Bonar said most people are familiar with public utilities easements, but those aren’t the kind of easement agreements the trust or the county government would use for land conservation. The proposed easements allow a landowner to set aside a portion
BY ERIN MILLER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
emiller@westhawaiitoday.com
The county’s open space commissioners may consider adding conservation easements to their land preservation tools.
Dale Bonar and Janet Britt from the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust will bring information to the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission on conservation easements during a 10 a.m. Monday meeting at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
Bonar said his review of the charter language creating the land fund, which sets aside property tax revenues to purchase and preserve open space, would allow using the money to pay for a conservation easement.
“It falls under the rights under that fund,” he said.
Easements may allow public access, depending on how the easement agreement is written, he added.
Deputy Corporation Counsel Amy Self said she doesn’t have a problem with conservation easements, but the commission would need to take care in selecting and approving such easements. Self will be making a presentation Monday to commissioners as well, about whether the commission’s rules would allow adopting easements.
She referenced one recent request, from Hamakua Springs Country Farms, for an agricultural-type conservation easement. That request, which has since been withdrawn, did not provide any public benefit, except to keep agricultural land for farming use, she said. That benefited the owner, but not the public in general, Self added.
North Kona Commissioner Debbie Hecht said she supports adding conservation easements as an option.
“It isn’t going to cost as much (as outright land purchase), so the 2 percent (of tax revenues set aside for the fund) will go much farther,” Hecht said.
The landowner in an easement benefits by getting a tax deduction, she added.
Bonar said most people are familiar with public utilities easements, but those aren’t the kind of easement agreements the trust or the county government would use for land conservation. The proposed easements allow a landowner to set aside a portion of land for agricultural reasons, to protect cultural or historical sites or a watershed or to allow for access to a special place, he added.
