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FUKE: Sure. Good morning. Can you hear me? Good morning, again, my name is Sidney
<br /> Fuke. I'm a planning consultant and I'm here assisting the applicant Kona Distilling Company,
<br /> LLC. My business address is 100 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii.
<br /> UNGER: Great, thank you. And your name and
<br /> WHITE: My name is Richard White and my address is 78-6858 Kuhinanui Street and that's
<br /> Kailua-Kona.
<br /> UNGER: Aloha. Thank you. So you can begin your presentation, and part of your presentation
<br /> if you can mention that if you are okay or and not okay with the conditions as presented by the
<br /> Planning Department.
<br /> FUKE: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. First of all, Mr. White is the project manager for
<br /> this project. I'd like to also acknowledge the presence of the owner and, if the project goes, if
<br /> the permit is approved, the actual developer, Mr. Mark Hall; he's sitting in the back. They're
<br /> here basically to answer any questions that I can't and, you know, specifically related to the
<br /> operation. But both of them have had a chance to review the staff s report and the, and the
<br /> proposed recommendation and conditions, and found them to be acceptable. I think the
<br /> background report that your staff had given is, covers pretty much like all what I was going to
<br /> say, so makes my job little bit easier. However, there are like, I just kind of wanted to answer
<br /> some of the questions that were raised.
<br /> First in relation to Ms. Carr Smith's question, you know, about the agricultural operation. This is
<br /> pretty much similar to like about a couple months ago you, the Commission, had reviewed and
<br /> acted favorably on Kuleana Rum out in North Kohala. In that situation they had like about
<br /> 20-somewhat acres of land and they were going to use about 14 or 15 acres for sugarcane to use
<br /> as a source for their distillery facility. It's no different in concept than that particular project.
<br /> Just by way of background too, the, what the applicant wants to do is pretty much similar to the
<br /> Kuleana Rum one; they kind of want to integrate the agricultural activities and eventually come
<br /> up with a product that expands or enhances the agricultural activity. So they got this property,
<br /> and this property,just for those of you who may be familiar, or not familiar, with this area, the
<br /> historical use of the property, the two large sheds were used agriculturally a number of years ago.
<br /> They had like a tomato, they had like cucumbers, and subsequent to that they, it was converted
<br /> into like an orchid, orchid farm. And that's the reason why you see a large warehouse building
<br /> that's consist of, what, 10,000 square feet. So from the applicant's standpoint, this property was
<br /> almost like a natural, you know, for their own operation, because you already had existing
<br /> facility, there's an existing single family residence on the property, and that dwelling would be
<br /> used for either employee or for security purposes. Much of the land has been in the past
<br /> cultivated into agricultural activity; that would continue. The whole idea is to have as much of
<br /> the product, if they can, to be farmed on the property, and whatever that can't be, then they
<br /> would have it like kind of sourced in. The thought was to have like ti plant so that they can
<br /> generate `okolehao. The question I had asked the staff was that one of the first phases perhaps
<br /> that they would like to produce would be like the, going into a coffee liqueur. And so, to do that,
<br /> they would have to bring in in the beginning like the coffee, do the roasting, and then from there
<br /> do the distilling operation. Sugarcane is also like one of the thing that he has in mind, and so that
<br /> would convert into like rum.
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<br /> EXHIBIT A
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