By Staff Reports
(Hanalei)- Over the last two months, the Open Space Commission has held community meetings around the island gathering input from the public regarding places on Kaua’i that they feel should be preserved and protected.
The last community meeting in this round of meetings will be held at Hale Halawai ‘Ohana ‘O Hanalei also known as The Hanalei Community Center. The meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, July 24, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Following the Hanalei meeting, the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission will begin to draft their biennial recommendations to the County Council on which sites should be acquired using the Open Space Fund.
The public also has the opportunity to participate in the Open Space Commission’s annual survey, which can be accessed and completed online at www.kauai.gov/OpenSpaceSurvey.
Ideas expressed in the survey will be taken into consideration and may be incorporated in the Commission’s biennial recommendations to the County Council on which sites should be acquired using the Open Space Fund.
Paper copies of the survey are available at the neighborhood centers and at the Planning Department counter at the Lîhu’e Civic Center, Moikeha Building.
Completed surveys can be:
- Emailed to openspace@kauai.gov.
- Dropped off or mailed to the County of Kaua‘i, Planning Department – Open Space Commission, 4444 Rice Street, Suite 473A, Lîhu’e, HI 96766.
- Faxed to the Planning Department at 241-6699.
Public testimony is also welcomed at the Open Space Commission meetings, which are normally held on the second and fourth Thursday of each month in the Mo’ikeha Building, meeting rm. 2A/B.
To qualify for purchase or acquisition using the Open Space Fund, sites suggested must meet at least one of the following purposes:
- Outdoor recreation/education, including access to beaches and mountains.
- Preservation of historically or culturally important lands and sites.
- Protection of significant habitats or ecosystems, including buffer zones.
- Preservation of forests, beaches, coastal areas and agricultural lands.
- Protection of watershed lands to preserve water quality and water supply.
- Conservation of land in order to reduce erosion, floods, landslides and runoff.
- Improve public access to, and enjoyment of, public land.
- Acquire public access to public land and open space.
- Conserving land for open space and scenic values.
The Open Space Commission was created in 2003 by the County Council following an overwhelming vote by Kaua‘i residents to establish the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund in the 2002 elections.
The fund receives 1.5 percent of the county’s annual real property tax revenues.
For more information, please contact the Planning Department at 241-4050.
If you need an ASL Interpreter, materials in an alternate format, or other auxiliary aid support, please contact Nani Sadora at 241-4050 or openspace@kauai.gov at least seven days before the meeting.