2021-05-20 Leeward Exh D (SPP 21-000224)

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Special Permit, SPP 21-224. And with that, I can open the floor to any questions from the commissioners. VITOUSEK: [Inaudible.] CAMERO: I'm sorry, Chair. Okay. VITOUSEK: I prefer if we have the applicant, if you'd like to make any statement and then we can give each commissioner the opportunity to ask questions of either parry. RABIN: Hi everybody, thanks for considering this. I really appreciate it. I've been living in Kona for 50 years and been a very active member of our community here. And so, I know a lot of you really well, and some of you just from our community interactions. And I just want to thank you all for serving our community also. It's,to me, it's all about community. The reason I, I wanted to get my office in my home is, I was really involved in the Kona Community Development Plan in its inception, I organized the community meetings at Konawaena School with my wife who passed away many years ago, that lead to the development of the community, the Community Development Plan, and I served a small period of time on the Action Committee with Barbara, where she was Chair. And through that insight, and my knowledge, I know that the Community Development Plan, one of the most important concepts is that people be able to work and not have to commute and clog up our highways and our roads by living near their place of work. Well, that's one of my goals, is the ecological impact and also reducing traffic. The other thing I want to state is, I'm going to have no impact on the agricultural usage of my land. All my agriculture is done outside. I don't have anything growing inside, ok. So, by staying at home, I'm actually working more on my agriculture. I'm producing right now cacao, `olena, and many fruit trees for home and sharing with family and friends and my whole place is in production as you can tell by that aerial map. So, in conclusion, due to COVID, I wasn't going out meeting people anyways. I learned this lifestyle works really well for me and I don't think I'm going to have any impact other than positive on my community, so that's why I want to move forward with this. Thank you for your consideration. VITOUSEK: Thank you, Mr. Rabin. Okay, Commissioners, are there any questions of the applicants or staff? Commissioner Yates? YATES: Yes. Hi, thank you. I was just wondering, is this the first of this kind of application in the area? CAMERO: Commissioner Yates, I can answer that. There's actually a similar application right down the road from Mr. Rabin's property. It was approved in 1981 for a similar retail, I'm sorry, for a similar real estate office to be located within an existing farm dwelling as well. This was approved though, again, in 1981. YATES: Okay. I was just wondering because, you know, you know how that goes where once you give, one thing opens and then the next person, and then the next. So, it was just a concern. 3 EXHIBIT D