COM 0998.010 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Preserving the North Kohala Coast Planning Committee Hawaii County Coun408 RPR 22 Rol 8 55 Fax rases 7671 pug= af -1 Planning Department T F _ 101 Patrahi St., Suite 3 - co _ Hilo, H196720-3043 COIJ ! ; vmn~ a wire r April 21, 2008 r- r• Re: Support for Repeal of Ordinance No. 97 192 and Urge Rezoning T1N] 9) 5-9-1:8 to RA 20 acres Aloha, The six Nordt Kohala nonprofit organizations and groups signing this letter represent nearly 400 families in North Kohala. We have testified at the Platming Commission rueeturp in August and December of 2001 and January of 2008 in support of the Planning Director's recommendation to repeal ordinance No. 97 102 and to revoke the Special Management Area (SMA) Use Permit No. 379 for TMK (3) 5-9-1:8. MOST SIGNIFICANTLY, the applicant does not meet the conditions for a time extension. The circumstances and contexts under which the application was initially approved have changed and must be considered: I ) There is very compelling documentation that development and construction actin ities upslope of this area have already significantly degraded water quality. A State marine biologist has publicly stated that the reef immediately offshore of this property has been severely impacted and is "a mess". Low-lying coral has been killed and is now covered by a layer of filamentous algae and everything that lived in the send, molhtsks, worms and urchins, is dead. Please see the attached photos. The scale of damage in this area, immediately offshore of Kohala LLC, is significantly greater than the damage that precipitated the EPA investigations and fares against Hokuha. Additional development of any kind will only contribute to this problem, especially development on this parcel that borders the ocean. There are no best management practices (BMPs) on the planet that can guarantee no further degradation. 2) There is an even greater body of evidence and support that the proposed Kohala LLC project is not at al l aligned with what the community has consistently expressed with regard to preserving the coastline. The input received in the last two years during the community readiness program for the North Kohala Community Development Planning (CDP) process and the draft recommendations emerging fi oar the focus groups for the CDP, including a call for rezoning the State coastal lands to Conservation, clearly identify preserving this coast free of any development. We support re-zoning TMK (3) 5 - 9- 1-8 AND we urge the Council to please introduce a floor amendment to re-zone this area to Ag-20 acres or A4-15 acres. There are many significant reasons to support a. change of zone of at least AS-20aeres and many of these reasons were documented in previous testimony. In summary Ag-20 acres is the most appropriate zoning for this parcel because: a) The vast asgjority of land in North Kohala is zoned Ag-20 acres. b)The land immediately north of this parcel will most likely be rezoned to Conservation in the next year (see item in, below). Comm. No.`I R to Ref. To: a? as& Ref. Date APR 22 2nng