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<br />GINTER-MILLER: Okay, that’s fine.
<br />
<br />GIFFIN: All right? So, do I see Barbara DeFranco?
<br />
<br />DEFRANCO: Yes.
<br />
<br />GIFFIN: All right.
<br />
<br />DEFRANCO: Hi. Nice to see you all.
<br />
<br />GIFFIN: Hi. And you may begin your testimony.
<br />
<br />DEFRANCO: Thank you. I just want to thank you for all the work in this. And the idea of having
<br />agri tourism is very important to South Kona for sustainability for small farmers. And I, being one
<br />from Paleaku Peace Gardens, was here before you, too, with the special use permit, to do something
<br />similar except in addition to the tourism I wanted also to be able to do weddings and things. So I
<br />went through the special use permit, and it was great; the staff has been wonderful, and I learned a
<br />lot. And I really learned more about my neighbors than I knew before, and how we have to
<br />safeguard, you know, this. And I, I was in the midst of actually gathering together to have a
<br />meeting at Konawaena High School, involving the Planning Department, the Mayor, Kamehameha
<br />Schools and some of our farmers to talk about what is really allowed on Ag land and on
<br />Kamehameha Schools land to try to get us all together talking on it, when I sort of inadvertently
<br />came across that this was happening today. So I was just sort of, you know, I know that it’s been a
<br />long process and you’ve probably beat this little horse to death and now you’ve resurrected it again,
<br />but I’m concerned that there aren’t enough safeguards in this, only because I’ve been through it now
<br />that, you know, are there fences, are there septic systems, are they, do they have ADA, are -. You
<br />know, not everybody, without submitting the plan and having any kind of oversight, are not going
<br />to, you know, play nice, you know, and I’m sort of concerned. And I’m here representing, because
<br />I worked a lot with neighborhood watches, people that won’t come forward to speak, and they are
<br />afraid of even existing tourist things that are going on now, and have been intimidated by them, and
<br />they don’t want to say anything. So you have, and I know that they should, but, I mean this is, this
<br />is another thing I’m speaking for. People are very concerned about this going through without some
<br />more safeguards. You know, without a way for the neighbors to get back to you, you know, with -.
<br />Telling the neighbors is one thing, and having them talk to you or have them feel empowered
<br />enough to be able to say something that’s meaningful, that they feel like their voice is heard in that
<br />you’ll do something for them, you know. People come to these farms, they want to retire, they want
<br />their quiet, and they -. I’m just afraid that there’s not enough safeguards in the way that this has
<br />been revised. And I don’t think a lot of us have had enough time to really look at it ourselves.
<br />Thank you.
<br />
<br />GIFFIN: Thank you. Director?
<br />
<br />LEITHEAD TODD: This bill probably started in 2009, late 2009, when I was approached by the
<br />Hawai‘i Agricultural Tourism, it’s called HATA. And the concerns that they were bringing forward
<br />really had to do with the cost of a drainage study for small farmers; that if you weren’t going to
<br />build a new building, if you weren’t, you know, doing more stuff, why did you have to go and pay
<br />five to six thousand dollars to an engineer to get a drainage study. So that was where this started
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