2011-01-06 TYAMADA - Laserfiche WebLink

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KERN: Okay, very good. And before you begin with your testimony, please give us your name and address. Thank you. OKAMOTO: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Commission. I’m Alan Okamoto. I’m the attorney for Yamada and Sons. My address is 187-Kapiolani Street, Hilo. And with me today is Mr. Les Pedersen, who is Yamada and Son’s representative assigned to handle this particular quarry operation. His business address is 7633-Kanoelehua Avenue, Hilo. KERN: Very good. You may begin with your presentation. OKAMOTO: Okay. I’ll keep this fairly brief. We have reviewed the Planning Department’s background report and their draft recommendations that were submitted to the Commission. We are in full agreement with the recommendations. The report correctly states the situation. What I would like to do is have Mr. Pedersen give you a brief explanation of where Yamada and Sons is and the importance of this quarry site. They’ve been at it for close to six years now, and over the passage of time things have changed a bit. So we’d like you to understand just what’s happening with them and what the effects would be as far as proceeding with this site. So, Les, if you could. PEDERSEN: I’d like to thank the Planning Commission for hearing our application, and the Planning Department Staff who just really did an excellent job. I was very impressed. Most of you know our company. We’ve been around a long time. We’re a responsible company and we made contributions to the community by supplying needed building materials and by employing a lot of families in the community. Being a responsible company, about six years ago we recognized that there may be a situation coming where we would not have a supply of rock, and so we initiated contact with the Department of Land and Natural Resources to see if it’dbe possible to get a piece of property from the State that we could quarry. That, as Mr. Okamoto mentioned, we started that process about six years ago; and we really didn’t dream it was going take this long before we’d be before the Planning Commission. But the way things go, here we are. You know, during the entire process we’ve just done things by the book, you know, negotiating with DLNR, doing the environmental assessment. We needed the right to quarry the property at auction for significant rights, and now we’re properly applying for a special permit. Our company needs a quality source of rock in order to survive. All of the products we make are dependent upon rock; and we currently don’t have any property that we can quarry. So without a permit approval, once we use up the inventory of rock we have now, we’re done. We’ve already either laid off orhadn’t replaced about a half a dozen workers. And if we don’t have a source of rock, inevitably more will go, eventually maybe our entire workforce. If we don’t have a source of rock, if that were to occur, of course, workers would lose jobs, also the community at large. You know, we’ve been a big player in the competitive market for a long time. If we don’t have rock we disappear, prices go up, both to the community and the County. The County also uses a lot of the kinds of products that we produce. So our need for the approval of the permit is urgent. And we respectfully request that the Planning Commission approve our request as soon as possible. Thanks. KERN: Very good. Thank you. Any questions from fellow Commissioners? Mr., Commissioner Woodward. WOODWARD: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I had a question. You mentioned, and I am upset but not surprised, let me say, to hear that it took you so long. And what I’m interested in is to see where that delay was. Six years is inordinate. If you’re looking at just a piece of property 3 EXHIBIT A