Waikaku`u Subdivision OK\u2019d:<\/b> The Hawai`i County Board of Appeals has given the green light to a planned 14-lot subdivision in an old-growth `ohi`a forest in South Kona. At its July 13 meeting, the board voted 6-0 (with one recusal) to deny the appeal of Richard and Patricia Missler of the planning director\u2019s approval of the subdivision.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Patricia Missler said she and her husband believed that they had presented evidence and testimony during the five hearings of this contested case showing that Planning Director Bobbi-Jean Leithead-Todd\u2019s decision was \u201cin fact erroneous, illegal, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.\u201d She indicated that they are considering an appeal of the board\u2019s decision to Circuit Court.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, County Council member Brenda Ford has introduced a measure that would allow the county to purchase the land through its Open Space Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want to stop our fight to protect this jewel,\u201d Patricia Missler said. \u201cThousand-year-old trees are worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n
One issue that was raised by the Misslers\u2019 attorney, Michael Matsukawa, was a possible conflict of interest involving board member Dwayne Yoshina and Kenneth Goodenow, one of the attorneys who played a role in representing the landowners. Goodenow participated in the contested case hearing through the end of March, when he left the Carlsmith Ball firm to campaign for a seat on the County Council. A report in West Hawai`i Today stated that Yoshina was \u201cconsulting on Goodenow\u2019s campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a July 9 letter to the Board of Appeals chairman, Rodney Watanabe, Matsukawa stated that the relationship appeared to run up against the section of the County Charter intended to discourage conflicts of interest: \u201cIt shall constitute a conflict of interest for \u2026 officers of the county to \u2026 [engage] in any \u2026 transaction or activity \u2026 which might reasonably tend to be incompatible with the proper discharge of their official duties or to impair their independence of judgment in the performance of their official duties.\u201d<\/p>\n
ATST Recommendations:<\/b> The hearing officer in the protracted contested case hearing over the proposed construction of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope on Haleakala has recommended that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources issue a Conservation District Use Permit (CDUP) for the project.<\/p>\n
On July 16, hearing officer Lane Ishida — the third to be appointed to the case — submitted his proposed findings of fact, conclusions of law, and decision and order to the Land Board. That same day, the Land Board issued a minute order giving parties to the contested case — the University of Hawai`i (the applicant) and Kilakila `O Haleakala (the petitioner) — until August 23 to file their exceptions. The board has scheduled oral arguments for September 14 at 1 p.m in Honolulu.<\/p>\n
Ishida recommended that, as a condition of the CDUP, the university submit grading and construction plans to the Land Board chair or designated representative for approval. He also recommended that most of the mitigation set forth in the project\u2019s environmental impact state be incorporated into the CDUP and that the permit state that it does not convey any vested rights or exclusive privilege.<\/p>\n
To protect traditional and customary rights, Ishida recommended that the permit require the university to allow access to two ahu, \u201cto the extent feasible and safe,\u201d during and after construction of the ATST.<\/p>\n
The original hearing officer in the case, Steven Jacobson, was discharged earlier this year by the Land Board, which found that his communication with the university regarding political pressure to expedite a decision was illegal.<\/p>\n
Volume 23, Number 2 August 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Waikaku`u Subdivision OK’d: The Hawai`i County Board of Appeals has given the green light to a planned 14-lot subdivision in an old-growth `ohi`a forest in South Kona. At its July 13 meeting, the board voted 6-0 (with one recusal) to … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-august-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","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=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}