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main gathering center on the property was a permitted green house that <br /> had been converted illegally to a beautiful festival space that held upwards <br /> of a hundred festival participants, and still does. <br /> In 2017 the applicant built several unpermitted buildings including two <br /> 2-story buildings totaling 16 bedrooms, and began renting them out via <br /> airbnb and booking.com and many other websites, and also used them for <br /> overnight accommodations for his workshops. <br /> Begun 8 years ago, Lolia Eco Village, but now re-branded as Hawaii Eco <br /> Retreat, and in the application euphemistically called "retreat center" or <br /> "holistic education center," has in fact been hugely disruptive to this small <br /> community's way of life. Neighbors' complaints, a Notice of Violation and <br /> Order in Dec 2019, 2-1/2 years of frivolous appeals and delays of Board of <br /> Appeals hearings has not deterred the applicant's repeated and ongoing <br /> bad faith disregard of the County Code and its attempts to enforce it. <br /> The situation worsened in 2022 when the applicant purchased the adjoining <br /> 18 acres on Kalapana side of his first Lolia Place subdivision, and <br /> subdivided that into 6 more lots to sell that would fund the present <br /> expansion of activities and satisfy the PD conditions in order to gain <br /> approval of the Special Permit; and most important, to avoid the imminent <br /> and pending hearing before the Board of Appeals for the original Violation <br /> and Order three years ago. <br /> The applicant has stated several times that he screens possible buyers of <br /> his lots so that they are "like-minded," and presumably will support the <br /> Applicant's projects. The result is that the applicant has created a <br /> mini-kingdom, with 11 lots, all with the same access through the same <br /> private, gated entry to Lolia Place, all who will potentially support and/or <br /> participate in the center's activities. It's a quite brilliant plan. <br /> For the past 8 years the applicant has brazenly, illegally, and aggressively <br /> proceeded as if Ag zoning and County Code were mere annoyances. This <br /> application now deceptively changes the term "illegal" into "unusual" use. <br /> However, it is not merely an "unusual" use, it is a highly disruptive and <br />