2024-03-07 PL-SMA-2023-000046 Kyla-Marie K. Turner Opposition Testimony

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Thursday, March 07, 2024 TO: County of Hawaii Windward Planning Commission Opposition to the Black Sand Beach LLC Project Aloha e Honorable Commissioners of the Windward Planning Commission, My name is Kyla-Marie Turner and I am writing in opposition to the Black Sand Beach LLC Project. As a youth of the County of Hawaii, my biggest concern is the overdevelopment of our county. More buildings and a golf course will not fix the immediate needs of our communities, which revolve around the issues of houselessness/homelessness: affordable housing; Natives and locals alike being pushed out of our communities; landfill and the overproduction of waste; and the buying up of land by outsiders/non-residents for outrageous prices,just to name a few. Any development moving forward cannot just benefit the community economically, but must move towards sustaining, maintaining, and supporting the communities already here in Hawaii. With the vague language of the purpose or the intended beneficiaries of the project, I hope the Honorable Commissioners of the Windward Planning Commission can understand why many like myself not only question the intent of the project, but outright reject it. And with no explicit action plan in place to address the points mentioned just above, as well as how the native species that thrive in the proposed area are going to be protected in the proposed conservation area, including a couple of endangered ones like the Hawaiian Hawksbill Turtle, this draws many red flags for the people in the county and communities which you all serve. I implore you all as the Commissioners to consider the future, and how when a place is developed, it can never be undeveloped. Consider how building a residential/commercial community with a wellness