A land management fund that voters approved in 2012 finally will get rules to ensure proper disbursement and monitoring thanks to a bill the County Council will consider Wednesday.
Since 2006, when voters first authorized an open space fund, the county has spent millions purchasing hundreds of acres of sweeping ocean vistas and other pristine properties from Waipio in North Hawaii to Kawa Bay in the south. But managing and maintaining the new acquisitions has become a challenge.
Bill 90, sponsored by North Kona Councilwoman Karen Eoff, gives the county Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission authority to review, evaluate and make recommendations to the director of Department of Parks and Recreation regarding applications for stewardship grants that come from the maintenance fund.
The 2012 charter amendment set aside 0.25 percent of property taxes to go into a maintenance account. That’s in addition to the 2 percent set aside to buy land.
After allowing the maintenance fund to accumulate to about $1.2 million, the county is readying its first round of grants. According to the charter, the county must advertise by Aug. 1 of each year, provided money is available.
But there is no formal process in place to solicit, evaluate and award proposals from qualifying nonprofits, or to monitor their use of the money. Parks and Recreation, the department charged with overseeing the maintenance fund, has struggled with the program, saying it doesn’t have the staff or expertise to handle it.
“We realized that the Public Access, Open Space, Natural Resources Commission is actually the most knowledgeable group with regards to the properties that the County has acquired,” Eoff said Friday in an emailed message. “They are very familiar with the parcels of land as well as the community advocates, the cultural and lineal descendants and the nonprofit groups, so this seems to be a perfect fit.”
The PONC commission will be tasked with conducting interviews and performing site visits, as well as reviewing reports from grant recipients, to verify grant objectives are being met.
Two councilmen still seem unsure Parks and Recreation and the Finance Department can handle the added work without extra staff.
Puna Councilman Greggor Ilagan wondered whether the county could use some of the maintenance money to hire staff rather than having to pay for them with general fund money.
“Parks and Recreation has so many different projects all across the island,” Ilagan said during a Sept. 16 committee hearing about the bill. He noted in particular new regional parks in the works for Waimea and Pahoa. “How is this program going to be staffed?”
“My concern is who is going to be monitoring them?” asked Hilo Councilman Dennis “Fresh” Onishi.
Ken Van Bergen, deputy director for Parks and Recreation, tried to put council members’ concerns to rest.
“It’s not like it’s a whole bunch of (grant recipients),” Van Bergen said. “We’ll be managing it with existing staff. It won’t be a problem.”
According to the charter amendment, the money can be used only for maintenance of property bought with open space funds. It can be used for repair work, conservation and restoration of soil, forests, shorelines, native wildlife, streams and wetlands. Wildfire and fire prevention activities and repair of existing buildings to meet code requirements, replacing signs and installing and repairing fencing and cattle guards also are allowable projects. Archaeological surveys, buffering of Native Hawaiian historical and cultural sites and biological studies for protection of Native Hawaiian plants and animals round out the list.
The council meets in Hilo council chambers starting at 9 a.m. Members of the public can testify there, or by video conference from the West Hawaii Civic Center, Waimea council office, the conference room adjacent to the Hisaoka Gym in Kapaau, the Naalehu state office building or the Pahoa neighborhood facility.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
