LIHUE — Over the last two months, the Open Space Commission has held meetings around the island to gather input regarding places on Kauai that community members feel should be preserved and protected . The last in this round of
LIHUE — Over the last two months, the Open Space Commission has held meetings around the island to gather input regarding places on Kauai that community members feel should be preserved and protected .
The last in this round of meetings will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 24 at The Hanalei Community Center.
Following the meeting, the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission will begin to draft its biennial recommendations to the Kauai County Council on which sites should be acquired using the Open Space Fund.
The public has the opportunity to participate in the commission’s annual survey, which can be completed online at www.kauai.gov/OpenSpaceSurvey.
Ideas expressed in the survey will be taken into consideration and may be incorporated in the commission’s recommendations.
Paper copies of the survey are available at the neighborhood centers and at the Planning Department counter at the Lihue Civic Center, Moikeha Building.
Completed surveys can be emailed to openspace@kauai.gov; dropped off or mailed to the County of Kauai, Planning Department, Open Space Commission, 4444 Rice Street, Suite 473A, Lihue, HI 96766; or faxed to the Planning Department at 241-6699.
Public testimony is also welcomed at the Open Space Commission meetings, which are normally held on the second and fourth Thursday of each month in the Moikeha Building, Room 2A/B.
To qualify for purchase or acquisition using the Open Space Fund, sites suggested must meet at least one of the following purposes:
• Outdoor recreation or education, including access to beaches and mountains.
• Preservation of historically or culturally important lands and sites.
• Protection of significant habitats or ecosystems, including buffer zones.
• Preservation of forests, beaches, coastal areas and agricultural lands.
• Protection of watershed lands to preserve water quality and water supply.
• Conservation of land in order to reduce erosion, floods, landslides and runoff.
• Improve public access to, and enjoyment of, public land.
• Acquire public access to public land and open space.
• Conserving land for open space and scenic values.
Call 241-4050 for more details.