|
really need it. But the condominium statute requires a water tank or a man-made improvement
<br />to qualify as a condominium. So our man-made improvement was going to be a water tank.
<br />SIRACUSA:Well -.
<br />ALAMEDA:Commissioner Siracusa.
<br />SIRACUSA:Okay. Weve got some new agricultural tax laws coming up, right, or they
<br />passed already, Ivan, about a minimum that a farmer has to make in order to qualify for the Ag
<br />exemption? I believe its $2,000 a year. Im just wondering if these farmers will be able to -?
<br />SAVIO:Im pretty sure they did the math. Its $2,000 a year they can earn. I
<br />might add, one more thing we talked about is the cost. And when we talked about the bridges,
<br />the bridges, I believe, are not on our property. Theyre actually on the Bishop Estate property,
<br />buttheyaretheaccesspoint,well,oneoftheaccesspointsforourproperty.Andourpositionis
<br />we are willing to pay our fair share to maintain those bridges. We are not the only ones using the
<br />road. This is a 30-mile road that runs, you know, all the way to Naalehu. So everyone along that
<br />roadway will be paying their fair share, everyone who uses it should be paying their fair share. I
<br />think thats a very important concept because to require our 175 farmers to be responsible 100
<br />percent for the bridges, or 100 percent for the access roads, or any road outside of the project
<br />would not be reasonable. Thats why we are very concerned that it be very clear that we will pay
<br />our fair share for the maintenance of the roads and that, or we have the alternate of providing
<br />other access to a County road, rather than using the existing easement.
<br />ALAMEDA:Other questions, Commissioners?
<br />MCCALL:Yeah. Mr. Savio, my question or concern is primarily about water. For
<br />farmers dryland farming is, certainly is an option. But when were talking about putting 175
<br />people up there, 175 homes up there, I think thats another matter. And I have, I think that
<br />theres a opportunity at this point -. You know, catchment, I, is, to me, is not a very good option
<br />in a dry area like Kau. I think theres an opportunity at this point -. You do have, you
<br />mentioned that you do have access to 25 percent share of the Moaula Tunnel, but that is, thats
<br />not adequate for, you know, for what we have here. I mean, my concern is, is to have 175
<br />landowners in a situation such as Ocean View where everybody is hauling water. Thats going
<br />to be a major, more than an inconvenience. Its going to be a major problem for the owners, as
<br />well as Pahala, as well as the County which is going to end up footing the bill for this.
<br />SAVIO:When we originally came forward to the community, they discussed at
<br />length the idea of electricity, water, what standards they want. I think one of the problems we
<br />have is the majority of our buyers are local buyers; and to them, price was more important than
<br />anything else. They would rather own their 5-acre parcel at $20,000 to $30,000 rather than
<br />$60,000 because water was required or something of that nature. Bringing in things like
<br />electricity and water are very, very expensive; and its one of the reasons that farm land in a lot
<br />of cases would become unaffordable for the local buyer. If I was selling this to the mainland guy
<br />coming out, theyll hire somebody to take care of it, theyre going to build a house, I mean, I
<br />could sell these for $100,000 all day long; but thats not the purpose of the project. Okay, so you
<br />can require water, but what you will do is you will make it unaffordable for the local buyers.
<br />There arent that many government programs on the acquisition that help. Part of the concept
<br />14
<br />
<br />
|