The Hawaii County Council on Thursday nixed a measure that would have removed the $3 million cap on the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation (PONC) maintenance fund.

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The Hawaii County Council on Thursday nixed a measure that would have removed the $3 million cap on the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation (PONC) maintenance fund.

Currently, 2% of the county’s annual property tax revenues are earmarked to purchase lands for open space. Of those funds, 0.25% are allocated to the PONC maintenance fund, from which community-based nonprofits that oversee those lands can apply for grants to cover stewardship costs.

Bill 165, as originally written, would’ve increased the allotment to the maintenance fund to 0.5%, but a compromise resulted in an amendment which lifted the cap but returned the allotted amount to 0.25%.

The legislation required both a third reading by the full council and a two-thirds majority of six yes votes to pass, as it would’ve put a proposed amendment to the Hawaii County Charter on November’s general election ballot.

The vote on third and final reading was 5-4, with ayes cast by Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, the bill’s author, Council Chairman Holeka Inaba, Vice Chairman Dennis Onishi, Kona Councilwoman Rebecca Villegas and Kohala Councilman James Hustace. Voting no were Ka‘u Councilwoman Michelle Galimba, Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball, Hilo Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada and Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder.

The measure also would have taken a list of eligible expenses and grant award procedures from the County Charter and move it into the County Code. The bill said that would provide “more flexibility to fulfill the original purpose of the fund, making it easier to amend and adapt program requirements and procedures as community needs, environmental conditions, and best practices change over time.”

Galimba thanked Kierkiewicz for authoring the bill, saying some of the changes in the proposal are “very much appropriate.” She said those who proposed amendments “made this a better bill.”

Galimba said, however, that she is “not going to be supporting it today,” noting that putting the proposal on the general election ballot is “not giving the community enough time to metabolize this.”

“I don’t have constituents that are clamoring for this right now,” added Kimball. “In fact, I have a lot of constituents that would prefer that we wait and address these things in a more holistic way. If there was a tremendous sense of urgency this had to happen this year and had to be on this ballot, I think I could be supportive. But I’m not getting that sense of urgency my constituents.

“Rather, I’m getting a sense that this is so significant and important, let’s take our time to do it right.”

Kona resident Debbie Hecht, one of the original architects of PONC in the mid-2000s, said she helped draft “the charter amendment that you are gutting right now.”

“I agree with Ashley … that a lot of the details need to go into the code — where they’re more nimble, where the council can change them, add to them, subtract from them,” Hecht said. “What I don’t agree with … and what a lot of people don’t seem to understand, is the charter can only be changed by the vote of the people.

“That’s a good thing, because in the past, we learned the hard way. When the whole program was in the code, the deposits were suspended for two years.”

Hecht was on the PONC Commission, a county advisory body that identifies lands for purchase and preservation, when then-Mayor Billy Kenoi and the council suspended deposits into the fund in 2009 and 2010, essentially pleading poverty.

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Martha “Cory” Harden asked the council Thursday to “follow the advice of knowledgeable community people who have been working for years to support PONC” and increase the maintenance fund to 0.5%

“PONC does not work without a well-designed and well-run maintenance fund,” Harden said. “Declaring land is protected is just the first step. The land needs ongoing care. Invasive species need to be taken out, cultural resources need to be cared for. Facilities that make the land more accessible to the public — like interpretive signs and pavilions and restrooms — need upkeep.

“And caring for the land brings the community together, which is invaluable.”

Harden said due to landowners and managers seeking profit over preservation, “forests have been decimated by pin-to-pin bulldozing, (and) there’s arsenic in the soil all over the island.”

“The value of setting aside lands for protection and following up with ongoing care for that land cannot be overstated,” she said. “You can have all kinds of laws that protect environmental, cultural and historic resources on privately owned land. But when there’s money to be made by getting around these laws, someone will get around them.”

Amadeo Markoff, a PONC Commission member from Puna, testified his “strong support” of Bill 165.

“I believe in stewardship, and it is just as important as acquisition,” Markoff said. “The proposed code establishes a comprehensive stewardship framework that includes property management plans, stewardship agreements, eligible expenditures, grant procedures, reporting requirements, public transparency, accountability measures and continued involvement of the PONC Commission in reviewing stewardship grant recommendations before they become before council.

“To me, this is not a reduction in oversight. It is a modernization of the program that provides considerably more guidance than currently exists.”

Deborah Ward, another Puna PONC commissioner, disagreed, saying Bill 165 “was offered in haste, without the community being able to see what the code changes were.”

“And as a result, it guts the charter without fixing the problem,” Ward said. “The only problem it now purports to fix is that it removes the cap — for which I am very supportive. However, I believe the omissions made when this charter amendment was offered have not been fixed, despite many efforts to offer testimony that provides corrections that could be made.

“And I think if we had more time and more community involvement, we’d be able to make this bill a much better bill. I think it’s too bad we have to wait two years to do that, but on the other hand, I think that Bill 165 as currently offered is not helping the situation. It’s only making potential problems worse.”

In other council business Thursday, Bill 125 — which clarifies duties, procedures and other regulations regarding the Pahoa Village Design District guidelines and review committee — was unanimously passed on second reading and now heads to the mayor’s desk.

Kierkiewicz, who introduced the bill, said the idea is “to preserve the village’s small-town, plantation-era character and guide future investments, development and renovations.”

And a first reading of Bill 168 — which would rezone 3.3 acres on Hualalai Road in Kailua-Kona from village commercial to double-family residential and an adjacent 3.2 acres from multiple-family residential to unplanned zoning district — was tabled.

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Email John Burnett at [email protected].