MALAMA O'OMA
Aloha and Congratulations on this great community land use victory!
For four-and-a-half years, the State has held a series of land use hearings related to a proposal to reclassify and develop `O`oma II (200 Conservation-designated acres on the coastline north of Kohanaiki and south of Kona International Airport). From the information gathered during those public hearings, the State Land Use Commission (LUC) voted in November 2010 to preserve `O`oma’s Conservation status -- a monumental victory achieved through community determination and commitment to protect Hawai’I’s remaining coastal lands.
While there were plenty of reasons to celebrate the LUC vote and subsequent July 2011 court rulings affirming the LUC’s decision, the developers’ next steps remained unclear. But on November 12th came the long-awaited news: the deadline to appeal the court decision had come and gone, leaving the `O`oma Beachside Villages development plan officially dead!
WHAT’S NEXT?
This is the 4th time in 20 years that `O`oma has been saved from development, so it’s not a stretch to say that most people are over wasting valuable time and money fighting when they could be putting that energy to better use. With the County’s 2% Land Protection Fund, as well as matching and other potential funding to acquire and permanently protect critical lands as public, open space, our community and Hawai`i County have a great opportunity to work together to achieve `O`oma’s permanent protection. To date, the landowners haven’t been willing to sell `O`oma, but with their latest development plan going down the tubes, there’s hope that they’ll change their minds. That decision would allow the community to move closer to having its `O`oma dream come true.
GREAT VICTORY-GREAT LESSONS
There are many valuable lessons to learn from so long a struggle and so sweet a victory. Here are a few:
Mahalo to everyone for your support in this effort. If you have any thoughts or suggestions regarding ways to permanently protect `O`oma as NATURAL, PUBLIC, OPEN SPACE, please send them to this address.
Special thanks to the following groups, individuals, and businesses: Surfrider Foundation, `Apono Hawai`i, Kohanaiki `Ohana, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Plan to Protect, Save Holualoa Bay, Sierra Club, Hui He`enalu o Kona, Na Keiki He`enalu, Island Lava Java, Ali`i Veterninary Clinic, Pacific Vibrations, Tomas `Ohana, Councilman Angel Pilago, Councilwoman Brenda Ford, Senator Josh Green, and Senator Denny Coffman.
MAHALO & ALOHA - Janice Palma-Glennie
While there were plenty of reasons to celebrate the LUC vote and subsequent July 2011 court rulings affirming the LUC’s decision, the developers’ next steps remained unclear. But on November 12th came the long-awaited news: the deadline to appeal the court decision had come and gone, leaving the `O`oma Beachside Villages development plan officially dead!
WHAT’S NEXT?
This is the 4th time in 20 years that `O`oma has been saved from development, so it’s not a stretch to say that most people are over wasting valuable time and money fighting when they could be putting that energy to better use. With the County’s 2% Land Protection Fund, as well as matching and other potential funding to acquire and permanently protect critical lands as public, open space, our community and Hawai`i County have a great opportunity to work together to achieve `O`oma’s permanent protection. To date, the landowners haven’t been willing to sell `O`oma, but with their latest development plan going down the tubes, there’s hope that they’ll change their minds. That decision would allow the community to move closer to having its `O`oma dream come true.
GREAT VICTORY-GREAT LESSONS
There are many valuable lessons to learn from so long a struggle and so sweet a victory. Here are a few:
- NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF REGULAR PEOPLE WHEN THEY WORK TOGETHER FOR THE COMMON GOOD. It was easy to think that our island community was no match for a well-connected, bucks-up development team, so it’s humbling to see how many people were willing to go all the way in the fight to protect our coastline.
- DEMOCRACY ONLY WORKS WHEN INDIVIDUALS TAKE PART IN GOVERNMENT PROCESSES. Helping to get the best people elected and then working with those leaders to achieve community goals is the core of a representative democracy.
- BEWARE OF CORPORATE PROMISES. Hawai`i’s residents have learned this lesson the hard way. Though it’s great to work toward win-win solutions with priavte businesses and government agencies, it’s most important to read the fine print. The development plan for `O`oma was like so many others: it required plenty of public faith and sacrifice, but it lacked guarantees that its obligations and promises would be fulfilled.
Mahalo to everyone for your support in this effort. If you have any thoughts or suggestions regarding ways to permanently protect `O`oma as NATURAL, PUBLIC, OPEN SPACE, please send them to this address.
Special thanks to the following groups, individuals, and businesses: Surfrider Foundation, `Apono Hawai`i, Kohanaiki `Ohana, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Plan to Protect, Save Holualoa Bay, Sierra Club, Hui He`enalu o Kona, Na Keiki He`enalu, Island Lava Java, Ali`i Veterninary Clinic, Pacific Vibrations, Tomas `Ohana, Councilman Angel Pilago, Councilwoman Brenda Ford, Senator Josh Green, and Senator Denny Coffman.
MAHALO & ALOHA - Janice Palma-Glennie