STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3028

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 2185
                                        H.D. 2
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Transportation and Intergovernmental
Affairs and Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was
referred H.B. No. 2185, H.D. 2, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to provide an alternative for
transportation in West Maui when Honoapiilani Highway is
impassable by authorizing the development of fifteen acres of the
Olowalu Sanitary Landfill site as a heliport.

     The Department of Transportation, the Mayor of the County of
Maui, the Council Chair of the Maui County Council, testifying as
an individual councilmember, and Landtec, Inc. testified in
support of the measure.  The Department of Land and Natural
Resources has no objections to the measure.  Two Maui
councilmembers, Life of the Land, Lahaina Pure Water Company, and
fifteen private citizens and organizations testified in
opposition to the measure.  The Department of Health deferred to
the Maui County Council on the issue.  The West Maui Taxpayers
Association requested that amendments be included to ensure that
any proposed development of the Olowalu Sanitary Landfill go
through the permit approval and public hearing process.

     Your Committees find that the West Maui community is
frequently isolated by brushfires, high waves, and major traffic
accidents when it becomes necessary to close Honoapiilani

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3028
                                   Page 2


Highway, which is the major route for ingress and egress to other
parts of Maui.  This situation causes inconvenience, and
sometimes economic loss, for residents, prevents visitors from
leaving or arriving at hotels, and prevents emergency medical
services from operating properly.

     Your Committees have amended the measure by requiring that:

     (1)  The Maui County Council approve, instead of disapprove,
          the development of a heliport at the Olowalu Sanitary
          Landfill site;

     (2)  Any heliport development at the Olowalu Sanitary
          Landfill site be subject to environmental impact
          statement requirements of Chapter 343, Hawaii Revised
          Statutes; and

     (3)  Any consideration or decision making on the development
          of the Olowalu Sanitary Landfill site be done at a
          public hearing.

     Your Committees believe that the amended measure provides
the County of Maui with the necessary flexibility to develop a
heliport at the Olowalu Sanitary Landfill site as it deems
appropriate, while concomitantly providing adequate safeguards to
ensure that the public's concerns are ameliorated.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs and
Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this
report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose
of H.B. No. 2185, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as
H.B. No. 2185, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for
Third Reading.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Transportation
                                   and Intergovernmental Affairs
                                   and Water, Land, and Hawaiian
                                   Affairs,



____________________________       ______________________________
CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair                COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair

 
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