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KERN: Thank you, Commissioner Au. Any other discussion from Fellow Commissioners? I've got a
<br />few points to add to it. For one, I think we need to have a bigger conversation about the General Plan
<br />for Puna and what we need to do to make amendments to that in the future, because it has always been
<br />a stifling issue with any development that comes into Puna. It's hard for it to conform to the General
<br />Plan, and I think we need to work on that. I mean, the population of Puna as a district has grown to the
<br />same size and outpacing the size of the Hilo population, population of Hilo now. So, I mean, it is
<br />growing. You know, we’re also faced with Highway 130 -- very, very dangerous highway, we all
<br />know that. And people ask me from the County perspective what can we do to help that situation now
<br />cause it's a State highway. So one of the things that I believe that we can do is we can allow some of
<br />the basic services and conveniences in some of these subdivisions like this. And this is an example of
<br />that where if the person did need to get some milk, or some toilet paper, or whatever, they don't have to
<br />go out to Highway 130 now and, you know, roll the dice. That’s good, it's good for the people. That's
<br />a safety issue. So I think that's positive.
<br />
<br />Looking at the Puna CDP, and I actually sat down and talked with the, with the chairman of the
<br />steering committee for the CDP, and he says the intention of the village center boundaries of the Puna
<br />CDP were to be floating. So it would allow it to happen. Cause we all, well, maybe not we all, but I've
<br />seen, I think a lot of us have seen that, you know, a lot of times these boundaries have gotten put
<br />around some of the large parcels in different subdivisions, and the owners of those don't have to do
<br />anything with them. They may never do anything with them. We may be here 50 years later and still
<br />sitting there. And in a way it's holding us hostage. So it's hard to find in Puna specifically and in these
<br />subdivisions the land that is consistent with GP, that's consistent with the Puna CDP, that has an owner
<br />that is willing to do it, and then to get community support. I mean those are, you know, at least four
<br />bits of criteria that's very challenging to find, and we've seen that before. And we’ve had to make
<br />challenging decisions to have things move forward in this way.
<br />
<br />So I feel in this regard this will serve the community. I don't think it will bring in very much, if any,
<br />additional traffic into the subdivision. I don't think people that would otherwise be going to Pahoa or,
<br />you know, the other Orchidland area would come up to go to the store. I’m sure it could happen
<br />occasionally. But I think it would really serve the people in the community, in the subdivision. And,
<br />again, if we’re keeping people off Highway 130, we’re doing good. And if we are mitigating the
<br />traffic issues in there, we’re mitigating the other concerns of the neighborhood. Like beer, and sorry
<br />Steve, but, you know, you can drive down Pahoa if you want to get some beer. You know, we’re
<br />doing our best to listen to all sides of it, and we’re trying to find compromise in this and still allow
<br />things to happen. Because if this doesn't happen there may not be any type of store in there for who
<br />knows how long. And, again, it's challenging to find the area in which to do it and then an owner that
<br />is willing to make that investment and take that risk to do it. And, I've, I support this. I think we've
<br />done a good job of mitigating some of the potential issues and, you know, we need to look at traffic
<br />calming measures around there for sure.
<br />
<br />And regarding children crossing the road, I'm a parent. I mean my kuleana as a parent is to make sure
<br />that my child knows, you know, not to cross the road, not to, you know, not to do this, and be mindful
<br />of that. The other day I was on my deck and my daughter is there walking around in my sister’s big
<br />boots, those big, you know, furry boots; and they’re huge. And she’s five years old, she’s walking
<br />around, she gets to the stairs, she takes the boots off, she walked down the stairs. And I told her
<br />“Alana, good job.” She says, “Yeah, daddy, I didn't want to maybe tumbledown the stairs.” So, I
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