Save the Salt Ponds of Kauaʻi

To:  Planning Commission

       c/o County of Kauai Planning Department

       4444 Rice Street, Suite A473

       Līhu'e, Kauai 96766

       Email:  jgalinato@kauai.gov

From:  _______________________

_______________________

Re:  Smoky Mountain Helicopters, Inc., 

a Delaware Corporation,

doing business as Maverick Helicopters -  

Permit Applications Nos. 

Class IV Zoning Permit Z-IV-2019 -13,

Use Permit U - 2019 - 10, 

and Special Management Area Minor Permit

SMA(U) -2019-5

25 June 2019

Aloha e Kākou,

My name is_________________. Some of my ancestors are from Kauaʻi,  of which I am of lineal connection and heir to their covenants and to which I would like to see restored,  rather than destroyed.   This lineal connection affords me an undivided interest in the affairs of Kauaʻi.

I do not support this application for After-the-Fact approval for numerous structures including the addition of restroom facilities within the existing hangar as well as additional infrastructure at the Port Allen Airport because we are concerned with any kind of development or expansion at the Port Allen Airport.  

The Salt Ponds of Hanapēpē is the last existing area in all of Hawaiʻi that produces paʻakai in this manner and I stand in solidarity with our salt making ʻohana.  I have been fortunate to receive salt from salt makers of Hanapēpē and am thankful for this gift. It would be inhumane to destroy our last existing remnants of identity,  culture and healing practices. It would be foolish to think that nature can be raped and abused, and still survive intact. Look at what industrialization has done to the world around us already.   Even a high school environmental science student knows that this is detrimental to the natural state of the surrounding ecosystem.

Many of us know that this salt is not found in any stores and that it is used for ceremonies, food preparation, and for medicine.  The close proximity of Port AllenAirport to the leina-a-ka-uhane and the Hanapēpē Salt Ponds and its potential contribution to the pollution, noise, and heavy metal contaminants and chemical stormwater runoff has been a longstanding concern for the community.  

Therefore,  let it hereby be resolved  to do whatever it takes to PROTECT this invaluable place,  thus the request that the Applicant be DENIED these permits.

Sincerely, 

______________