2011-02-03 TPEARLSExhibitA - Laserfiche WebLink

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to maintain that efficiency of the highway. So those are our reasons for recommending denial. Are there any questions? KERN: Any questions for staff? Seeing none, thank you, Maija. Could we please have the applicant come forward, and/or their representative. Good morning. I’ll swear you all in at the same time. Will you all raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the, to affirm to tell the truth today before the Windward Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: I do. KERN: I do, okay. And now whoever begins, please, name and address, and go ahead. MELROSE: Good. Good morning, Jeff Melrose, 1405 Wainuenue Avenue, Hilo. You know, what I’d like to do is I’d like to kind of let the applicant talk for themselves and kind of give you the saga of this piece of property, because there’s a really important saga to tell in it, and then to come back and address some of the specifics in the planning recommendations. So I’d just like Tom Robeson to explain his, you know, the history of their efforts on this property over the years. KERN: If you would, Mr. Robeson, name and address before you begin. Thank you. T. ROBESON: My name is Thomas Robeson. My address is 11-3039 Kahauale‘a Road, Volcano. Bear with me, I’m a little bit nervous. This is the culmination of 2 ½ years of effort in trying to put this together. We bought the property in July 2 ½ years ago. It was previously Kilauea Coffee Company. They processed coffee in that warehouse. They had retail sales of both processed coffee and coffee to drink. Another use that they used it for between that and the saw tool in the back was to process mac nuts, crack and process mac nuts. When we bought the property we primarily looked at it for Ag. We needed additional pasture land. The 50 acres in the back provided ample grass for, you know, we were raising sheep, pigs, cows, chickens, which we still do on the property. The idea was that that building in the front that already had a retail component to it for coffee would fit very well for my wife; and she’s a baker. So we decided to purchase the property and look at putting a bakery in the existing space. We had green houses, two 96-foot green houses, on the back end of the property that we thought would work very well to grow product and then utilize that product that was grown in the bakery. So not being familiar with how things are supposed to operate and how you get things done, our first stop was, well, we were establishing a food, you know, type of organization, we went to the Health Department. And we asked the Health Department inspector to come up, sit down at the property with us, walk through everything that needed to be done, actually sketched out on a napkin the layout that you see up on the board before you. We laid out exactly what we were trying to do and what we wanted to do in there. He laid out exactly what we needed to have, and then made recommendations. One of the things that he came up with is to bake goods you don’t really need a hood; but if you put a hood in then I’ll approve you to do other things if you decide you want to change, you know, things in the future. So we went ahead with applying for a building permit, and the building permit was Pearl’s Bakery, Retail Bakery, said on it. We went through that process. We stepped through, going through Health, Police, Fire, Building and Planning. And everything was signed, you know, as we submitted these plans. And once the plans were submitted and approved by all the different organizations werequired to get a building permit, we went forwarded and installed the sinks, the ovens, the hood, all the things that the Health Department recommended, no changes to the outside of the structure. Everything was done internally right in that existing room that on the plans was a lunch room, and that’s where the retail sales and coffee was done previously. 3 EXHIBIT A