2012-57 SPACE SPP 1122 Amend - Laserfiche WebLink

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0 professionals and will generate essential revenue to support our community programs. • A weekly Farmers Market will support local farmers and artists with income and also provide a low but steady revenue source necessary to support our facility. • The Certified Kitchen will serve as a classroom for teaching school home economics and as small business incubator for small family food businesses, such as "Let's Go Pesto" and market vendors. A local cooperative will prepare dinner up to three days weekly (with home delivery, as a community service, focusing on seniors and to generate a small income. Facilities for community meetings and family events such as spiritual gatherings, weddings, memorials and birthdays will be provided as an affordable local community service. Existing permitted facilities for such events are either expensive or located in Pahoa, 14 miles away. Approval of this application to amend Special Permit #1122 will allow our organization to continue providing our community with a Self- Sustainable Community Arts Center and will further help to bring Hawai `i 2050 Sustainability Plan objectives into fruition. Our purpose is to provide inspiration and learned wisdom in a climate of economic downturn and increasingly scarce support from county, state and federal governments. It is worthy of note that in the Hawai `i 2050 Public Opinion Survey (2007) only 36.3% of Hawai `i residents believe the government will be effective in solving Hawai `i's problems. This indicates public support for organizations such as ours experimenting with ways to solve sustainability problems. As an IRS non - profit organization, we are specifically charged with the responsibility to provide leadership for community services such as these. In conclusion, we believe that the community facilities and services provided by our organization for the benefit of the public will save the County of Hawaii taxpayers many thousands of dollars annually. The County - operated Pahoa Recreation Center has far fewer activities and serves far fewer Puna residents than the SPACE facility. It cost $548,000 to build in 1975 (SPACE cost $385,000 in 2007) and the current monthly expense to operate the County facility is over $11,000 (SPACE is $7,000) with an average revenue per month of $300 (SPACE is $7,000). The Pahoa Recreation Center costs Big Island taxpayers about $128,000 annually while the SPACE facility costs taxpayers zero. As the spokesperson from the Dept. of Parks and Recreation stated `the Pahoa facility is not self - sustainable'. (Exhibit F) These facts clearly show why our SPACE facility is such an excellent demonstration model of a self- sustainable Community Arts and Educational Center and why it is important to approve this application. Members of our Puna Makai community, with very few exceptions, have signed petitions, written letters, attended meetings and lobbied to support our application because they believe that in the current economic climate rural communities like ours cannot rely on the County or State to provide these basic facilities and services. Hawaii General Plan policy section 12.3 (i) directs our County administration to "Coordinate recreational programs and facilities with governmental and private agencies and organizations. Innovative ideas for improving recreational facilities shall he considered." 14