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ready. I think another thing that the applicant did not point out to us is that what’s working
<br />against them also at this point is that construction is booming; and so even if they want to build it
<br />right now, it would be a little bit difficult, hard to get labor, I think we are all aware of that. And
<br />certainly it would add to the cost at this point in time, which would, you know, then make that
<br />venture probably economically unfeasible at this point simply because of our own conditions,
<br />you know. Within the United States we’ve had a boom, and so we got American dollars coming
<br />in the area investing and that’s soaking up all of our resources, and that’s why labor costs are
<br />what they are now. And that was my only comment as far as -, I mean, to justify why we had
<br />this long string of events.
<br />GRAHAM: Thank you, Commissioner Watanabe. Commissioner McCall?
<br />MCCALL: Yeah, I wanted to talk to the -, discussion about time limits. I mean time
<br />limits are generally put on SMA applications, etc. and I think for a valid reason, because
<br />conditions change. It is understandable that the applicant may not be able to do what they say
<br />for various reasons, you know, financial reasons, business reasons. But I don’t think they should
<br />feel that we will automatically give extensions because conditions can change. And this is a
<br />good example of where conditions to the environment could change; and if we can see that, say,
<br />the ocean environment has started to degrade, we may need -, I’m not saying that we would deny
<br />this application, but that we might need to make more stringent requirements. We can’t go back
<br />and change the requirements that we made for things that have already gone on, but we could
<br />make more stringent requirements for these or any new development, so that there will be no
<br />further degradation of the environment. I think that has been done before. To an extent that is
<br />being done here but it’s been done here -. We aren’t being given the information that the
<br />integrated golf course management plan is going to be, you know -. We don’t have the
<br />information that there is either degradation in environment or not, and I think we need more
<br />information, it seems to me. You know, Director Yuen has said several times, when we come
<br />for extensions, that extensions are not automatic, that in effect when an extension comes, it is
<br />like a new application and it should be looked at as a new application; new terms, new conditions
<br />can be imposed at that time and, you know, I think that should be a reasonable request. So I
<br />would say that in my opinion I think we need more information before -, at least I feel I need
<br />more information before I can make a comfortable decision on this matter.
<br />GRAHAM: Thank you, Commissioner McCall. Commissioner Iwashita?
<br />IWASHITA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really don’t have any serious problems with the
<br />financial reasons, the necessity to request for the extension and the history, and you know, I’ll
<br />characterize it as practical. Maybe not, but, you know, this is a long standing project that has
<br />been approved from a long time ago and it has had several extensions, a couple extensions.
<br />However, as a Commission in reality we need to deal -. We are still talking about complying
<br />with Chapter 205 as the Counsel indicated earlier; and so you know, when these extensions come
<br />up, I agree with Commissioner McCall that it’s time to reassess what the conditions are. If the
<br />conditions haven’t changed, then it’s sort of -, you know, as far as an extension is concerned, I’ll
<br />be inclined to grant it, you know. Obviously the conditions, the actual physical conditions,
<br />haven’t changed. But the concerns raised by the Chair I think are legitimate, and we need to
<br />have information. And if the information is, you know, basically that the bay and the
<br />surrounding waters are not the Missouri River from forty years ago, and it’s not in great
<br />degradation and not threatened or changed adversely, I don’t think any of -, personally I
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