2023-01-19 Leeward Exh B (Items 1&2 Ahu Pohaku Hoomaluhia PL-SMA-2022-000018&PL-SPP-2022-000018)

Home

So, I put in written testimony, but if I've only got three minutes, I think I'll just try to—you can read what I wrote. KNOWLES: Thank you. CASTAING: It's relevant, I hope. The neighborhood has deep concerns about this project expanding. We all bought these lands together 20 years ago, a little over 20 years ago. We were, we had to form a community association to purchase these pieces of land. The special use permit that was given to Hawaii Island Retreat set them far apart from the rest of us, and it's been a contemptuous, hard going ever since. We had to put in our infrastructure, and there were certain things that were mandated for the Retreat special use permit. They needed to expand the road to 20 feet; we didn't. They needed to put in an apron on the highway; we didn't. Later on, they came back and sued the rest of the community to make us help pay for those. That cost us 100,000 dollars. And we also put in 140,000 dollars' worth of pavement on Maluhia,which is a half-mile section of road with very steep sections, over eight percent grade, and blind curves. There are also those on Lokahi Road. This is an area that should not have this kind of traffic on it. Besides the hotel guests and the workers, there is,public access was mandated for this special use permit. That adds a lot of traffic to the road. If they get to move forward with this,they get to degrade all the money that we've put into our infrastructure. We did that as a community association, which no longer exists. So, getting this group back together to repair this after it's degraded over the coming decades is not going to be easy. It should last all of us a very long time if we don't have to deal with additional traffic KNOWLES: My apologies, you actually have six minutes total because you are speaking on 1 and 2. So you'll have a little extra time. CASTAING: Okay. To me I don't understand the difference between 1 and 2, but my comments—and I also had testimony on 3. I don't know if I come back up for that later or do it now. KNOWLES: Well,that's your choice. You could add that, I think CASTAING: Okay. So, and the other issue that I have is that they've made it hard for us to use the public access—several of the neighbors that own coastal properties along there have all signed on to mandates where there is a coastal trail—and often there's locked gates, there are certain fences that don't have gates, and so you can't go from one property to the next. This is a vital resource for people, you know, it's like getting out and being with nature is one of the healthiest things I know, and communities get shut out from this. And the access to the coastline needs to be looked into, it needs to be maintained. It was a commitment that was given by not only Hawaii Island Retreat but several of its neighbors along the coastline. So, I'm hoping that becomes an issue that gets dealt with also. As far as the squashing the hotel section down to a five-acre parcel, all these permits were given to a 54-acre parcel 20-something years ago, maybe 22. Since then, there was a small burial lot in the middle of that, and the owners changed that into a 14-acre parcel and—it was the Lincoln burial lot—and then a larger parcel. Now they want to do another one,which shrinks the whole hotel 3 EXHIBIT B