Big Island News: Land Use Fund: What You Can Do, and What is Going On
SAVE the 2% Land FUND! **** Save HAWAII ISLAND'S GREAT PLACES WHAT HAPPENED: Last Tuesday, March 17th, 32 people showed up to testify against Bill 49 in Hilo, Waimea and Kona. Bill 49 was introduced by the Department of Finance at the Mayor's direction to suspend payments to the 2% fund. After 2 hours of deliberation the council voted to postpone the vote on Bill 49, until April 7th. We tried to get them to vote down the bill and I thought we had the votes, with Kelly, Emily, Brenda and Dominic voting NO, but Pete Hoffmann wanted to be able to revisit suspending the fund if there was no other way to cut the budget. Yoshimoto, Onishi, Enriques and Ikeda all were solid YES votes to suspend the fund. PLEASE call or email the council members they could change their votes. We need your help NOW! HERE's what you can DO: 1. Email your council members or better yet call- the phone and email list is below. Tell them you care about Hawaii Island's great places, do not betray the vote of 57% of voters who voted to set aside 2% of property taxes for open space in 2006. 2. Show up at the council meeting on April 7th in Hilo to testify at the 2nd floor of the Ben Franklin building. If you testified before, bring 2 friends. We need at least 100 people. 3. Got any good ideas how to cut the budget? Email your council members. IF YOU CARE ABOUT LAND ON THE BIG ISLAND IF YOU DO NOT WANT OUR Island TO BE BOUGHT AND SOLD BY DEVELOPERS, NOW is the TIME TO ACT. CUT AND PASTE THESE EMAIL ADDRESSES IN THE To: Line of the Email: TO find out more information about your council member and contact information, CLICK HERE: http://www.hawaii-county.com/council/districts.htm Dominic Yagong 961-8264 Donald Ikeda 961-8225 Jay Yoshimoto 961-8225 Dennis "Fresh" Onishi 961-8912 Emily Naole 965-2712 Guy Enriques 961-8912 Brenda Ford 326-5684 Kelly Greenwell 327-3642 Pete Hoffmann 887-2043 Debbie Hecht's letter: ( Mahalo Debbie!!! ) Subject: 2% Open Space Parcels currently for sale To: dikeda@co.hawaii.hi.us, donishi@co.hawaii.hi.us, enaeole@co.hawaii.hi.us, jyoshimoto@co.hawaii.hi.us, Billy Kenoi Aloha Council members and Mayor Kenoi- Allow me to give you a little history about the Open Space Fund and clear up some confusion about why there is $8.8 million in the 2% fund right now: 1. Only two parcels have been purchased in the last 2.5 years- * Waipio Look out in Yagong's district and * part of Kawa bay in Ka'u, which is Enriques district. 2. Please know that Harry Kim's administration was adamantly against the 2% fund from the beginning and he appeared before the council and the Open Space commission asking that the funds be used for Park maintenance (the ordinance says acquisition only). 3. I have no idea WHY the county has been stockpiling these funds and not been actively negotiating on parcels that are for sale. The lack of progress in open space acquisition and transparency in the county's negotiations has been a constant source of frustration to many people in the conservation community. 4. An additional parcel of land at Kawa Bay in Ka'u, owned by Olsen, was under contract but the county let the appraisal expire. I am unable to get an answer about the appraised value for this land, but I believe it was to have cost the county approximately $5 million. 5. The great gift of having a sure funding source like the 2% fund is that we can go after matching funds. The "shame" of the county dragging their feet on the Olsen purchase was that we had matching funds of $1.5 million from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Hawksbill turtle and an additional $1.5 million from the State Legacy lands Fund which is funded from a portion of the conveyance tax when real estate is sold. (This fund is now being proposed for suspension for 4 years- so open space funding is evaporating) 6. FYI- There is a federal law to protect sellers, that requires that governments pay full cash value, so when the values started to fall, the seller (Olsen) did not want to sell at for the reduced appraised price. 7. There are actually 4 parcels for sale right now. 3 of which are approved (by resolution which directs the Director of Finance to begin negotiations for acquisition) by the Council and were in the top 5 picks of the Mayor for several years. ALL 4 properties have significant cultural sites. The following parcels are actively listed with real estate brokers for sale- The two websites below are for Kaiholena (in North Kohala) : Click here: www.kaiholenasouth.com for the 111 acres or www.kaiholenanorth.com for the 151 acres. Click here for the listing for the Puapua'a property (in Kona on Ali'i Drive just norht of Casa de Emdeko: http://www.konaalii.com/ The landowner for Pao'o (Kohala) has contacted Gail Byrne and is interested in selling for conservation. My background for the last 30 years is in real estate land sales and development. I would be glad to assist the county in anyway to acquire properties for Open Space and to increase our parks system as the basis for an eco-tourism industry. From a real estate investment perspective, this economic downturn represents a golden opportunity for the County. It is my hope that the Council and Mayor, as our leaders, will be able to see the long- term big -picture. NOW is the time to buy. To leave a legacy and to provide land for recreation for generations, PLEASE consider using the $3.5 to $4 million per year to pay the principal and interest on a $50 million Open Space Bond which would really enable us to save some of Hawaii Island's great places (see attached explanation about a bond) Please call or email with questions. I have attached a list of properties approved by the Council for acquisition. I can send you maps or meet with you. PLEASE honor 57% of voters who want to save the Big Island's treasured places before they are lost to development forever. Mahalo, Debbie Hecht 989-3222 Attachments: 1. Open Space Bond Explanation 2. Chart of Properties approved by the Council for acquisition West Hawai'i Today: Land use fund discussed at public hearing Monday BY JIM QUIRK WEST HAWAII TODAY jquirk@westhawaiitoday.com HILO — Placing a moratorium on Hawaii County’s 2 percent land use fund to help balance next fiscal year’s operating budget is a bone of contention for some island residents. During a County Council public hearing Monday to discuss Mayor Billy Kenoi’s proposed operating and capital budgets for the 2009-10 fiscal year that begins July 1, only three residents testified. Among other things, all three expressed concerns with Kenoi’s proposal to establish a two-year moratorium on the 2 percent land use fund in order to save $4.5 million next fiscal year. Resident Patrick Sullivan said “beauty and open spaces” is the reason tourists visit the Big Island, and the county government needs to continue the 2 percent land use fund to preserve certain areas from development. The 2 percent land use fund initiative was approved by voters in 2004. It requires the county to set aside 2 percent of all real property taxes collected annually to buy properties residents say should be protected from development. “The eco-tourism business will explode as long as we preserve what we have here,” Sullivan said. “If we don’t protect it, the eco-tourism industry will suffer greatly.” Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong said he believes more residents did not attend Monday’s hearing because local newspapers failed to run articles announcing the hearing. He suggested the council recess the hearing for two days to give newspapers an opportunity to run articles. However, after Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda and Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann pointed out that budget hearings are traditionally poorly attended — and after the county clerk’s office reported the hearing was properly advertised in local newspapers — the council decided not to hold a recess. |
