Kaua'i panel advises baby steps to access

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Kaua'i's new natural resources commission is recommending the county take a step toward improving public access to natural resources by going after the easiest and cheapest easements and properties first.

"What we can do is limited by financial issues in some cases and legal issues in some other cases," said Mayor Bryan Baptiste.

Among the recommended approaches are things that can be done without actually buying land, such as clearing up the public's right to get to state forest land near Kahuna Road in Wailua Homesteads.

A second recommendation is to buy easements in identified areas where the public may not now have a legal right of access, but where in many cases there has been traditional public use, such as accesses from Lawa'i Road to the shore in the Kukui'ula area.

The Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission was created after the voters in 2002 approved a charter amendment that set aside one-half of 1 percent of real property tax revenues to establish a fund to buy land.

In its first two years, the fund has grown to nearly $500,000.

Commission planner Leanora Kaiaokamalie said the nine-member panel decided in its first annual report to try to develop an overall view of how to proceed and to identify possible sites around the island.

The panel has met 16 times, including three regional community meetings where members sought public input on sites of interest.

One of the key findings was that the county has often required public access as part of rezoning or other planning approvals, but in many cases the legal documents ensuring access rights were never completed.

"This has impeded public use of these areas and hindered the county's success in establishing new public accessways," the commission report said.