2023-04-06 Windward Exh B (Item#1 ASIAA PL-SPP-2022-000025)

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scientific finding is fascinating to me. But is it the way that the research is being done necessarily respectful of the community that it's in and have we really researched all the different options. That's my thought process regarding that. If other Commissioners want to convince me otherwise, I'm open to that as well. But I vote with my conscience. PIPAN: Chair Lin if I may just about the search that drew us to this specific location. So, Dr. Chen had done groundwork initially as he describes surveying around the island, looking for radio quiet sites and found himself in Ka`u and in Wood Valley as the best site. For the reasons he's described with Mauna Loa, Volcano creating a shield from sources in civilization of radio noise. So, there's this pocket in Wood Valley and the best site is where folks live in Wood Valley. So, he negotiated a lease with the Mizuno property owners which was the previous site and we heard concerns of the community members as were getting nearer to the Planning Commission public meeting and we found it prudent to withdraw that site. So, this brought us to a search. Again, some place nearby that still had those attributes of being shielded from sources of radio noise from civilization but was more remote, more isolated, and wide-open acreage areas and this is something that Ms. Reha actually put in her original contested case petition. Why don't you look for a site that's in open acreage areas and that's what we did. We took that to heart. We went out and we searched, and we found this 10-acre parcel that was surrounded by 100 acres of open land and all we want to do is use 2 acres of it, fence 1 acre for this temporary use. The site will be returned to its original condition 10 years from now if this is approved. This is not going to be here for 11 years even. So, this is a special area. We definitely respect the concerns and we're doing everything that we possibly can to be as mindful and as minimal as passive as possible aside from not existing. So, that's what drew us to this site. It's in an area that's surrounded by really nice soils, and we toured Mr. Coffman's farm and saw the amazing work that he's done there on his farm. This site is not the same soils as that nearby site. The soils are much poorer in this small area as evidenced by the extensive agricultural designation and evidenced by its previous use as a log disposal site. They are not going to use prime ag land as a log disposal site. So, we saw all of these factors really lining up as this is the ideal site. We're not nearby a bunch of neighbors, and the neighbor that we are nearby, we've talked with them extensively and worked with them to satisfy their concerns. So, aside from going to another Pacific Island or Alaska that's really outside of the scope and our ability that's honestly not a criterion we employ to evaluate Special Permits. Is this an unusual and reasonable use, is it going to adversely affect the agricultural potential of this area? It's not. So, I think it's clear that is a suitable temporary use without serious adverse impacts. Respectfully. LIN: Dr. Chen? CHEN: Yes, so, I was doing the site survey 2 years ago. So, I pretty much did along the entire Hamakua Coast. All the way reaching not in the Waipi`o at least before Waipi`o. So, all this side on the Hilo side. I also did the Saddle Road. Actually, Saddle Road is pretty bad because all the military communication safety everything is very, very noisy. I even endeavored into Mana Road but that's simply not easy to operate. I did the Kohala side, so that part I did about 50 to 60 sites around the island. So, why I didn't go to other islands? As you can see, we are a very small 15 EXHIBIT B