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<\/a>Finally, last August, the Kings submitted a Conservation District Use Application. However, the photos included in the application showed that the work had already been done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Land Board\u2019s February 4 meeting, the OCCL recommended the Kings pay $17,000 in fines and submit a new CDUA within 180 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald King apologized to the Land Board and OCCL staff for what had happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really regret I\u2019m coming before you. \u2026 I\u2019m really sorry for the amount of time you guys have had to put into this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained that in 2012, he and his wife were able to afford buying the Conservation land \u201cbecause the designation and inability to build a home on the land reduced the value significantly. One of our goals in buying the land was to have it belong to a community member.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another goal, he said, was to gain access and a permit for a driveway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur youngest son has autism. My wife and I started a parent support group and founded the Hawai\u02bbi Autism Foundation,\u201d he added, noting that meetings are sometimes held at their house and that his son has a caregiver visit on regular basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey would have nowhere to park,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Street parking in Lanikai is highly restricted and is not allowed on three-day weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the driveway he built is thin and could be removed with hand tools, if necessary. He added that he would ultimately like to install a proper, permanent cement driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of the Kings\u2019 neighbors submitted written testimony in support of their efforts to build a driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only one member of the public testified at the board meeting. James Manaku, Sr., of Wai\u02bbanae, who often testifies before the Land Board on access issues, expressed his concern over what precedent might be set if the board were to go easy on the Kings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m worried about is that if he can do this on his Conservation land, what about the other landowners? \u2026 Imagine what can happen on Conservation land on all the islands. \u2026 I\u2019m sorry about his predicament, but what is important is our rights and preservation of all these lands,\u201d Manaku said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board member Kaiwi Yoon asked King what was going through his mind when he first began building the driveway. \u201cYou knew you had to have a permit,\u201d Yoon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
King again expressed his remorse, and said he was just really slow in applying for the permit. He said he couldn\u2019t afford the cost of hiring a consultant to help him. \u201cI decided to do it myself and I was just really slow in getting it done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board member Vernon Char suggested deferring the violation case and instead allowing the Kings to complete the permitting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am sympathetic to citizens getting caught in various governmental difficulties. No parking, things of that nature with the city, and just getting gridlocked with procedure. On the one hand I don\u2019t condone self help. \u2026 On the other hand I can sympathize with the frustration he has,\u201d Char said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The OCCL\u2019s Michael Cain said that current Conservation District rules do not allow permits to be processed if there is a pending violation. He added that his office has not asked the Kings to stop using their illegal driveway, but is only seeking fines and a permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When board member Oi made a motion to approve the staff\u2019s recommendations as submitted, the board initially approved it 5-2, with Char and board member Doreen Canto voting in opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, in the middle of holding a roll-call vote to confirm the result, board member Chris Yuen suggested that the board discuss the case further, since some board members had opposed the motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Char said, \u201cI think the applicant has come forward. He hasn\u2019t hidden anything. I would go along and vote for this just to get the violation over with but I would reduce the fine to $1,000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yoon disagreed. He recalled King\u2019s statement that he and his wife could afford the land because it was in Conservation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhenever you purchase Conservation land or anything like that, and it\u2019s quite a bit of land, I would hope you would know what the rules and regulations are, the dos and don\u2019ts, and in fact he admitted that he did,\u201d Yoon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen later, when I asked what was going through your mind, he said, \u2018We couldn\u2019t financially afford it.\u2019 To me, that\u2019s, I don\u2019t want to say disingenuous, but it\u2019s schizophrenic,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, he raised the same point Manaku did. \u201cWhat\u2019s to stop other owners that have Conservation land who say, \u2018Well, I knew, but things weren\u2019t panning out so I did it anyway. Sorry.\u2019?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yuen agreed with Yoon\u2019s arguments and said he could not support a fine as low as $1,000. However, Yuen suggested that the fine should reflect the damage that had been done and said he didn\u2019t think what the Kings had built was as bad as, say, an unauthorized seawall. Yuen said he could support a reduce fine of $10,000 plus the $2,000 in administrative costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To Oi, however, the OCCL\u2019s proposed fine was justified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe knew he was in violation. OCCL did send him a letter [describing] what he needs to do to get it done and he didn\u2019t do it and he did it on the side, like he\u2019s telling OCCL, ‘We don\u2019t need you. We gon\u2019 do it on our own,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, Oi\u2019s motion passed, with Char, Canto, and Yuen voting in opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
King said he would not contest the fines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Feds to Help With Management Of Waiea Natural Area Reserve<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Just because lands are in the state Agricultural District doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they\u2019re best used for farming or ranching. That\u2019s the message some Land Board members hoped to convey last month as they voted to enhance management of 1,269 acres in South Kona known as the Waiea Tract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Land Board voted last year to set aside the tract as a Natural Area Reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the land was once part of a pasture lease, the last permittee surrendered the area, which is surrounded by a National Wildlife Refuge owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There is currently no access to the reserve except through the refuge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWaiea is part of a larger contiguous tract of \u2018\u014dhi\u2018a-dominated forest containing rare forest bird habitat and endangered plant habitat. It is also essential watershed in the central Kona region. The forest in this region has an extraordinarily closed canopy, estimated at 50-75 percent canopy, far above the normal range for native Hawaiian forests. There also is montane mesic forest with mature stands of \u2018iliahi,\u201d states a September 2020 report by the Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019 Division of Forestry and Wildlife supporting the NAR designation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On February 11, the Land Board unanimously approved a request from DOFAW to authorize the board\u2019s chair to enter into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for management of both the Kona Forest Unit of the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge and the Waiea Tract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such an agreement will allow the FWS and DOFAW to combine their efforts in both areas. \u201cThis will be accomplished by coordinating the acquisition and habitat enhancement activity plans and pursuing joint funding opportunities where applicable. Coordinated management and shared resources would prevent duplicating or conflicting land management efforts by developing annual management and maintenance plans cooperatively and sharing annual reports of accomplishments,\u201d DOFAW states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DOFAW\u2019s Emma Yuen noted that the Waiea Tract was one of the DLNR lands proposed by the Legislature to be transferred to the Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was mostly used for access. Many years ago, the lessee did not renew their permit and it has just been unencumbered for a long time. It has very limited ag potential because it\u2019s land-locked,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a big puka in the protected area in Kona that we\u2019re pulling together,\u201d board chair and DLNR director Suzanne Case added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuen noted that DOFAW already has the materials to fence the area, where feral cattle are still found. \u201cReally soon, we\u2019re going to be able to take care of that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Board member Chris Yuen, who also happens to be Emma\u2019s father, said the board\u2019s action regarding Waiea \u201chas some relevance to the ongoing debate at the Legislature about DLNR lands that are under RP [revocable permit] or pasture that have natural resource value. It\u2019s a good example of DLNR moving forward protecting a forest area that was once pasture. … We recognized it should not be grazed [and] now it will be managed as part of a very large contiguous ecosystem along with a Fish and Wildlife Service bird sanctuary in South Kona.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently a number of bills before the Legislature propose to expedite the transfer of lands included in DLNR pasture leases or permits to the DOA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Teresa Dawson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “He knew what he was doing,” Land Board member Tommy Oi said in support of his motion to approve a $17,000 fine against Lanikai residents Donald and Julianne King for unauthorized work in the Conservation District. The couple, who own … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13,340,15,33,494],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-14291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-board-talk","category-forestry","category-forests","category-legislation","category-march-2022","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>