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been able to work with that neighbor very well. And we’re very, I mean, we understand those
<br />concerns and we recognize them and we worked with him to make sure. Now the concern is
<br />mainly on the aspect what happens if the property is sold and somebody else doesn’t have that.
<br />So, you know, the condition of the time and quiet time and everything else is, is, I mean, exactly
<br />what we would be looking for. You know, the previous Ag operation on that property cracking
<br />mac nuts all night kept him, I mean, that’s why he’s concerned; and I get it. You know, I
<br />wouldn’t want that, you know, 100 yards from my house either. But the nature of what we are
<br />applying to do is generally quiet to begin with. We don’t have delivery trucks going in and out.
<br />We only deliver to two companies, Hirano and J. Hara. And with J. Hara we do maybe 40
<br />loaves a week. It fits in the back of the station wagon and you take it down and, you know. But
<br />having the retail component there somebody can stop by there, get a loaf of bread, get, you
<br />know, that kind of product.
<br />We also received an amazing letter, actually, from Constance Haskell. She came by during the
<br />three days that we were opened and has stopped by since. And I don’t know her. I mean she’s
<br />just a local community person that stopped in while we were there. But she set the bar pretty
<br />high in the letter that she sent. And, you know, we’re looking forward to trying to live up to the
<br />expectations that were set in that letter.
<br />KERN: Mr. Melrose?
<br />MELROSE: Thank you. And I think you do have Mrs. Haskell’s letter. It was circulated to you
<br />this morning. We thought it had already been submitted, but you do have it. So thank you.
<br />I think what I, just from my professional view working with the Robesons is these are very
<br />sincere people. They started out trying to do what they, you know, to do a small thing and to do
<br />it, you know, connected to the community, and to find a way to do a small business that made
<br />their agricultural produce more valuable, and to serve the community. And I think it’s a very
<br />genuine intention. And they went through this process on the up and up, clear, talking to as
<br />many people as they could, and were surprised by some of the pieces they didn’t know about.
<br />So, you know, they’re in a little deep right now in terms of this process. But I think ultimately
<br />what they’re talking about doing is so typically Puna way, in my view, is that the small business
<br />trying to serve the community right around it and be available to help other people do business in
<br />that region. It’s kind of a characteristic, I think of, Rural Hawai‘i generally but certainly Puna
<br />generally, Puna more specifically.
<br />I want to talk a little about some of the issues that were raised by the Planning Department; and I
<br />think they’re fair issues if you don’t get caught up on the semantics, I think maybe a little
<br />semantically caught up. I think the notion that the bakery by its nature is only allowed in an
<br />Industrial and Light Industrial zone is really the vision of a bakery which is like Loves Bakery or
<br />something that’s really putting out large numbers of, large amounts of bread. This bakery is no
<br />bigger than Puff City in the middle of Downtown or small, you know, it has got two or three
<br />ovens is all it has got. So it isn’t a delivery product kind of a Light Industrial use. So to me
<br />there’s a, to rely on the notion that there’s, that it is, call it in some form an Industrial use,to me,
<br />is just being caught up in the semantics of the Zoning Code, which I think we would all probably
<br />identify as having limitations to it in termsof the way it lists allowable uses.
<br />The Puna Community Development Plan does try to concentrate uses, in many cases yet to be
<br />developed, yet to be reasonably identified but yet to be developed cores. On the Volcano
<br />Highway, however, is about 13 miles between what is Mt. View and what is Volcano. And this
<br />spot, you know, is not a, there is no piece in the plan that identifies new areas for that kind of use
<br />along this stretch of road. So, you know, traffic, I guess -.
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