Click here. With population growth now hovering just above zero and only around 100 homes built per year on Kauai, were currently facing an infrastructure crisis. What accelerates this challenge is that we continue to increase our trash output by not practicing more waste diversion systems and at the same time were not enabling our community to be part of the solution. As Chair Kaneshiro & I did with our extensive Housing Policy update bill and Councilmember Evslin & I are now doing with our EV-ready charging stations in parking lots bill, I will make sure we conduct early outreach to engage with the business community including with the Kaua`i Chamber of Commerce, the Kaua`i Board of Realtors, the Kaua`i Contractors Association, any other potentially affected business organizations and entities; and, any and all self-identified stakeholders. Kauai County Subarea Health Planning Council Minutes of September 15, 2022 Page 3 of 3 information/data to further assess the health care needs of the community. Larger properties can benefit with the application of probable upcoming Plantation Camp Zone housing for workers. To be fair to everyone and with the county I would support a Tax. Vacation rentals were grandfather in long before I became a council member and will be part of our taxable economy. Voters on Kauai also sorted through more than two dozen candidates to elect members to the seven-seat County Council. This could begin immediately with all the green waste sitting in dumps, food waste from stores and restaurants and left over fishing and hunting remains. I will look at and instigate funding opportunities via the federal infrastructure bill. My leadership as Housing Chair is bringing about vital improvements to our Housing Policy, legislation to support more Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs) & Additional Rental Units (ARUs); and, legislative action to significantly increase the available funding in our Housing Development Fund. My preferred solution is to support our Mayor and Administration however I can with 1) the permitting of a new landfill across the highway at Kekaha Mauka, 2) seeking State approval for a vertical expansion of the existing landfill that would extend operations through November 2030, 3) doing extensive outreach and education to get our citizens to play a decisive role in helping us avoid a garbage crisis by changing more habits and diverting more waste; composting, recycling, reusing materials and source reduction, 4) excavating waste from the oldest part of the landfill, separating out recyclables and reburying the waste on top of the landfills newest section; and, 5) creating a construction and demolition reclamation center to dispose of construction and demolition garbage, which makes up the largest portion of the current landfills waste stream. YouTube An effective tax rate for these homes can incentivize them to convert to resident housing and help fund the construction of affordable housing. 5. I will continue working closely with our Mayor and our Administrations budget team to address any challenges with our budgeting and operations always with our sites on both short-term and long-term sustainability. The absence of the general public and business adding dimension to policy considerations can easily result in reckless policy development. We are facing critical moments for our economy and environment and I hope that my time, energy, and aloha can be contributed to the work at the Kauai County Council level. In addition, we must look at our housing policies and modify those that are prohibiting workforce housing. We are currently working on three major housing projects and recently just completed two. I will also support efforts to ensure TVRs are properly providing recycling and other ways we can work to limit the waste that ends up in our landfill. There is a maze of changing regulations that are best served by following a quick timeline to avoid the next limitation. Working closely with our Federal, State and County delegation and our community to define our responsibility to prepare for this funding is imperative. While it may have been necessary to get us out of the deferred maintenance hole, the excise tax is a regressive tax that especially impacts low income folks. We are clearly over capacity for tourism and our General Plan contains bold language on the need to keep visitor arrivals at reasonable levels. Kauai County Council can support this vision with adapting zoning ordinances to allow for the needed small, potentially moveable farm worker living units coupled with appropriate wastewater technology. Applying most of this additional $49 M was expressed in the Capital Improvement Projects area of the budget to resist raising the yearly operating expenses. The problems we face are graver than ever, but I am confident that we have the tools as a county to reduce the cost of housing while transitioning to a zero carbon economy and to do it all while improving our quality of life and strengthening our communities. Of the following four areas of the plan. The weaknesses and challenges of our agriculture sector became even more evident during the worst parts of the COVID pandemic. First order of business is to site a new landfill location soon. I recognize that the Mayor took a number of hard steps through the pandemic to keep Kauai safe some of which included essentially shutting down the TVR industry. We need to ask how we can resolve parking issues, especially on the North Shore. I support the intent of the plan which is focusing on short, intermediate, and long-term development needs of the Airport that meet aviation demands for potential environmental and socio-economic. Again, whats most important to me here as well, is to learn from our partners like the Chamber, Kaua`i Visitors Bureau, the Hawai`i Lodging & Tourism Association (HLTA) and all the many stakeholders in our tourism economy who are working on diversifying our economy and rebuilding a new Regenerative Tourism industry, taking the best ideas from the collective and doing what I can to support moving them forward. It is important to understand our community, and understand other communities around us. Regenerative tourism management enables our island to be left better than it was found. We also have a well-established grain growing company called Hartung who could and currently is growing grains that can finish our local beef into a well marblized product that could satisfy the non-grass fed consumers. Holland came in ninth place during the 2022 Kauai County Council election. Kauai Councilmember Luke Evslin to fill empty, Three from Kauai nominated to fill Hawaii House, Luke Evslin of Kauai sworn into Hawaii House of, No Changes to General Election Ballot Following, Public invited to attend inauguration of Kaua'i, who is now a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, build a hotel at the site of the former Coco Palms resort. My varied background includes being a small business owner of Hanalei Surf Company for 18 years, been on numerous boards, have had experience in the fields of education and engineering, as well. This is one idea that could create more jobs and solve one of our biggest problems here on Kauai. I would like to develop some ideas to create a more circular economy across the board. An example of innovative work is the work Mlama Kauai is doing with establishing a Food Hub and a place where farmers can prepare their products to be consumer ready. Every time I go to these recycling locations I see trash bags and random items in the bins and my gut feeling is that no one is separating this at the main station so therefore it must be going to the landfill. Please include your views on recycling, landfill site, source reduction, and other strategies. Since being elected in 2018, I have been reaching to collaborate with the various departments of the State of Hawaii, and Federal granting to identify pathways for hazard and flood mitigation. I also want to better understand the differences and demographics of the vacation rentals, home stay units, bed and breakfasts, etc that we have on Kauai before I say yes outright to this question. The safety features that include extension of the runway and realignment of the taxi-ways are important. After the second presentation on May 17, I appreciate the 4 different alternatives for solutions to improving our Lhue Airport. We must change our thinking to locals first and make sure that the quality of life for our residents is not compromised for the safe of the tourist dollar. Continue to support the Mayor in this area. Tourism remains a valued economic sector, as other sectors have emerged to offer greater stability and opportunity for the island. They have a great start with the community partnerships. Make the rentals of bikes affordable to our visitors weekly rates. This problem reveals the policy conflicts between our infrastructure needs and allowing zoning approvals to lie dormant for decades. Bold action must be taken to better manage tourism to protect the environment and residents quality of life. The plan states that 1 in 8 homes on Kauai is a vacation rental, compared to 1 in 24 homes statewide. I do not agree with discussions that occur off-line. This is a State issue, we need to comply on the length of the run way. To achieve agricultural self-sufficiency, the General Plan recommends the following relevant code changes: (1) Revise the agricultural property tax regime, including but not limited to the Agricultural Dedication program, to increase incentives to lease land for productive farms: (2) Increase incentives to lease land to small farmers through revisions to the agricultural property tax regime; (3) Expand commercial agriculture, attract new agricultural support and value-added industries, and promote locally-grown commodity sales; (4) Increase small-scale diversified farming, including, but not limited to, fruits and vegetables, building materials, medicinal plants, aquaculture, apiaries, flowers, and livestock; (5) Provide incentives and opportunities for agricultural housing, jobs, training, processing/ transport of goods, and other needs. Over these last two years, I have shown a deep understanding of our budget and how to be fiscally responsible, so your tax dollars are not foolishly spent. I have tried to raise the vacation rental rate to equal the resort rate twice at budget (2019 and 2022). Another focus is on prioritizing workforce housing and affordable housing in county permitting processes so that these projects dont increase exorbitant costs because of timing. I will be creating a 90 day 180 day plan to suggest we implement immediately. We need to be better about promoting local famers and buying local to keep costs down. Kauai County Councilmember Ross Kagawa. Industrial food systems are energy-intensive and fossil-fuel based. I will continue to be supportive of the valuable efforts made by our Mayors administration and the housing department. The following came from Ross Kagawa, candidate for Kauai County Council. He worked as an accountant before spending nearly 20 years as a teacher. We need to improve our port security and get drugs off our streets while we work to address the issue holistically with counseling programs, on island detox and treatment centers and housing first solutions. Promoting local production for local consumption. A 41-year-old Kauai man who agreed to run drugs and collect money for a drug trafficking organization headed by a former Kauai County Council member and supplied by Samoan gang members, was . We need to burn all inflammable waste. And, of course, I really appreciate all of you being willing to engage with us when we reach out to you! We accomplish these objectives through the small businesses and nonprofits Im a part of. Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island file Historic Kaua'i County Building. A plan needs to be in place for some point in the future for maintenance and modernization. Affordable housing refers to those projects funded through County support, Federal tax credits, and/or imposition on developers. Our island does not need a facility to receive more visitors. I believe that our Office of Economic Development does a great job and I am committed to supporting their efforts as best as I can. As they describe, the surge in retiring baby boomers at a time of slowing population growth means that the ratio of retirees to active workers continues to skew towards increasing numbers of retirees relative to active workers. 9,622 votes 11.21% . Housing for our people (and the landfill) is the most needed and hardest challenge in this questionnaire. 0 of 16 precincts reporting. However, due the close proximity to the airport and birds that could pose a hazard to the airport area, this location is no longer acceptable. I would agree with the DMAP in education for tourist coming to the island they should learn all the rules and laws of the island and they should respect the local people and their lifestyle. We need to start the process to bring waste to energy technology to Kauai. In addition to agriculture, I will investigate ways to support small businesses and work with local business associations to address their needs where able. In the meantime, I will continue to push for and help develop systems of managed parking in our county parks. I do not support a Lhue Master Plan that does not consider the increased effects on our entire island infrastructure with increased capacity. I will also work on efforts to reduce waste production, working with local businesses and importers to figure out where there are ways we can reduce our waste generation in other ways, particularly relating to plastic. We are maxed out with tourists and vehicles as it is, what we do need is a safe, fluid and comfortable airport. Thats a 38% increase in nightly rates since before the pandemic. I understand the major issues our community deals with related to drug abuse and addiction on Kauai. State of Hawaii DLNR SHPD Kauai/Niihau Burial Council . In order to empower our community to practice waste diversion practices we must establish a recycling program and a Materials Recovery Facility. At the moment, that is the only element of the proposed Master Plan that I support. Instead it may drive away enduring ownership of committed part-time residents who have deep ties to the community, often being a valuable resource. As we saw in the wake of Hurricane Iniki, even COVID, these living units can quickly transform into needed housing. I am open to the idea of increasing all TVR property tax rates to resort property tax rates. We also need to solve our traffic problem as this project once completed will create more traffic as well. But some do - like longtime Kaua'i politician Ross Kagawa, who has been chosen to fill a vacancy on the Kaua'i County Council. The other candidates for seven positions are Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho, Felicia Cowden, Billy DeCosta, Luke. And we have enough land to support it all the issues are water infrastructure, high land costs, and low margins leading to a lack of willing farmers. For example, the State DOT received in the range of $16M for electric vehicle charging infrastructure statewide from the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Create positive contributions to the quality of life for Kauais residents. Efficiency is his byword. To start the county could start with preparing and feeding our soil to give agriculture ventures a boost when they are ready. Read more Mahalo for reading. I will work with and support our Mayor, our Office of Economic Development and our Community & Business leaders to implement our Kauai Comprehensive Economic Development Strategic (CEDS) Plan for 2022-2026; most recently completed by community stakeholders from all six of our target industry clusters on Nov. 30, 2021. Government services and infrastructure are much cheaper to provide within our existing town cores than spread across our agricultural lands. Legislative authority is vested in the seven-member County Council. I would continue to support the Aloha Plus Challenge program which focuses on six areas, Clean Energy; Local Food Production; Natural Resource Management; Waste Reduction; Smart Sustainable Communities: Green Workforce and Education. Lastly, we need to modify the agricultural dedication process, especially for small farms, to ensure that bonafide farmers are paying minimal taxes and that wealthy land owners arent using the system simply as a tax haven. And the motion failed both times. Contact Information 4396 Rice Street, Suite 209 Lihue, Hawaii 96766. However, we fell two votes short of the five votes needed. Please view at your own discretion. But, from a legislative perspective policies A.2 and D.4 are the two where the County Council has the most power to leverage change. Josh Green appointed former councilmember Luke Evslin to his direct staff. We have created a circular economy around retail. This comments section is a public community forum for the purpose of free expression. It has become clear in recent decades that our agriculture practices and system can either hurt our climate, or help save it. Ive been a school teacher and I can teach students in all kind of subjects in school which they can use to go to college or find a job right out of high school. I am impressed by the action plan and agree with the objectives. The 2016-2018 Kauai Tourism Strategic Plan (KTSP) was unique among government sponsored reports in its clear-headed recognition that we are over capacity for tourism, that we need bold change, and that we should strive to keep our visitor count within 23,000-25,000. During the pandemic we saw planes, cars, and foot traffic come to a halt and with that pause, our environment took a huge breath of fresh air. 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