landowner Gregory ll° c; II„IiePr,;,;;.r;;IPri Pietsch Properties LLC Ih;lilra�h,lilr°o II'°��asalr°o�a,ia NAVFAC Pacific Gregg °4"'ragaIr 1 Morgan Stanley fOr II;I1II'°oa°ll.Ily Howard Hughes Corp. Tom II'°Iree acre Conservationist Alicll'riae `u;, `u;,p1IIa Iilr°off)! Michael Spalding Realty C 1roI Author THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND'S TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO COMM. NO. 21 TRANSMITTING CA -7 FOR INITIAL APPROVAL; PROPOSAL TO AMEND SECTION 10-15 AND SECTION 10-16, BY REPEALING AND REPLACING PROVISIONS FOR THE PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION FUND AND MAINTENANCE FUND, RESPECTIVELY, AS SUBMITTED BY COMMISSIONER HAMANO HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION 1:30 P.M., NOVEMBER 9, 2018 WEST HAWAII CIVIC CENTER Aloha Chair Adams and Commission Members: The Trust for Public Land, in general, opposes advancing CA -7 for initial approval. The Trust for Public Land was originally involved in and supported the creation of the PONC fund through its 501(c)(4) organization, the Conservation Campaign. The Trust for Public Land thanks the staff of the PONC 2% fund and the volunteers who serve on the PONC Commission for their hard work in advancing the wishes of the voters of Hawaii County who voted for the 2% Fund. We appreciate the work of the Ad Hoc Committee in reviewing Charter provisions that established the 2% fund, but recommend that more work and analysis be completed — interviewing the staff of the 2% fund, the volunteers of the PONC commission, the groups who have applied is maintenance/management funding, and other stakeholders with special expertise in land conservation such as The Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, and The Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. As discussed below, The Trust for Public Land in general opposes initial approval of CA - 7. Specifically, • The Trust for Public Land opposes reductions to land acquisition fund amount and opposes capping the amount. Land is very expensive in Hawai'i and where opportunities arise where land that the community wants to preserve is available for sale, the County needs to be prepared to act. If the fund's balances had not built up, it would never have been able to purchase the seven Kaiholena parcels in North Kohaala for $10.5 million. The Trust for Public Land works with conservation partners throughout the nation to conserve land. A steady source of funding is necessary to build up sufficient capital to quickly move on significant properties that the community wants to protect. We know from working with Kaua'i County, which has a lower percentage for its open space fund, that it takes many years for the fund to build up enough money to purchase land or contribute to a purchase of land that the community wants very badly to preserve. Landowners are not willing to wait for the fund's reserves to build up and opportunities for conservation have been lost. The Trust for Public Land also understands that there are competing budgetary priorities. There will always be competing budget priorities. But the voters in Hawai'i County have repeatedly re -affirmed that land protection and conservation is a very high priority for them. Comm. No. 21.1 • The Trust for Public Land opposes reducing the maintenance fund amount. Interviewing applicants for maintenance funds would have been helpful in understanding how difficult the application process is for maintenance funds — while the use of public funds should always be monitored and best practices followed, the County process needs to be simplified. Applicants, who are unpaid volunteers, should not be put through trial -like cross examinations. The process as it currently stands does not encourage groups to apply. • The Trust for Public Land opposes changes to Section 10-16 of the Charter that would expand use of the maintenance fund to large capital projects such as buildings, roads, and restrooms. The voters who approved this provision clearly intended, as stated in Section 10-16(g), that these types of larger expenditures should be handled by the County in the capital improvement budget or via the general fund. A single large capital improvement, such as road, could easily drain the entire annual fund for maintenance/stewardship. This provision was intended to give grass roots community groups an opportunity to take ownership in the lands protected and apply for stewardship grants to foster community aina based stewardship. That said, The Trust for Public Land would support expanding the uses of the maintenance fund for smaller projects that would not drain the fund and support community stewardship — e.g., educational buildings/facilities, sheds for storage of equipment, portable restrooms for remote locations. • The Trust for Public Land opposes removing the protective covenant. This could affect the County's ability to secure matching funding, which accounts for approximately one-third of the County's funding to date. Further research would be required to determine if it would be permissible to allow transfer of the protected to land to qualified partners like the National Park Service, the State, or land trusts like the Nature Conservancy or the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, subject to permanent restrictions preventing development that run with the land. • The Trust for Public Land supports the Ad Hoc Committee and PONC Commission's recommendation that dedicated full-time staff is needed to support PONC's work. PONC has accomplished incredible conservation work. The Trust for Public Land is eager to work with PONC to help leverage other funding — federal, state, and private — to stretch PONC dollars further and to have a greater impact. Recently, The Trust for Public Land assisted the State of Hawaii in acquiring 2,900 former pineapple lands in Central O'ahu for over $15.1 million — only $1.5 million of those funds were State funds. The Trust for Public Land hopes that it use its national expertise in land conservation to assist the County of Hawaii in meeting its conservation and preservation goals. Mahalo for this opportunity to testify. Unfortunately, we will not be able to testify in person due to scheduling conflicts. Mahalo — Lea Hong State Director Edmund C. Olson Trust Fellow 2