2005-05-12 TWORLD - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS:Yes. I do. SPRINGER:Thank you. If we can begin at your left, could you please state your name and your address for the record and then begin your testimony. J. HAUN:My name is Jeff Haun. My address is PO Box 248, Hakalau. And aloha Commission Members. My wife and I, Wendy, are here to speak to you about why you should vote again, the Special Permit application by the World Botanical Garden. But first I would like just to say my wife and I have lived in Hawaii almost 20 years and ten of these years on the Hamakua coast. We want to be clear that we are not opposed to the Garden. WeareopposedtotheirSpecialPermitrequestasisbeforeyoutoday. Theapplicationisrequestingpermissionfor1200touristsperday,thats15timesasmanyas they have per day now. The main problem is that such a large increase in tourists will in effect change agricultural use into commercial use. Everyone knows that we are losing more and more agricultural land. The garden is located in a 12-mile stretch of Rural Ag land and fantastic natural beauty waterfalls and views of the ocean and Mauna Kea. As the traffic increases so will its interference with the farmers that use the old road and residents and tourists who appreciate the natural beauty. Another major problem is that the increased traffic will be hazardous and cause delays. We believe that more people in the area should have been notified of this application. The 500- foot requirement is really not appropriate for Ag-20 zoned land. The property lines of one square 20-acre parcel are about a thousand feet on a side. The same road that serves the garden also serves many parcels that spread for several miles up the mountain. We havent had time to look at all the TMKS but there are probably 50 to a hundred parcels that will use that road. Dont you think these people should have been notified of this special permit application when they will be using the same road that all the traffic going to the garden will use? My wife and own some land and a home within 800 feet of the garden and we own and use an easement across land that is within 500 feet of the garden. The planning commission rules state that the applicant must notice persons with an interest in land within 500 feet. We believe that our easement constitutes such an interest yet we were not noticed of this application when it came before you last year. If we had been noticed we would have had time to request a contested case hearing. We have read the gardens application, its quite lengthy, and the Planning Departments recommendations. We have read the traffic study and done our own traffic study. We circulated a petition against the gardens special permit application, we have 23 signatures, and we wrote a letter to the Commission and testified at the last hearing on this application. 23EXHIBIT C