From: Courtlandt Gates <courtgates@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 8:49:26 AM (UTC-10:00) Hawaii
To: BFED Committee <BFED.Committee@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Fwd: Haiku for sale to outside investors?

Aloha BFED:

I received this email last week. It urges the County to buy 133 acres in Haiku. My family and I live in Haiku. We support Open Space, however, given the state of the existing 330 acres of Open Space in Haiku, adding 133 more Open Space acres without a Management Plan would be irresponsible. The cultural sites and the environment in the existing open space are being damaged by off road vehicle activity. The surrounding community is at risk from uncontrolled wildfire fuel and unregulated hunting and discharge of firearms. The access road to the Peahi overlook which draws visitors from across the globe is a dangerous embarrassment.

The Cultural Assessment for the existing 330 acres was originally due over two years ago. For some reason work on the the Management Plan will not begin until the Cultural Assessment is complete. I believe the consultants have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There should be an Open Space Department responsible for proactively and methodically identifying and purchasing land instead of reacting to urgent demands. That Department should also be responsible for managing the land. It appears that the parcels that comprise the 133 acres in question were bought by WAINAKU JIK LLC nine months ago for $4.8 million. Now the County is being asked to pay $6.8 million for land the County could have bought for $2.0 million less last year.

If the County is going to entertain the purchase of this land, please take the opportunity to bring order to the chaos that already exists.

Mahalo,
Courty Gates