Hi Committee Members,
my name is David Dorn and I have testified before about the importance of acquiring and protecting these Watershed lands. I am speaking on behalf of Sierra Club Maui and South Maui Save the Wetlands Hui, I am not a lobbyist. I support this measure (CARE-97). Reso 22-206
These particular lands are part of a much larger watershed.
There are over 5000 Acres of vital Watershed lands directly above this property and there are critical habitats and environments directly below this property.
This property is a conduit and connection from the upper part of the Watershed to the lower part and its importance should not be underestimated.
• I have heard recently from people who have said that “the county dropped the ball when it came to trying to buy this property”.
• Some people will say that because of this Peter Martin legally bought this property “fair and square”.
• But the importance of this land to the environment and to the community far outweighs these technical matters.
• Peter Martin should have known better because this property was already in negotiation with the county for preservation. So he was not acting in “good faith”
• Builders should not be able to say “I got you” because of a technicality,
• And the recently acquired rights of a purchaser should not outweigh the greater needs of the environment.
• So we need to look at this issue from a wider perspective and weigh the needs of the environment, against the perceived rights of an unethical land acquisition.
This is why we need to evoke eminent domain in this case.
• Because if we simply adhere to the convoluted technicalities in all cases like this, the environment will suffer.
• We need to act responsibly from an environmental, ethical, and sustainability standpoint because we are talking about a Life-sustaining Watershed system and important lands that will be critical for future generations to come.
Please vote to pass this measure to Acquire the Maalaea watershed lands through Eminent Domain.
With today's hearing I looked through my old Ma'alaea stormwater files from my previous role as Principal Engineer for Robin Knox in our NPDES work at the Maui Ocean Center.
I found a very extensive DRAFT Stormwater Monitoring Report we compiled in 2018 on the Ma'alaea Harbor, funded by Maui Ocean Center and managed by Robin. There is a large amount of data and images supporting the case for sedimentation control in the mauka Pohakea watershed. The main take home from this report is one number, which is that we calculated total sediment mass loading from a single culvert during the February 2018 stormwater event to be 334,262 pounds of suspended solids, or 150 tons of sediment for one runoff event!
Please do all you can to control sediment in the Pohakea mauka watershed.
Aloha, I strongly support using Eminent domain to purchase this land.
Everything has been done short of Eminent domain in good faith and it has been unsuccessful.
This is so important for the environment, the resident Quality of life and our tourist industry!!
Mahalo Genesis Young
Peter W, Cannon
28 Unahe Street
Kahului, Maui, Hawaii 96732
TESTIMONY SUPPORTING MAUI COUNTY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 22-206 “AUTHORIZING
PROCEEDINGS IN EMINENT DOMAIN FOR THE ACQUISITION OF APPROXIMATELY 257 ACRES
AT MA’ALAEA MAUKA/POHAKEA WATERSHED, MAUI, HAWAI’I FOR PRESERVATION
My name is Peter Cannon. I was born in Paia and raised in Maalaea. My family and I have a lifetime
worth of observations on what has happened to the Maalaea lands and Maalaea Bay. I have read the
testimony of Mr. Tapani Vuori is support of Resolution 22-206 and I would like to offer and addendum to
his thoughts. There are many good reasons for the condemnation of this land. I am going to focus on just
one. This testimony will focus on how the Maalaea mauka lands effect Maalaea Bay and the lands below.
Ownership of these 257 acres is critical to stopping the continuing sedimentation into Maalaea Bay that is
the primary cause of the loss of coral, limu, shells, opai and fish nurseries. Stopping fast flowing rain
waters and solving the sedimentation problem is actually very cheap and easy to accomplish. But you
need to first own the Maalaea mauka lands that are the source of the problem. In addition, flood waters
from rainfall passing through these mauka 257 acres need to be allowed to flow into Maalaea Bay
through natural filtration as it did throughout antiquity. This is the focus of my testimony.
The Maalaea mud flats are a natural filtration system. The Hauoli Street flood control basin would not
even be necessary if we could simply let the upland rainwater and highway rainwater flow back into the
cane fields and into the mud flats as they did before the poorly designed roadside drainage culvert was
built and the Maalaea mauka lands were left uncultivated. Landowner Mahi Pono has said to me, we
want and will take the water.
The attached photo tells the story. Look at the yellow lines that cross through the subject Maalaea mauka
property outlined in red. All four of these yellow lines represent the biggest streams in the area and there
are many more than four when it rains hard. These streams, fed by the rain that falls in the hills above
and upon Maalaea mauka, and the rain that falls on the four-lane highway and the median strip, are
diverted into a highway drainage culvert. Kanaio is the biggest named stream to the north. You can easily
see in the photo that this stream used to flow under the road before the state build the four-lane highway.
You can also see the remnants of Kanaio Stream makai of the highway that once flowed into the Maalaea
mud flats. But this water now flows under the road and into the beginning section of the drainage culvert.
This is a lot of water during a rain and the Kanaio water belongs in its own stream, not in the culvert. This
diverted-by-man Kanaio section is an easy fix right at the very beginning of the culvert.
The Kanaio Stream water and the adjacent streams used to end up in the A&B Maalaea mud flats now
owned by Mahi Pono. These wetlands are on private property and are connected to the Kealia Pond
National Wildlife Refuge. The original Maalaea wetlands were a natural filtration system. Rainwater
moved slowly, mud was left behind and clear water would go into Kealia. Today these wetlands are
starved for water. During the wet months, this whole wetland area of ponds is totally connected. The
water from the Maalaea mudflats flowed as clear water into the sea through the Kealia Stream mouth
near the boardwalk and shoreline parking area.
These streams and wetlands were also the sources of the spring waters that used to just erupt out of the
sandy beaches of Maalaea as they headed out to sea. The opai and the limu that lived in the area loved
the freshwater flows and they thrived in Maalaea. They could do so again.
Look at the southern stream depicted by the fourth yellow line that flows to the sea through the flood
control area. This little stream, that now runs through a way too small cane field pipe and into the flood
control area, was once a 12 to 15-foot-deep mini gulch. It could handle all the water flow that mother
nature could possibly deliver. There is a natural out cropping of rocks at the mouth of this stream showing
that boulders were delivered by this stream into the bay throughout antiquity. I was raised in a home
where Maalaea Banyans now stands. As barefoot kids we explored every square inch of that stream that
we called a ditch. We even had hand and foot hold stairs cut into the red dirt sides to get in and out along
the way. This stream never even got close to overflowing. The bottom of the stream was boulders.
All the streams north of this ditch together with dirt carried from Maalaea mauka and the uplands used to
naturally flow into the cane fields and end up in the mudflats. The streams to the south of this ditch ran
into what is now the Maalaea Harbor area. The ditch only handled water that came from its own natural
stream sources. Man has changed this.
The sedimentation problem is exacerbated by a cane haul road "bridge" with a four-foot diameter pipe in
middle of the stream. The cane road and the stream are visible on google earth. Unfortunately, the pipe
is right on the boundary and is half in Mahi Pono land and half in a new owner’s land. Mahi Pono knows
about the problem. This one four-foot diameter pipe cannot possibly handle the flow of storm water in
heavy rains coming from way too many sources. So, the water backs up into the makai fields, goes
around the pipe, picks up more dirt, and finds its way into Maalaea Bay partly through the ditch and partly
across Hauoli Street and sometimes through the lower levels of the Island Sands condominium.
Too much dirt reaches Maalaea Bay because of diverted Maalaea mauka streams, the poorly designed
roadside culvert and the four-foot diameter pipe that cannot handle the flow. Today, if you go into the
water in front of the Kanai A Nalu condominium and dig under any sandy area, you will reach a-foot-deep
layer of mud under the sand. Fishermen dig here for bait worms. This shoreline dirt did not exist before
the stormwater diversions.
Maalaea Bay is an economic engine for Maui. Almost all of Maalaea’s corals have died from this dirt.
Coral makes sand. Coral builds a healthy environment for aquatic life. Maalaea Bay is now designated a
degraded body of water by the EPA. Maalaea Bay is dying.
This is so easy to fix. Purchase the Maalaea mauka lands. Install cheap and easy sedimentation controls.
Return the mauka waters back to its natural flow patterns. The natural filtration system of the Maalaea
Mudflats will again remove most of the dirt. The purchase of the 257 acres is critical to this success.
I am in support of Resolution 22-206 to utilize eminent domain on the property mauka of Ma'alaea. This valuable watershed should be preserved for future generations as an open space to maintain the natural beauty free of construction. Thank you for your consideration and support of this important resolution. Gayle Harbo, property owner, 150 Hauoli St, unit 406
Aloha Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee.
My name is Chase Martin and I represent Maui Nui Marine Resource Council, which is in strong support of the County’s efforts to acquire important watershed land at Pohakea.
I want to start by thanking the committee for undertaking this project.
Maui Nui Marine Resource Council would like to express our enthusiastic support for the acquisition of the Pohakea Watershed lands in Māʻalaea. We believe that this acquisition will allow for greatly improved management of the land and the ongoing support of conservation groups in the community. By taking care of the land in the watershed, the County and the community will be taking care of and improving the ocean water quality and the coral reefs in Māʻalaea Bay.
Due to many factors listed in the resolution, including the importance of the parcel for fire prevention, flood control, erosion control, and water quality management for the marine and reef health of Ma`alaea Bay, anything less than the full conservation of the parcel is not acceptable. Further, the location is bad for development due to the availability of water given the upcoming neighboring Waikapu Country Town. It is good for conservation for many reasons, including the access points to the Lahaina Pali Trail and continuity with State-managed forestry lands.
The parcel for conservation pairs well with other efforts to protect Ma’alaea. As you know, Maui Nui Marine Resource Council commissioned the preparation of the Pohakea Stormwater Management Plan in 2017, with the goal of reducing sediment runoff into Māʻalaea Bay and protecting the coral reefs. This plan was created for us by the watershed experts at Maui Environmental Consulting and made available to the public in 2018. Since then, Maui Nui Marine Resource Council and our community partners have relied upon the plan as a blueprint for our work in the watershed to improve water quality in Māʻalaea Bay. While we have made some progress on implementing the plan, there is much more to be done – beyond the scope and financial resources of our community-based nonprofit organization. We have leveraged the resources available to us to pay for the installation of firebreaks in Pohakea Watershed to mitigate wildfires that burn away the vegetative cover that holds soil in place -- thus preventing future sediment runoff. Weʻve monitored some of the headcuts – severely eroded areas – on the Pohakea Watershed Lands and created data-based estimates of the astounding amount of sediment transported from these areas into Ma’alaea Bay during moderate rainstorms. We’ve also planted deeply-rooted non-invasive vetiver along the sloped contours of this land parcel to lock precious topsoil in place, rather than lose it to erosion.
By preserving this land for conservation, our efforts and those of others involved in this restoration will not only be greatly supported, but also enhanced by the added protection coming from upland. Conserving this land also allows for expanded efforts to protect the watershed, including projects underway by MNMRC and those of other organizations working in the area.
We urge the County to acquire the land to convert this pivotal parcel from private to public land – for the benefit of the community, the watershed, the water quality of Maʻalaea Bay and the coral reefs and marine wildlife that require clean ocean water to survive.
Aloha, CARES Committee members. Please find attached testimony being submitted on behalf of the Ma'alaea Village Association, supporting Resolution 22-206.
Mahalo for this opportunity to comment.
Hi Committee Members,
my name is David Dorn and I have testified before about the importance of acquiring and protecting these Watershed lands. I am speaking on behalf of Sierra Club Maui and South Maui Save the Wetlands Hui, I am not a lobbyist. I support this measure (CARE-97). Reso 22-206
These particular lands are part of a much larger watershed.
There are over 5000 Acres of vital Watershed lands directly above this property and there are critical habitats and environments directly below this property.
This property is a conduit and connection from the upper part of the Watershed to the lower part and its importance should not be underestimated.
• I have heard recently from people who have said that “the county dropped the ball when it came to trying to buy this property”.
• Some people will say that because of this Peter Martin legally bought this property “fair and square”.
• But the importance of this land to the environment and to the community far outweighs these technical matters.
• Peter Martin should have known better because this property was already in negotiation with the county for preservation. So he was not acting in “good faith”
• Builders should not be able to say “I got you” because of a technicality,
• And the recently acquired rights of a purchaser should not outweigh the greater needs of the environment.
• So we need to look at this issue from a wider perspective and weigh the needs of the environment, against the perceived rights of an unethical land acquisition.
This is why we need to evoke eminent domain in this case.
• Because if we simply adhere to the convoluted technicalities in all cases like this, the environment will suffer.
• We need to act responsibly from an environmental, ethical, and sustainability standpoint because we are talking about a Life-sustaining Watershed system and important lands that will be critical for future generations to come.
Please vote to pass this measure to Acquire the Maalaea watershed lands through Eminent Domain.
Mahalo,
David Dorn
Aloha Council Members,
With today's hearing I looked through my old Ma'alaea stormwater files from my previous role as Principal Engineer for Robin Knox in our NPDES work at the Maui Ocean Center.
I found a very extensive DRAFT Stormwater Monitoring Report we compiled in 2018 on the Ma'alaea Harbor, funded by Maui Ocean Center and managed by Robin. There is a large amount of data and images supporting the case for sedimentation control in the mauka Pohakea watershed. The main take home from this report is one number, which is that we calculated total sediment mass loading from a single culvert during the February 2018 stormwater event to be 334,262 pounds of suspended solids, or 150 tons of sediment for one runoff event!
Please do all you can to control sediment in the Pohakea mauka watershed.
Call 808-757-5984 to discuss.
Mahalo,
Travis Liggett
President, Reef Power LLC
Instagram.com/reefpowermaui
www.reefpowermaui.com
Instagram.com/FlushAware
www.FlushAware.com
Aloha, I strongly support using Eminent domain to purchase this land.
Everything has been done short of Eminent domain in good faith and it has been unsuccessful.
This is so important for the environment, the resident Quality of life and our tourist industry!!
Mahalo Genesis Young
Please see attached testimony.
Testimonies received by the CARE Committee
Peter W, Cannon
28 Unahe Street
Kahului, Maui, Hawaii 96732
TESTIMONY SUPPORTING MAUI COUNTY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 22-206 “AUTHORIZING
PROCEEDINGS IN EMINENT DOMAIN FOR THE ACQUISITION OF APPROXIMATELY 257 ACRES
AT MA’ALAEA MAUKA/POHAKEA WATERSHED, MAUI, HAWAI’I FOR PRESERVATION
My name is Peter Cannon. I was born in Paia and raised in Maalaea. My family and I have a lifetime
worth of observations on what has happened to the Maalaea lands and Maalaea Bay. I have read the
testimony of Mr. Tapani Vuori is support of Resolution 22-206 and I would like to offer and addendum to
his thoughts. There are many good reasons for the condemnation of this land. I am going to focus on just
one. This testimony will focus on how the Maalaea mauka lands effect Maalaea Bay and the lands below.
Ownership of these 257 acres is critical to stopping the continuing sedimentation into Maalaea Bay that is
the primary cause of the loss of coral, limu, shells, opai and fish nurseries. Stopping fast flowing rain
waters and solving the sedimentation problem is actually very cheap and easy to accomplish. But you
need to first own the Maalaea mauka lands that are the source of the problem. In addition, flood waters
from rainfall passing through these mauka 257 acres need to be allowed to flow into Maalaea Bay
through natural filtration as it did throughout antiquity. This is the focus of my testimony.
The Maalaea mud flats are a natural filtration system. The Hauoli Street flood control basin would not
even be necessary if we could simply let the upland rainwater and highway rainwater flow back into the
cane fields and into the mud flats as they did before the poorly designed roadside drainage culvert was
built and the Maalaea mauka lands were left uncultivated. Landowner Mahi Pono has said to me, we
want and will take the water.
The attached photo tells the story. Look at the yellow lines that cross through the subject Maalaea mauka
property outlined in red. All four of these yellow lines represent the biggest streams in the area and there
are many more than four when it rains hard. These streams, fed by the rain that falls in the hills above
and upon Maalaea mauka, and the rain that falls on the four-lane highway and the median strip, are
diverted into a highway drainage culvert. Kanaio is the biggest named stream to the north. You can easily
see in the photo that this stream used to flow under the road before the state build the four-lane highway.
You can also see the remnants of Kanaio Stream makai of the highway that once flowed into the Maalaea
mud flats. But this water now flows under the road and into the beginning section of the drainage culvert.
This is a lot of water during a rain and the Kanaio water belongs in its own stream, not in the culvert. This
diverted-by-man Kanaio section is an easy fix right at the very beginning of the culvert.
The Kanaio Stream water and the adjacent streams used to end up in the A&B Maalaea mud flats now
owned by Mahi Pono. These wetlands are on private property and are connected to the Kealia Pond
National Wildlife Refuge. The original Maalaea wetlands were a natural filtration system. Rainwater
moved slowly, mud was left behind and clear water would go into Kealia. Today these wetlands are
starved for water. During the wet months, this whole wetland area of ponds is totally connected. The
water from the Maalaea mudflats flowed as clear water into the sea through the Kealia Stream mouth
near the boardwalk and shoreline parking area.
These streams and wetlands were also the sources of the spring waters that used to just erupt out of the
sandy beaches of Maalaea as they headed out to sea. The opai and the limu that lived in the area loved
the freshwater flows and they thrived in Maalaea. They could do so again.
Look at the southern stream depicted by the fourth yellow line that flows to the sea through the flood
control area. This little stream, that now runs through a way too small cane field pipe and into the flood
control area, was once a 12 to 15-foot-deep mini gulch. It could handle all the water flow that mother
nature could possibly deliver. There is a natural out cropping of rocks at the mouth of this stream showing
that boulders were delivered by this stream into the bay throughout antiquity. I was raised in a home
where Maalaea Banyans now stands. As barefoot kids we explored every square inch of that stream that
we called a ditch. We even had hand and foot hold stairs cut into the red dirt sides to get in and out along
the way. This stream never even got close to overflowing. The bottom of the stream was boulders.
All the streams north of this ditch together with dirt carried from Maalaea mauka and the uplands used to
naturally flow into the cane fields and end up in the mudflats. The streams to the south of this ditch ran
into what is now the Maalaea Harbor area. The ditch only handled water that came from its own natural
stream sources. Man has changed this.
The sedimentation problem is exacerbated by a cane haul road "bridge" with a four-foot diameter pipe in
middle of the stream. The cane road and the stream are visible on google earth. Unfortunately, the pipe
is right on the boundary and is half in Mahi Pono land and half in a new owner’s land. Mahi Pono knows
about the problem. This one four-foot diameter pipe cannot possibly handle the flow of storm water in
heavy rains coming from way too many sources. So, the water backs up into the makai fields, goes
around the pipe, picks up more dirt, and finds its way into Maalaea Bay partly through the ditch and partly
across Hauoli Street and sometimes through the lower levels of the Island Sands condominium.
Too much dirt reaches Maalaea Bay because of diverted Maalaea mauka streams, the poorly designed
roadside culvert and the four-foot diameter pipe that cannot handle the flow. Today, if you go into the
water in front of the Kanai A Nalu condominium and dig under any sandy area, you will reach a-foot-deep
layer of mud under the sand. Fishermen dig here for bait worms. This shoreline dirt did not exist before
the stormwater diversions.
Maalaea Bay is an economic engine for Maui. Almost all of Maalaea’s corals have died from this dirt.
Coral makes sand. Coral builds a healthy environment for aquatic life. Maalaea Bay is now designated a
degraded body of water by the EPA. Maalaea Bay is dying.
This is so easy to fix. Purchase the Maalaea mauka lands. Install cheap and easy sedimentation controls.
Return the mauka waters back to its natural flow patterns. The natural filtration system of the Maalaea
Mudflats will again remove most of the dirt. The purchase of the 257 acres is critical to this success.
Let’s fix this!
Mahalo for your consideration!
With Much Aloha,
Lynn Britton
I am in support of Resolution 22-206 to utilize eminent domain on the property mauka of Ma'alaea. This valuable watershed should be preserved for future generations as an open space to maintain the natural beauty free of construction. Thank you for your consideration and support of this important resolution. Gayle Harbo, property owner, 150 Hauoli St, unit 406
Aloha Climate Action, Resilience, and Environment Committee.
My name is Chase Martin and I represent Maui Nui Marine Resource Council, which is in strong support of the County’s efforts to acquire important watershed land at Pohakea.
I want to start by thanking the committee for undertaking this project.
Maui Nui Marine Resource Council would like to express our enthusiastic support for the acquisition of the Pohakea Watershed lands in Māʻalaea. We believe that this acquisition will allow for greatly improved management of the land and the ongoing support of conservation groups in the community. By taking care of the land in the watershed, the County and the community will be taking care of and improving the ocean water quality and the coral reefs in Māʻalaea Bay.
Due to many factors listed in the resolution, including the importance of the parcel for fire prevention, flood control, erosion control, and water quality management for the marine and reef health of Ma`alaea Bay, anything less than the full conservation of the parcel is not acceptable. Further, the location is bad for development due to the availability of water given the upcoming neighboring Waikapu Country Town. It is good for conservation for many reasons, including the access points to the Lahaina Pali Trail and continuity with State-managed forestry lands.
The parcel for conservation pairs well with other efforts to protect Ma’alaea. As you know, Maui Nui Marine Resource Council commissioned the preparation of the Pohakea Stormwater Management Plan in 2017, with the goal of reducing sediment runoff into Māʻalaea Bay and protecting the coral reefs. This plan was created for us by the watershed experts at Maui Environmental Consulting and made available to the public in 2018. Since then, Maui Nui Marine Resource Council and our community partners have relied upon the plan as a blueprint for our work in the watershed to improve water quality in Māʻalaea Bay. While we have made some progress on implementing the plan, there is much more to be done – beyond the scope and financial resources of our community-based nonprofit organization. We have leveraged the resources available to us to pay for the installation of firebreaks in Pohakea Watershed to mitigate wildfires that burn away the vegetative cover that holds soil in place -- thus preventing future sediment runoff. Weʻve monitored some of the headcuts – severely eroded areas – on the Pohakea Watershed Lands and created data-based estimates of the astounding amount of sediment transported from these areas into Ma’alaea Bay during moderate rainstorms. We’ve also planted deeply-rooted non-invasive vetiver along the sloped contours of this land parcel to lock precious topsoil in place, rather than lose it to erosion.
By preserving this land for conservation, our efforts and those of others involved in this restoration will not only be greatly supported, but also enhanced by the added protection coming from upland. Conserving this land also allows for expanded efforts to protect the watershed, including projects underway by MNMRC and those of other organizations working in the area.
We urge the County to acquire the land to convert this pivotal parcel from private to public land – for the benefit of the community, the watershed, the water quality of Maʻalaea Bay and the coral reefs and marine wildlife that require clean ocean water to survive.
/Users/Peter/Desktop/Brown water problem/Brown water testiony.docx
Aloha, CARES Committee members. Please find attached testimony being submitted on behalf of the Ma'alaea Village Association, supporting Resolution 22-206.
Mahalo for this opportunity to comment.