2008-01-03 THUALALAI - Laserfiche WebLink

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GALDONES:Commissioners, are there any further questions or any further discussion? If not, there are five individuals from the public who would like to testify. So, Mr. Mooers, if you could relinquish the chair for them, please? I would like to call -. We should have enough chairs for those individuals who have signed up. Judith Perino, Stephen Martin, Frank Goodale, Clint Marantz and Gary Stirling. Could you please come forward to the table? Could you all please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS:I do. GALDONES:Sir, would you like to begin. State your name and your residence address and you may begin your testimony. Please use the microp you folks recorded? Thank you. MARANTZ:Good morning. IÓm Clint Marantz, owner of the property located at 73-4464 Kohanaiki Road, here to testify against the request for a change in zoning from Ag-3 to Ag-1, the property under discussion. In my 82 years of living an active life, IÓve come to the realization that there is no such thing as evil people. What needs to be understood is what motivates good people to do what they do. ThereÓs no such thing as the good guys and the bad guys. IÓd like to discuss my reasons for opposing this zone change. I used the apple as an analogy for describing our planet. If the apple was sliced into four pieces, three pieces would represent the earthÓs bodies of water. One piece would represent land. If the remaining piece was sliced in half, again, one piece would represent the land on earth that is inhospitable for farming. That leaves one-eighth of the apple representing land that is used to live on and to grow food. Three-quarters of the remaining one-eighth of the apple would represent soils too poor to produce food or land covered by cityÓs roads and buildings. The remaining piece, one-fourth of the one-eighth of the apple represents the portion of the earth whose food can grow. The peel of that piece represents the thin layer of earth that is used for the production of food. Every year the U.S. loses over a million acres of farm land and we are rapi growing food. More than 75 percent of American fruit, vegetables and dairy products are produced on urban-edged farms that are threatened by sprawling d I lived in Honolulu for 23 years and saw what happened to Honolulu, and decided to move to the Big Island. Here on the Big Island, the future of agriculture is also at risk. What has motivated us to move in this direction? Profit. Now, thereÓs nothing wrong in profit. What has made America as great as it is today is because of the profit motive. But, today, we ask, at what price? Some argue that it helps to pay the taxes needed for running the government. However, recent study made it clear that the cost of government to provide community services for residential uses is $1.15 for every dollar of taxes collected. On the other hand, the cost of services to rural farming areas is 36 cents for every dollar collected in taxes. Promoting small family farming as a sustainable lifestyle 6