2007-05-24 TALLIANCE - Laserfiche WebLink

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Recommendation’s page 5 of the Planning Department’s criteria (E), they say that this should not be used on lands that, for which the zoned purpose is not appropriate – and the Planning Department says that this land is prime ag and it is suited for its permitted use, which is agriculture. And the Planning Department says this application has not met that criteria, and we believe the same thing. Second point that I would like to make is on cumulative effects, which was not addressed by the hearings officer in her report. We have said that the County through its Special Permits has approved accommodations for visitors in our community that are way beyond what is recommended by the planning process. The impacts of these people in our community are felt through the roads, through the public safety, through water, and through waste. A review of the permits that have already been issued by the County in North Kohala was undertaken by our group with the help of the Planning Department – thank you very much. And this review showed that the County has already permitted accommodations through the Special Permit process of 758 people in North Kohala at any one time. This figure does not include hotels, B&Bs, vacation rentals or illegal retreats. Now with the 105 accommodations proposed in this application, the total amount of new people into our community everyday could be as much as 863 people. We are saying that this impact must be taken into account when you are approving Special Permits; it’s not fair to look at each permit on its own basis, and just say, oh, here’s some and here’s some and here’s some. You need to know how many you’ve already permitted in the past, and how much the community can handle at any one time. It’s because of both of these Recommendations that the use of Special Permits on prime ag land in North Kohala may be an issue that the North Kohala people wish to address in the community development plan process; and the accumulative effects of approving Special Permits on prime ag land may be an issue that might be wished to be addressed by the community development plan process in North Kohala. We recommend that you hold off on approval of this project. Thank you. GRAHAM: Thank you, Ms. Withington. Do we have any questions from the Commissioners? Yes, Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA: Yes. Thank you, Toni. How far along is the Kohala community on their community development plan? Have you completed the plan? And I know that the Council was entertaining a resolution involving a pause on change of zone for both Kona and Kohala – I wish they would do it for Puna. But at what stage in the whole process is Kohala’s plan now? WITHINGTON: We have entered the process. The steering committee has been appointed. The steering committee has met, I believe. Mr. Graham would know more about this than I would, actually. But -. SIRACUSA: He can’t testify, though. WITHINGTON: I know, I know. But I can tell you that they have met. They are getting ready to have their meetings, and the community is really up for this. I want you to know that there was a higher percentage of people turning out for participation in the CDP process in Kohala than any other District on this island. So the community is really up for this process, and we are doing it right now. And we would like to have community say over issues such as these. EXHIBIT B 4