2005-04-22 TPlanning Director4-22

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that road versus I have 15 cars coming down. So I think some of those restrictions are kind of unreasonable. It would be easier for the farmers especially as us guys donthave much help and you know we dont have the capability of hiring more people to do a lot of extra work. Since we do all our work ourselves its so much easier for us, first of all its hard to get people coming down to visit the farms and coming off the beaten pathway so when they put a lot of restrictions it makes it a lot more difficult from the farmers aspect. But I just want to thank you all very much for helping us get to this level. Thank you. GALDONES:Any questions of Ms. Alban? Sir, your name and your residence address and you may begin your testimony. J. ALBAN:Im Joe Alban with Kona Joe Coffee, 79-7346 Mamalahoa Highway, Deepas husband. We farm coffee together on our property. I also think this is a great bill that is vital to the survival of agriculture in Hawaii. As farmers we have so many hurdles to overcome, notjustintermsofcostoflaborandexpensestoproduceourcrop,butthefactthatoncewehave produced our crop we are still isolated from the rest of the world. We have to find a way to get our crop to the consumer and that adds cost and puts us at a competitive disadvantage. But when the consumers are right here in our own back yard and we have that opportunity to sell to them directly it really helps to level the playing field and make agriculture more competitive here with other parts of the world. So I think that if farming is going to survive and our products are going to be competitive with products from other places in the world that we desperately need the passage of this kind of bill. Like Deepa, I am concerned about the kinds of restrictions that are being discussed and I think to me the most sensible approach is not to think of a specific number in terms of visitors or vehicles but to utilize existing regulations, now Im not a legal expert and I dont know all the existing laws but I would think that there are existing noise ordinances that should obviously apply and this would help to protect neighbors from those concerns. And when it comes to the traffic issues that should be dictated by access, the size of the road as opposed to a specific number of vehicles or size of vehicle, because each farm is so different and the size of the farms are different and the access to the farms is different. That if we just arbitrarily choose a number of vehicles or a type of vehicle its not going to really be appropriate in every situation. Like Howard said, he may need 4-wheel drive or mud tires to get to his farm and that would be something that really is addressed by the road and the access because at some time in the future there may be a better road and better access. I think those are really the most, the primary issues I wanted to cover so thank you very much. GALDONES:Thank you Mr. Alban. Commissioners any question of Mr. Alban? Sir. CONANT:My name is Howard Conant and Im an organic coffee farmer in Kolo near Opihihale. Thank you very much for letting me speak in front of you. I already submitted quite a few pages of testimony and I think you probably recognize that Ive done a lot of thinking about this issue for a couple of reasons. Our farm is located the end of a five-eighths of a mile, 4-wheel drive road like Howard Yamasakis. Ag tourism is probably not in our future. Its 4- wheel drive, its way too remote. And so I felt that it was appropriate for me to address the issues because I could speak fairly impartially, yes Im in agriculture but this bill probably wont affect us and so I really wanted to speak up as a spokesman for agriculture and try to convey a couple of messages that are, so far have not been advanced. A little divergence, Sandra Scarr of the Kona Coffee Council was also scheduled to appear in front of you but she had an appointment 7 EXHIBIT E