Lepeuli Access Appeal Denied

SOURCE: Hope Kallai (lokahipath2@live.com) SUBHEAD: Appeal of Paradise Ranch Conservation District Use Application to limit beach access is denied by BLNR. Image above: BLNR meeting. Right to left - Ron Agor (Kauai Rep.) & Laura Theilen (Chair) listen to testimony. From (http://thehawaiiindependent.com/hawaiiloa/read/blnr-grants-permission-to-u.s.-army-for-live-firing-exercises-and-land-for-/). [Editor's note: Kauai BLNR representative Ron Agor was instrumental in convincing board that cutting off Lepeuli Beach access was alright.] By Hope Kallai on 14 May 2010 - The appeal of Paradise Ranch’s Conservation District Use Application (CDUA) in Lepeuli has been denied on the basis that Chairperson Thielen’s decision was not Arbitrary and Capricious. In a packed and sometimes raucous Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) meeting in Honolulu yesterday, the BLNR upheld Thielen’s approval of the permit. Auntie Linda and Uncle David Sproat and their daughter Kapua Sproat, attorneys and community members, Councilperson Lani Kawahara and Senator Gary Hooser and several Kanaka Maoli (actually present to testify on other matters!) presented documentation and heartfelt remembrances of the Alaloa and Lepeuli fishing/gathering trips and the importance of this lateral beach access. Councilperson stressed to the Board that the county right of way is not accessible, even after 7 months of discussion, and that the steep as-in-use now trail is not safe. The respect of the iwi kupuna re-burial of 3 individuals by the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) into the now permitted commercial cattle operation in the Conservation District was questioned with “would you want cows shitting on your grandmother’s graves or on the soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery?” After meeting in Executive Session, the BLNR voted the appeal denied, adding that they did have serious questions about the permit. The BLNR suggested a 60 day period to re-visit the permit application to consider if there were any misrepresentations, errors, omissions or inaccuracies. If they do find errors, omissions, inaccuracies or misrepresentations, they recommended revoking the permit (without prejudice) adding that if the applicant chooses to re-apply it must be a BLNR decision not a Departmental decision made by the chairperson with a Public Hearing (hopefully on Kauai). The overwhelming preponderance of evidence and community concern merit the revoking of this permit and if reconsidered, the community deserves a chance to be heard through the Public Hearing process. .

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