2020-05-07 Liquor Commission Minutes

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Forbes: Hello, I'm sorry it took about fifteen minutes to get into this meeting. I don't know where I am in the line-up to testify. Takase: Are there any more questions for John Kaye? There were no further questions for John Kaye. Takase: If not, we'll go our next... Onizuka: Yes, go ahead. Takase: ...and I think Susan Forbes is our next testifier. Forbes: Okay, I, too, also sent in my testimony a week ago so I'm assuming you've all had a chance to see it. I will summarize my opposition to having a brewery in the warehouse, essentially across the street, that it would be embedded in our residential neighborhood, (is) not new. The property owner was notified in 2015, that the community was opposed to having Mehana Brewery set up operations in the warehouse. Since that time, the neighborhood has grown, and there are differing opinions, but a majority of both our registered voters and property owners within 500 feet are opposed to granting this license. All the residents within 500 feet along Old Mamalahoa Highway are opposed, as well, all of the residents within 500 feet with kids are opposed. Forbes: There are a lot of issues and the documents, this morning, from Mr. Shropshire don't change those issues. We live in a quiet residential neighborhood. The fact that the site where the brewery is proposed, or the producing pub is industrial, is just a historic oddity. There's more detail in the opposition forms, which I'm assuming you have already seen, and they have been validated by the Liquor Control staff. I respect the background of the applicant and I'm sorry that what we're hearing now is from the property owner, not the applicant. There are inherent risks in having a drinking establishment in our neighborhood, and talking about speed bumps or the one -lane bridge, and all the mitigation efforts related to noise or whatever, really don't change that fact. So, I'm ... we do have more than fifty percent of the property owners and registered voters, and I think on that basis, the application should be denied. Thank you for your time. Onizuka: Thank you. Do we have any other questions? Poindexter: Yes, this is Valerie Poindexter. Can you hear me? Onizuka: Yes. Takase: Yes. Poindexter: I am the councilmember for District 1, but I am testifying on behalf of myself and as a resident on the Hamakua Coast. I am not wearing my councilmember hat. I am definitely in opposition of this. I want to ditto everything that Mr. Kaye and Mrs. Forbes had testified to. We don't want to ruin our small rural communities. We are vulnerable MAY 7, 2020 - LIQUOR COMMISSION MINUTES