2005-03-18 TWDC - Laserfiche WebLink

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SMITH:Okay. Can you answer this question. If youre operating from the tarmac at the airport, would you be required to do that? LINCOLN:No, not our size aircraft. SMITH:All right. Thank you. GALDONES:Maam, anything further that you would want to speak on? CHEVALIER:I might just offer the factthat our Blue Hawaiian Helicopters as the primary operatorat the heliport has taken the lead in quiet technology development. We worked with the manufacturers as part of the helicopter tour operator committee of HAI, we work with all, we went to all the manufacturers and asked for quieter a aircraft. Cause weve been around since85operatingandwerememberverywelltheproblemswithnoisethatreallypeakedinthe mid-to-late 80s and we realized that we needed to have a very good noiseabatement program which has, we put a lot of effort into. We meet the secondTuesday of the month and discuss any noise complaint that may have come up. But, moreover, weve, we went to the manufacturer with a couple of the other leading operators around the country and we committed to the purchase of quiet technology if they would build it. They did and weve invested almost $20 million over the last four years in upgrading our fleet to the new EC-130 quiet technology helicopters. These are approximately 50 percent quieter than any other tour helicopters now out there. So, its, we put our money where our mouth is and were very, very dedicated to noise abatement. As you see, you dont have complaints at Waikoloa. I know there was a mention of maybe the, you guys dont get the complaints but the FAA does. I assure you, whatever, if there, Im not aware of any complaints. If, and, certainly, you know, if there is, we make very sure that we address that. You know, were very strict about enforcing the guidelines that we have to ensure that we dont have any problems; and, its of critical importance to us, Ill just leave it at that. GALDONES:Ms. Bail, you made mention something about the 31,000 acres. Your property sits in the proximity of the 31,000 acres thats owned by the person that youre leasing or the company that youre leasing it from? BAIL:Its owned, it would be owned by one of the various Waikoloa entities, which is why we can confirm here today that there are no development plans for those immediate surrounding properties. For example, the, you know, one of the development plans would be the Waikoloa Highlands which is the next agenda item thats further mauka up Waikoloa Road. Its not immediately adjacent to the heliport facility. GALDONES:Mr. Yuen? YUEN:Weve been, we could probably show this on the map. Waikoloa owns up the north-south Kohala boundary, property line, boundary line. Jeff, could you show that. The red dot is the heliport. And then if you look to the right-hand side of that, turn your pointer on the north-south, Im sorry, the South Kohala/North Kona District boundary line is the property 8