By Staff Reports
(Kauai)–The public is invited to share their ideas at community meetings regarding places on Kaua’i that they feel should be preserved and protected.
The Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission is eager to hear the public’s perspective, so they can begin to draft their biennial recommendations to the County Council on which sites should be acquired using the Open Space Fund.
The meetings will be held on Wednesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the following locations:
- May 29 – Kōloa Neighborhood Center, old courthouse annex
- June 12 – Līhu’e Civic Center, Mo‘ikeha Building, meeting room 2A/B
- June 26 – Kapa‘a Neighborhood Center
- June 24 – Princeville Community Center
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 any public library or neighborhood center or at the Planning Department.
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, Līhu’e, HI 96766.
- Faxed to the Planning Department at 241-6699.
Public testimony is also welcomed at the commission’s 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.
Currently, the fund receives one-half of one percent of the county’s annual real property tax revenues. Effective July 1, the amount will increase to 1.5 percent.
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.