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CARR SMITH: Okay.
<br /> KERN: —call, call out, if, if I'm not being heard. And I'll try to somewhat summarize this
<br /> portion of it.
<br /> Basically the part of it saying substantially alter the area of the land, or the area of the character;
<br /> again, this has been an ongoing use with no complaints, and there's many ways to mitigate these
<br /> elements.
<br /> We talk about the General Plan and Kona CDP. There is nothing explicitly against that. Both of
<br /> those could be argued in either, in either case. So I'd say, I'd say that element is very subjective.
<br /> It appears that there's Section 1.6 of the Kona CDP, but that is just an excerpt that's taken out;
<br /> there is nothing in the Kona CDP that explicitly prohibits this request.
<br /> That's my take on the conclusions of law, findings of fact. I feel a lot better, if those were just a
<br /> recommendation than a proposed conclusions of law, as I don't think they are conclusions of
<br /> law. I also think it leaves people in the public, it also could leave the commission, to being
<br /> steered a certain way. That's, and that part of it, that's, that's Zendo Kern standing on my inside
<br /> of it; it's just somebody who wants to see fairness in Hawaii County. It sucks that this is where
<br /> we are with this application in this manner.
<br /> I want to point out that we did reach out to the surrounding properties multiple times the very,
<br /> very beginning, beyond any of our required notices, to attempt to talk about this and to basically
<br /> talk story with the surrounding properties to, you know, see if there's issues to work those out.
<br /> So the thing that I'd like to really point out here is that there's many ways to mitigate sound,
<br /> many ways to mitigate the traffic, we've already reduced the size of the venue—which I'll let
<br /> Clair Mason speak to that, she's got a lot of good detail on the venue side of it—and there's also
<br /> an opportunity to reduce the number of people. What I, what would be really need us to see
<br /> some dialogue or some conversation occur to hopefully find a middle ground to support a real
<br /> farmer, real farmers, and a way to, you know, bring in some additional income as well, will
<br /> support a tremendous amount of other small businesses. So, I wonder, this is a very big question
<br /> for the commission is, how do we support small farmers, how do we support small business, and
<br /> how do we do that in the time like this that's unprecedented. This is a much bigger decision than
<br /> just a yes or no on a Special Permit; this is an opportunity, again, to find a middle ground to
<br /> work together and, and support this.
<br /> On that note, I'd like to turn it over to Kate, Kate Hickey, the applicant for a bit, so she can talk
<br /> about her story. I didn't really tell her story because I prefer her to tell that story. Then we can
<br /> probably go over to Alan for him to speak any, anything regarding the CC&Rs, and then we can
<br /> go to Clair. And I can maybe get the, the microphone back to close out this - - -. Thank you,
<br /> Madam Chair.
<br /> CARR SMITH: Thank you, Zendo. Go ahead, Kate.
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<br /> EXHIBIT A
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