2007-05-04 TPITTULO - Laserfiche WebLink

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ALAMEDA:One more. GRAHAM:Commissioner Alameda? ALAMEDA:I asked you earlier, made sense to me your answer about why youre coming now. Cause I do too, I pass there as well and we attend that church, and I see a lot of signs as well. But, so theres a commitment here for five years. Are you willing to meet that? PITTULLO:Yes, I am. Like I have a farm, a 10-acre farm, and one of the things I do is I go to the farmers market in Hilo and Im paying upwards of $200 to $240 every week just for the rental spaces there. So I would like to, you know, within the five-year time period submit a really nice plan that shows the parking and it shows everything and maybe have like a fruits and vegetable stand or outlet for vegetables grown on my property as well as my farm in Opihikao. AndthatssomethingyoucantdowiththeAG-1zoning,whichwasoneoftheearlyonthings that got me into this. I said, okay, if I plant and harvest here I can only sell whats grown on this property. Well, I have a 10-acre farm in Opihikao and I pay $240 a week to go to the farmers markets. So why cant I sell my vegetable and fruits from my other farm? The zoning says I cant. So without this, I guess, I can apply for a special permit or do something else; but Im really stuck with going to the farmers market. On a side note the owner down there, Keith, I dont know if you know him, theyre going to do this whole renovation; and theyre going to shut down half of the farmers market for a substantial period of time, and then the other half, so all of those vendors are going to be misplaced. GRAHAM:Well, we still dont have any public testimony so I guess we can formally close our questioning period, but you all can stay right there. But were going to just discuss amongst each other, I guess right now, where we go with this. Commissioner Alameda? ALAMEDA:Im ready to make a motion. GRAHAM:Certainly. Wait a minute. Commissioner Watanabe. WATANABE:I have a question. You mentioned about, you know, without the zoning you cant sell agricultural products that you grow in Opihikao. I think Im on the right one, but doesnt this say medical? PITTULLO:Yes. The Commissioner was asking about my intent in the early stages. He was trying to get my mindset as to why I applied and all in the first place. And I was just elaborating on my first answer about why it got to this point. But theres a lot of property there and obviously there are different needs in the community. One of them is medical facilities and another one is a place where people can sell their fruits and vegetables. GRAHAM:Commissioner Alameda? ALAMEDA:Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that a favorable recommendation be forwarded to the County Council on the application for a change of zone, Docket No. Rezoning 07-000061 based on the Planning Directors recommendation and proposed conditions. 10EXHIBIT B