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JOEL E. GIMPEL 73-4686 HINA LANI STREET KAILUA-KONA, HI 96740 TESTIMONY REGARDING BILL 165 Before the Hawaii County Planning Committee September 5, 2007 Good afternoon and abha. Recognizing the long day you've already had, I'll be brief. Although 1 believe that Director Yuen's proposal to establish a special zoning category for "Superstores" is preferable to banning them completely, the Planning Commission's unfavorable determination regarding this bill was correct because the definition of "superstore° is fataiy flawed. In essence, this bill (and the bill banning superstores completely) define a "Superstore° to mean °a business exceeding 90,000 gross square feet, offering for sale more than 25,000 different stock keeping units, and dedicating more than 20,000 square feet of floor area to grocery sales." It can be seen that all of the square foot measurements and stock keeping unit numbers must exceed those spertified in the bill for the definition to apply. Thus, a store with 500,000 gross square feet, of which 40,000 square feet is devoted to groceries, but with only (and not exceeding) 25,000 different stock keeping units, would not be a superstore as defined. Therefore, the definition leaves large loopholes for developers to avoid the requirements of the bill (and the prohibition of the ban). 1 also question the bgic of treating superstores differently from shopping malls such as Prince Kuhio Plaza, which attracts just as much traffic, competes just as vigorously with local small businesses, and where the only difference is the number of shop owners, most of which are national chains. Finally, I note that although superstores and large shopping malls attract a bt of traffic, they reduce the number of vehicle trips caused by the need to drive from one small store to another. In other words, they albw for one-stop shopping. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. 1'il be happy to answer any questions. colf,m: rte: ~ 3~ 3 Raf. To: h~at«I Ref. Date ~p