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Jan 19 OS 05:04p 808-775-1304 p.2 Dr. Fred Holschuh Mr. Gary Safarik, Chairman -Honorable County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 January 19, 2005 1tE: General Plan 4 Aloha, and thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Article XI, Section 3 of the Hawaii Constitution ezpressly requires the State to "conserve and proteM agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture, incpease c_ agricultural self-sufficiency and assure the availability of agriculturally suitabli' ~ _ lands.^ I attended the Jan. 3rd and 4th meeting regazding the general plan, and I was so - impressed that the council members actually listened to the voice of the interested people, and made some amendments and deletions on the plan. Unfortunately our representative, Fred Holschuh was not able to attend, I hope Fred is feeling better now and can help us voice ow areas concerns, and act upon them. My primary concern is of the special use permit's being applied for in our azea, and I would guess all over the island. Just in ow small neighborhood, there has been one applied for 1 mile down our remote street, and they aze waiting to refile, and one has been applied for just down the hill from our property within 1/4 mile or so, that is still pending. There are also 2 more groups wanting to apply, one adjacent to our property on the one side, and another down the hill adjacent to our property, on the bottom. Everyone else on this road is farming, and it is very disturbing to the farmers to have all these busloads of people all around that have absolutely nothing to do with agriculture. The retreat guests have been quite disturbed at the noise of our tractors, and yet we are only trying to do what this area is designated for. Both of the 2 that have already been operational and have been cited for violations of having multiple dwellings, un-permitted, on ag land. Thus, they are applying for special use permits to try to legitimize their operations. This has caused such a rift in this small rural community, because once an ag piece of property is committed to special use, it affectively removes it from ag zoning forever. It has also been a problem because the neighborhood has had to police these operations, and make complaints, because the county does not have the manpower to do it. We know these neighbors, and it is not a personal problem, it is a problem of this azea not being conducive to churches, belly dancing retreats, and wellness centers. It is very hard to go about the laborious job of farming, when your neighbors are building rentals, resorts, and hotels, and renting out to tourists. At this rate, if these are granted, all of us will apply for special permits, and forget the farming. You just cannot compete, and the ambiance of a quiet and rural lifestyle, with vacationers coming and going, just does not work. I ask the council to please put a moratorium on Special Use Permits. They are fragmenting our neighborhoods. We have been having community meetings to try as a Hamakua community, to create a growth plan, and retreat centers are absolutely not what the community wants. There has been lots of documentation that this area wants small farms, and a rural lifestyle. I ' Comm. No. 4z'g Ref. To: Freseala/ Ref. Uate