Laserfiche WebLink
DARROW: The present operation was issued a violation notice. Thank you for <br />bringing that to my attention. The applicant in this case, Makaala Hawaii is the parent company <br />of Hilo Coffee Mill. Currently Hilo Coffee Mill is operating a retail concession on the property, <br />if I’m not mistaken. And there has been a violation notice issued.As part of the requirements or <br />conditions of that notice of violation is for the applicant to come forward and apply for a special <br />permit so that they can legitimize the current operation. And so that’s why they are here before <br />us today. <br />DOMINGO: For how long have they been doing it without being caught? <br />DARROW: I don’t think it has been that long. They actually had come to the Planning <br />Department prior to operations, and I believe there was some misunderstanding in regards to <br />what was allowed and what required a special permit. It gets a little difficult when you’re <br />dealing with agricultural uses on a property and certain people feel that certain types of activities <br />are considered a permitted use in the agricultural district. Selling coffee products has been a <br />matter of disagreement or even misunderstandings between applicants and the Planning <br />Department for some period of time. <br />DOMINGO: How many zoning inspectors do we have at the present time? <br />DARROW: At the present time, unfortunately we have lost our West Hawaii <br />Zoning inspector so presently we only have one zoning inspector. But we are in the process of <br />hiring two additional zoning inspectors. <br />DOMINGO: You know, with this application and the previous ones that we’ve <br />considered, it somehow indicates that we should increase our inspection on, you know, approved <br />permits. And I think they should be taken seriously; otherwise we’ll be confronted with the <br />similar kind of issues where we find people doing things unknowingly or intentionally without <br />any permit. This whole concept reminds me of the present Legislative session to which there <br />was a bill permitting Ag tourism with activities such as gift shops or selling souvenirs and other <br />things, and food. And I think the original bill also stipulated overnight accommodations but that <br />has been withdrawn in the final draft. I’m wondering if the Planning Department or the <br />administration is contemplating and following up on this, and would we be coming up with an <br />ordinance which would govern practices such as this. <br />GRAHAM: Mr. Yuen? <br />YUEN: Yeah, I’d be happy to take that. Two or three years ago the Department <br />did come up with a draft bill on agricultural tourism. This was to try to define a range of Ag <br />Tourism that could be done without a special permit and a certain cutoff point where you would. <br />Because our belief is that there should be a range of things that’s allowed on a farm but to a <br />certain point and allowed as a permitted use. At a certain point it should come under more <br />public scrutiny and more attention through a process like this special permit process. So we did <br />a draft bill. It went through the Planning Commission. It was an amendment to Chapter 25. <br />When it got to the Council there was frankly opposition from both some advocates of <br />Agricultural Tourism who thought it was maybe a little too strict and some people who object to <br />Agricultural Tourism operations in the vicinity of their homes. So it was stuck; and it has been <br />stuck for about, it hasn’t come unstuck for about two years. In the meantime the Legislature <br /> EXHIBIT B <br />4 <br /> <br />