2020-10-15 Leeward Exh E (AMEND SMA 388)

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So in all fairness, like, you know, I realize that you are looking at the period of 22 years from 1998 to where we are right now, but effectively, the applicant had only like control of the last six years. And I respectfully request that the commission take that into consideration when you make a decision. So, bear in mind now the applicant gets who control of the property in 2013, they had a window, so they applied for one extension in 2014. So that puts it—because they just acquired it—you know, 2014 to 2019. The difficulty in that situation was that during that period, when the property was acquired, it was a publicly traded company, and then they gradually transitioned to private. And so for the first two or three years during the transitional period, they really couldn't do much until that, that business transition, you know, was finalized. It got finalized in 2017, so they applied for the Plan Approval, I think as Jessica had mentioned, you know, with the timeshare,parking lot, four-story structure, so on and so forth. So now, you know, we are taking you to the year 2017, and you have to understand that they have to finish construction by the year, May of 2019. So it was something like about a year and half window, within which to finish up the construction. But they had a lot of things to do, because, bearing in mind that they had foundational, the previous developer had some foundational work done, you know, starting the parking area and all that stuff. So they had to do their own evalu-the current, Diamond, Diamond Resorts, had to evaluate to see whether they can or cannot use the existing improvements. So it took a lot of time for them to do that kind of evaluation, and they knew that they weren't able to complete it before May of 2019. So as a result, they applied for the extension, and this is where we are right now. So,you know, like, and I think that Kim and Evan, you know, the applicant's attorney, can attest to the fact that the developer is, you know, ready, willing and able to do the development. They've spent like over 30 million dollars for the last ten years, you know, within the State of Hawaii. It's a large timeshare company. They have offices in the Royal Kona Coast Resort. You know, and obviously, if you have only like about a year and half window before it expires, you know, they can't really do much, so what they were doing was they were kind of like holding off pending the outcome of any, you know, like this time extension request. I think that the only thing that I would like to add, and, you know, and having this further discussion with the owner this morning, you know, like as the public was testifying, there was a lot of concerns relating to like the building is unsightly, people were kind of like doing drug activity, you know, all this kind of stuff, and the owner, when I spoke to the owner's rep in, who listen in Florida this morning, he said that they are committed to making interim improvements, you know, until they can get, you know, like the building permit finalized and start the construction. They are willing to do, you know, to address, do something to address the safety and the unsightly visual kind of comments that were made. So what we would like to kind of propose is like a condition that would essentially state as follows: that"the applicant shall submit a site maintenance program to the Planning Department within 60 days from the effective date of this third amendment. The said program shall also include an implementation timetable and shall terminate upon issuance of a building permit pursuant to this SMA permit." So, essentially then, you know, like one of the person testified saying that, you know, we try contacting a certain-certain person, and nobody answers the phone, you know, that kind of stuff, well, you know, we would visualize that this site maintenance program would include contact information. It would be no different than like how, I think, the planning commission had required for like on geothermal permits or certain activities, you have like contact, contact information provided. So 9 EXHIBIT E