2019-05-08 Letter to Magdalene Phillips re financial future of Puna, Bill 108

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Rodillas, Martha From:Hart <hamofhawaii@gmail.com> Sent:Tuesday, May 07, 2019 7:53 AM To:Kim, Harry Subject:The Financial Future of Puna, especially Pahoa Aloha: My name is Magdalene Phillips. I would like to draw your attention to sad factors that will continue to have a negative effect on the people of Puna and their pocket books. Mayor Kim recently stated that of the approximately 500 homes lost to the lava in Kapoho, about 250 of them were vacation rentals. If we assume that theses homes had about 30 different groups of guests per year, that would total 7,500 couples, families, or groups of friends. If these groups only ate once at a Pahoa restaurant during their stay and spent $60 for their meal, and spent a further $60 on groceries or souvenirs, that is a loss of $900,000 a year for Pahoa restaurant and store owners. A cleaning fee of $100 per group of guests, represents $750,000 of income lost by Puna resident cleaners. Add to that yard work at $50 a month and repairs at $150 a year per home. That represents a total of $187,500 lost to Puna gardeners and handymen or women. All in all, that comes to $1,837,500 of yearly income lost to Puna residents, which I believe is a conservative estimate. So, you are wondering if plans are in place to allow owners of these rentals to re-establish a rental in a different part of Puna. NOT SO! Bill108 was passed conveniently right after the eruption by our County Council, making all vacation rentals in Puna non-conforming, and making no special allowances for rentals lost to lava. I agree with Susan Barraackman’s letter to the editor May 3rd, which states: The people who think the operators of AirBnB rentals are just a bunch of speculators looking to buy up homes to host guests and price the poor out of the neighborhood are victims of propaganda. Puna vacation rentals are desirable, because many couples and especially families with children, who can hardly afford to pay hotel prices, prefer to stay in a home in a quiet area, instead of putting up with the hustle and bustle, noise, and high prices of resort area stores and restaurants. Puna has NO resort areas. There are many vacant homes for residents to rent. We need to be able to designate all oceanfront and near ocean areas with homes in Puna, as well as areas surrounding parks and beaches as tourist destinations, to take away the non- conforming label from our vacation rentals. Otherwise, the financial future of Puna will be bleak! Mahalo for listening, Magdalene Phillips 1