2025-04-14 UNITE HERE Local 5 Testimony

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Ramon Velazquez of Savant Engineering, LLC was the author of the water usage calculation in the PD Background Report. He is licensed as a "Mechanical Engineer" in Hawaii but based in Florida. We are concerned about the discrepancy between the room types presented in the architectural drawings and the room types assumed in the water usage analysis. Savant Engineering's analysis is based on the hotel having the following room mix: Room No. of Max Total Type units occupants occupants Type A 33 2 people 66 Type B 62 4 people 248 Type C 5 6 people 30 Type D N/A N/A N/A Total 1 100 1 1 344 people We hand counted the following room types in architectural drawings in the Background Report and found the following: Room No. of Max Type units occupants Total Occupants Type A 25 2 people 50 Type B 12 4 people 48 Type C 51 6 people 306 Type D 12 ? ? Total 100 404 people There is a substantive discrepancy in all room types, especially the Type-C room count that allows 6 occupants per unit. Savant claimed only 5 Type-C rooms, while we counted 51 Type-C rooms in the drawings. And the engineering analysis didn't even recognize the existence of Type-D rooms. Our analysis shows 60 more people than the Savant Engineering calculation without adding Type-D occupancy limit. Even assuming Type-D allows only 2-person maximum occupancy,that would mean at least an extra 84 people for new grand total of 428 occupants.The water analysis under-counted occupants by 24.4%, while there was only a 4.4% margin between the entitled water allocation versus estimated usage. Using Savant's assumed "amenity usage" of 25gpd per occupant and in-room usage of 32.62gpd per occupant,the additional 84 people would add: — An extra 2,100gpd for amenity usage — An extra 2,740 gpd for in-room water use. Combined,the additional 84 occupants would add up to new grand total of 25,862 gallons per day. That would be 4,840gpd or 23%more than Savant's estimated water usage of 21,022gpd considered in the SMA permit. The project would exceed the DWS allotment of 22,000gpd by 3,862gpd, or 17.6%. The State of Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management said in its October 19, 2023 letter to the Planning Department that although water commitment and facility fees had been paid already, it still had "concern on whether DWS can meet the additional demand of 22,000gpd for this proposed project".