2010-02-05 TTUTTLE HALE OHIA - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

National Park so you can’t expand or add more rooms to Volcano House. And what has occurred in Volcano is there are a number of bed and breakfasts that have sprung up to service a segment of the visitor population that would like to stay in Volcano for, you know, one night, two nights. My husband and I stayed at one of the bed and breakfasts up Volcano one year, it was the old Lyman estate. And it has allowed people who picked up some of the older homes a mechanism to have some revenue to maintain and restore some of these homes, some of them that are far older than the 1930s. And because the visitor spends the night and stays in Volcano what it means is they sometimes go eat at the Kilauea Lodge, they go eat, there’s a little Thai Restaurant in Volcano Village. They visit the little stores in Volcano Village. And typically, you know, many of them will stay more than one night. Whereas what occurs with the vast number of visitors that go to the National Park is they do not stay in our hotels. They come in on a one-day junket from Oahu, they land at the Airport, they board a bus, they are then driven to the Volcano House where, you know, they may partake of lunch there or they may do something else. They may stop at Akatsuka Orchids. In the old days I think they used to stop at Nani Mau. I don’t know if there’s much of that going on. But they weren’t visiting the little stores up in Volcano. They weren’t hitting the other restaurants up inVolcano which are locally owned. The property has changed hands. Many of those facilities go back to the 1930s. And as a young child, you know, I would walk from Wright Road to Hongo Store and to the other Volcano Village Store up there; and it has helped revitalize Volcano to have these bed and breakfasts. It has helped the people who live in that area provide income, particularly to a lot of retirees. And I think you have to have that variety of visitor destination.And it’s a way in which without having to bring in a lot of infrastructure you are able to attract those types of visitors. I understand the concerns of the fact that what is essentially happening here is doubling. Okay? But I think it’s mitigated by the fact that all the property in this area that is zoned Residential is owned by Mr. Tuttle. So it does not impact neighbors like some of the other bed and breakfasts that we had previously approved which are smacked, you know, we had some I think at Honolii right in the middle of a residential area with houses right next door.This area is rather secluded. He owns all the properties so there’s minimal impact to neighbors. It’s right off the main highway so you’re not worried about the traffic impacting a small residential street with other homes on it. I think that it’s correct that we do need to look at bed and breakfasts overall on the island and talk about density and what the capacity is. But I think that Volcano can absorb this; and it’s a way in which some beautiful older homes get utilized rather than just sitting there and gathering mold. So I, you know, thank you. WOODWARD: Thank you. Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Mr. Chairman, for the record, and I mentioned this to Mr. Gonzalez -. Can the Planning Director speak, in my opinion speak in favor of the motion or speak against the motion? I want a clarification on that. 19 EXHIBIT D