2008-06-20 TKONACDP - Laserfiche WebLink

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That was just to highlight the problem of people needing affordable housing now. This is just to highlight the problem of people right now in Kona from all walks of life, needing affordable housing now. And my concern all along with the affordable housing in the Kona Community Development Plan is it isn’t for now. It’s good, it will bring about stuff in the future; but it’s not going to happen now, and a lot of people who have lived here for many generations are going to have to go to the mainland in the meantime. Thank you for listening to me. RHO: Thank you. Questions from Commissioners? Go ahead, Commissioner Ogata. OGATA: Since you’ve brought up that there are some suggestions that could be done now, can you just briefly give me like your top three suggestions? GAYLORD: Yes. Okay – and we can give you a copy of this, if you like – my top three are to eliminate in-lieu fees; in every proposal for housing, for resorts or any kind of living situation, builders and developers must develop affordable housing onsite or within a reasonable distance to what the Kona Community Development Plan calls as a town center. Right now the law allows them to build 15 miles away. So what good does that do for Kona that sends people to South Point or Puna, but not here? So we want to eliminate in-lieu fees all together. The law must be changed to reflect the real price of an affordable house for most of the middle- income people who live in Kona; that will be less than $200,000. There are houses that can be built for that price. As a result of Katrina, there are many designs available on the internet right now for good-looking houses for less than $200,000 that can be built here and be appropriate for the beauty of this place. Affordable housing must be made available to low- and moderate- income people. There are other things on this list, and I’ll be glad to give it to you. RHO: Other questions? BOWMAN: I just want to thank you because I think this problem obviously is not only in Kona. My daughter lives with 22 people – four generations. So I applaud you for doing this in a very creative way. And I hope that the other Development Plans and the County Council take this very seriously. So, thank you. RHO: Thank you very much. I’m going to call up the next testifiers. And right after I do that, we’re going to take a 10-minute break, and reconvene at 8:00 in about 15 minutes. But I wanted to call these people up first or at least give them warning that they are next: Jim Greenwell, Janice Palma-Glennie, Bill Brooks, Stephanie Nelson-Brooks and Kale Gumapac. Okay? Thank you. We’ll be reconvening again at 8:00. RECESSED The Chair called a recess at 7:46 p.m. RECONVENED The meeting reconvened at 8:00 p.m. EXHIBIT B 22