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TESTIMONY FOR SEPT. 5~ PLANNING COMMITTEE MTG BILL 156 - "SUPERSTORES" Testimony Wednesday, September 5, 2007, Michael Reimer, Kailua Kona, GeoMikeS@att.net Aloha Councilman Pilago and Committee members: There aze several issues in Bill 165 that would benefit from clazification to provide what I believe would better frame what the Council is trying to achieve. I had previously prepared a perspective paper for the Council on Big Box stores on the Big Island and the general summary is that there is no economic reason to ban them. However, there are numerous social and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed and therefore caning control is a feasible means to be used. Restriction via zoning has been upheld in court cases on the mainland, including a recent California Supreme Court decision. I believe changes in Bill 165 can be addressed with minor wording changes, deletions and . additions. But I want to emphasize that these changes, although minor, are critical and essential for the County to achieve its goal of creating a viable zoning classification for Superstores. . I have prepared a short annotated addendum to this testimony with my comments and will give provide in the interest of time, just a few examples and a brief summary. As previously stated, the definition of superstore should be clarified. There aze many such definitions available from numerous governmental councils that have dealt with similar Big Box issues. First, it is rather clear that grocery commodities aze being singled out as a factor of concern. I do not believe that is necessary and its inclusion would unnecessarily limit the power of changes to Chapter 25. When listing 3 issues, 90,000 square feet, 20,000 dedicated to groceries, and 25,000 SKU, the spun of the Bill could be easily defeated by having one less than the definitions provides. Thus the use of the word "or" should be put in place rather than the word "and." Let the Bill address all Big Box stores. In other words, grocery as a commodity could be doleted. Long Beach California definition and clarification neazly 300 words! The definition should reflect the spirit of what the administration is trying to achieve. It should not allow loopholes such as many merchandisers under one roof by splitting commodities into categories and promoting them as categories. For example, are the 70 stores at the Queens Shops technically a superstore? There is only one landlord. And as the last issue here, I note that parking requirement as one spot for every 400 squaze feet of store space. That is inadequate. Fora 90,000 square foot store that would be 225 spaces. About a third to a half would be taken up by employees. I would recommend parking for customers be determined separately from employee parking, handicap parking and delivery or merchandise pickup parking. A quick survey to determine an actual number could be done at Home Depot, which falls far short of filling their parking space and Tazget that come close to filling theirs. I would guess that azound one space, with the exclusions, for every 300 square feet of store would be closer to a proper number. Mahalo for the opportunity to address you today. Comm. No. b 3 .2- Ref. TaPraecteal G 1 Ref. Date SEP 5 2001