2024-04-04 Testimony Chuck Barker, Kuleana Mortgage LLC

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However, and notwithstanding this overwhelming opposition to Bill 121, by members of our community, from business trade associations, from small farm owners and managers, from indviduals whose livlihoods depend on these vacation rentals for their incomes as housekeepers and maintenance staff, the County Council members abjectly ignored this, and incredulously, voted in favor of these bills, This intentional ignoring of the plainly expressed wishes of the Hawaii County constituents can no longer be abided. There are those who contend that vacation rentals reduce the availability of long-term housing, or make it more expensive due to scarcity, yet there are no statistical reports which support such a notion. On the contrary, rendering these vacation and Hawaii experience rentals as "illegal" causes drastic loss of property caretaker and rental preparation jobs. It also takes GET, TAT and other tax revenue streams off the table, and would reduce our county and state tax resources. Hawaii County is essentially the last place in the entire state of Hawaii where there remain afforable places to live. But this teeters on the precipice of dissappearing. Lack of economical dwellings is NOT caused by housing units being utilized — or even partially utilized (as in the cases of room rental, or rural ag dwelling experience farms) — as short-term vacation rentals. The dearth of available economical housing is directly caused by a) increasingly (and absurdly innapropriate for our locale) onerous building codes that may be relevant for California, but not here; b) construction material costs; c) construction labor costs, and d) sharply increasing land costs. While no governmental action is going to reduce b,c & d, rational governmental action could further the objective of providing economical dwellings by way of a building code which allows simple frame and single- wall structures (the same as homes that most of us have lived at some time in our lives here, many of which still stand and provide shelter for island families), metal roof on rafters, pier blocks and simple plumbing and electrical service. Yet building codes do not allow us to build economical homes any more. This can change. This being the case, my lone voice is not what matters. Nor should these many new and onerous rules regarding vacation and farm experience rentals, or increasingly costly building code requirements be enacted by a county council or administrative staff. These must be placed for public vote, if we are to preserve any notion that we are a democratic society, and that our laws and rules are the preference of the majority of persons, rather than a few in governmental positions that pretend to know what is best for, and desired by, the people of the County and State of Hawaii. Indeed, it is nothing short of an egregious dereliction of the duties of council members to ignore the clearly expressed positions of their constituents. I therefore recommend that Bill 121 be rejected, and instead placed for public vote, pertaining to both STVR and farm experience operations, as well as review of recent building code requirements that are causing economical homes to have become impossible to construct. Council members, you are commissioned with a kuleana to act in accord with the wishes of the statisical majority of constituents. We have communicated overwhelmingly that you are to reject Bill 121. Therefore, please do so, and reject this attempt to impose detrimental restrictions on short-term vacation rentals. Su witted by, Chuck Barker Principal, Kuleana Mortgage LLC