If elected, I think education would help economic diversification. In the meantime, I will continue to push for and help develop systems of managed parking in our county parks. These problems are going to escalate with the unchecked growth of the vegetation and greater concentrations of rainfall. In line with these five general principles, Ive introduced or co-introduced the following legislation over the last two years: Eliminate all fees for affordable accessory residential units (ARUs); Provide Kauai homeowners with free septic systems; Prohibit community covenants from restricting against additional units and long-term rentals; Allow the construction of ARUs in the Lihue town core; Reduce the building code requirements for tiny houses; Eliminate minimum lot size restrictions for multi-family homes; Allocate 2% of real property tax revenue annually toward affordable housing (still in process); Incentivize residential space on top of commercial space through tax exemptions; Create a tiered tax structure to allow us to increase tax rates on high-value vacant houses and vacation rentals to fund affordable housing and incentivize those units to convert to long-term rentals (still in process); Increase the vacation rental property tax rate to disincentivize vacation rentals and apply nearly all of the money raised to affordable housing (measure failed). Funding the new facilities or repairing our aging infrastructure is the largest barrier often requiring council approval of grants or bonds. In fact, Councilmember Cowden and I have been in the process of drafting a resolution in support of those very sentiments that we have been hearing from many of our constituents. More financial support and reduced taxes for food producing farmers. We must be cautious to not exhaust our landowners/homeowners ability to adapt to inflationary pressures that are likely to continue. Kagawa narrowly lost election to the Kauai County Council last November, when he finished eighth in a race with seven winners. I believe that I can relate to and understand the needs of our diverse community and honor our unique and valuable history and culture while making good decisions for our future. We guide food tours in town core centers, bringing visitors to locally owned restaurants and chefs that utilize local ingredients. Below are those that responded by deadline and their answers. My concern is with the proposed forecast increase over the next few years. An over-arching action is greater collaboration between the State and County to offer a unified policy reshaping visitor activity to recognize they are visiting a unique culture rather arriving in a theme park to entertain themselves. I envision reversing our current status quo to where 80% of our food comes from Kauai rather than imported. The county is currently developing a climate resilience and adaptation plan which will include detailed policies to equitably retreat from rising seas and a framework on how and where to build resilient infrastructure and housing. He also previously served for 8 years on the Kauai County Council and was Director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control for the State of Hawaii (2011/2012). The focus is on stabilization, recovery, and rebuilding to the desired visitor industry for each island. From A to I, there are many quality and similar action steps. If were serious about preserving our Kaua`i quality of life, we have to be willing to do our part as responsible stewards of our island home. And every new road is saddling the next generation with ever increasing amounts of infrastructure debt. Its not a coincidence that KIUCs electricity rates are the lowest in the State AND that we have by far the most renewable energy on the grid. Offering a more permanent 2% revenue stream into the Housing Revolving Fund to the voters through a ballot initiative is an imperfect measure that I will support. As for steps Id take, I will.. work to ensure that our land use, capital improvements and all our programming considers our statewide and county plans and policies addressing climate change and sea level rise continue supporting Housing & Planning bills that increase housing and livability in our town cores so people can live close to jobs, services & recreation and rely less on driving. Sounds a lot like our Native Hawaiian values of aloha `aina, kuleana, the kapu system and malama `aina. With my experience as a small business owner and experience in managing budgets with several local nonprofits, my focus will be ensuring our taxpayer dollars are used effectively and efficiently. Making sure we increase our Capital Improvement Projects investments as we have done in this most recent budget. If elected I will dive into the research that has been done on things that have worked in other areas and connect with the groups working on this issue to address the gaps. The other candidates for seven positions are Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho, Felicia Cowden, Billy DeCosta, Luke. During my terms in office, I have introduced numerous resolutions for performance audits but could never get the required votes to get it passed. I would suggest imposing a tax automatically on anyone purchasing homes and property from out of state. Advising nonprofits, campaigns, and mission-driven businesses on strategic communications, digital advocacy, cause marketing, and partnership development. Remember, you only have show proof of a valid Hawaii drivers license and proof of an address in order to qualify for our work force housing here on Kauai, we need to make sure these residents are not relocating from the mainland and within a few months and they qualify to purchase these homes. Written by on 27 febrero, 2023. We need to work with our Mayor and state delegation to work towards this. YouTube continue supporting bills that make all our buildings more efficient, and support all extensive waste diversion efforts to reduce our solid waste hauling. Along with Vice Chair Chock, I co-introduced the bill on Kauai to give the Parks Department the authority to charge tourists to park in beach parks. 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. Recycling should is a must and something that we should already be doing. If we continue on this trajectory, we will end up consuming our agricultural land for home construction while exacerbating traffic and the cost of government services (its a lot more expensive to maintain roads, provide trash pickup, police/fire protection, etc when its spread out thinly). The County needs to help fill this void by requiring that a certain percentage of parking stalls in new commercial and multi-family construction be EV-ready (meaning that it has the conduit and receptacle in place for an EV-charger, without having to rip up the parking lot in the future), we need to help reimburse property owners for installing EV chargers, and we need to facilitate access to the $16M in Federal EV infrastructure money getting funneled through the State. This is one of the most major issues that we face on Kauai. Supporting our local working class now is essential. The Lihue Town Core Special Planning Area has been zoned to have up to 80 units/acre to incentivize private development in this area in proximity to many jobs. Supporting and growing our Kaua`i Made and Kaua`i Grown programs. 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. If elected, my first priority is to help our council be part of the solution. In the interim, tourists would be housed in hotels where they could move about the grounds . In the next two years I would like to see the state and county working together, an in-flight video that visitors must watch before arrival and to track the movement of visitors so that maintenance and management of those areas can be prioritized. Kauai County Subarea Health Planning Council ---DRAFT--- Meeting Minutes February 14, 2023 2:00 PM Hawaii Time Virtual Zoom Meeting and Physical Location at the Keoni Ana Building, 1177 Alakea Street, Suite 402 MEMBERS: Jillian Kelekoma, Nicholas Pananganan MEMBERS ABSENT: Jen Chahanovich GUESTS: Ruth Baker LIHU'E In a Wednesday meeting, the new Kaua'i County Council tapped member-elect Mel Rapozo to serve as chair for the next two years. The sites in dryer areas are ideal, but the Koloa location is too close to Waita Reservoir. The statewide funding of $600B for DHHL housing development for our Hawaiian Beneficiaries and $60M for Ohana Zone developments to assist our houseless population are more solution potential in the pipeline that I will support wherever needed. I support the improvements to terminal holdroom, public and employee parking expansion and the ticket lobby improvement project if they are to accommodate existing passenger numbers and not increase them. Getting together with the State to support (perhaps w/ land & water) the establishment of agricultural community villages for our homeless interested in growing food for their own survival for starters. Construction and Demolition is a large contributor to our landfill. While its not yet clear how those funds will be distributed to the counties, we can help set up incentives and possibly mandates for EV charging infrastructure to ensure that we can hit the ground running to maximize the amount of funding we receive. E-mail sent to all Councilmembers only: QUESTION #1What is your vision for a thriving agricultural sector on Kauai and how can the County Council support that vision?. I will continue to support projects like the Lima Ola affordable housing project and support the development of additional family units and rentals on existing properties to accommodate growing families and additional rentals. If we run out of room at the Kekaha landfill without a new landfill ready to go, we may be forced to temporarily ship our waste off island at incredible cost to taxpayers. A retail shop designed as a membership where were able to provide support systems through workshops and collaboration. I will continue this practice if elected. Please view at your own discretion. I also helped spearhead sending a Council charter amendment proposal to the voters to approve dedicating 2% (est. The other candidates for seven positions are Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho, Felicia Cowden, Billy DeCosta,. 3) Ensure that we are capturing adequate tax revenue from vacant homes and vacation rentals. In the time of the thirsty sugar crops, towns were built in the wetlands which are now returning to having routine flooding areas such as Kapaa and Waimea, as examples. We must assist local businesses and community organizations that pivot away from hiring outside professionals to hiring local professionals. Tax rates for the Vacation Rental tax class is currently$9.85 per thousand in value as compared to the Hotel/Resort tax class at $10.85 per thousand in value. Maintain and improve visitor satisfaction of their experience on Kauai. The coalition for years has advocated to protect the bay. We need to start with providing more agricultural programs and awareness in all of our schools starting from preschool and really working hands on with the elementary schools. Provide more opportunities to discuss items on the council agenda prior to legislation being proposed. Sports tourism is a huge market that we should explore. I will continue to be supportive of the valuable efforts made by our Mayors administration and the housing department. The work of going after grant funding falls mostly on County Department heads and they do a great job along those lines. Some owners may return to live in them full-time. If elected, Ill work with community organizations and our county administration to get this process started. Questions included, but were not limited . Another important goal is to develop plans and continue to build capacity for economic development of the six target industry clusters with strategies of 1) increase collaboration, 2) support economic innovation and digitization for all businesses, 3) develop infrastructure; and, 4) support the development of new businesses and markets for a diversity of products derived from agricultural and technological activity. LIHU'E With newly appointed state Rep. Luke Evslin heading to O'ahu, the remaining six members of the Kaua'i County Council now must select a replacement to fill his vacant seat. These successes result from partnering with the State & developers, tax credits, fast-track permitting, a streamlined regulatory process and/or having available funding. 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