2013-07-18 Leeward Exh B - Hualalai Partners

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Planning Department could envision something more fitting for this proposal before you, especially since it is surrounded on three sides by properties consisting of at least half an acre or more. We have met several times with Mr. Barrett and his family, and they are very nice people. But they tell us that they have to squeeze in smaller lots on their land in order to make a profit on their investment. Why should that be a factor when the result will be to lower our property values? Are you going to be dictated by someone who does not even live in Hawai‘i, or are you going to listen to the people who are already your constituents paying taxes and depending on you to do the right thing to keep Hawai‘i a desirable place to live? Thank you. BEAUDET: Mahalo, all of you. Commissioners, any questions or comments you want to share? Thank you again. I will now call the next set of six individuals: Kit Kurtz, Linda Horgan, Carol Fuller, Marie Aguilar, Virginia Tormey and Adegboyega OSun. I’d like to ask each of you to please raise your right hand. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth to this matter now before the Hawai‘i County Leeward Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: I do. BEAUDET: Thank you. If you could introduce yourselves from your right to the end, and then begin testimony at the far right. KURTZ: I’m Kit Kurtz. I live in Kona Orchards. HORGAN: Linda Horgan. I live in Hualālai Colony. FULLER: Carol Fuller, Kona Orchards. AGUILAR: Marie Aguilar, Hualālai Colony. OSUN: Adegboyega OSun, Kona Orchards. TORMEY: Virginia Tormey, Kona Orchards. BEAUDET: Thank you. Please begin your testimony. KURTZ: My family moved to Hawai‘i Island in 1919, and I have lived adjacent to this proposed development for about ten years. I’m a teacher in Hawai‘i schools, and definitely agree with the former testimony about the school impact. Every year we just have less money, it’s amazing. But I’m here today because I know that the Commission will uphold this mandate to protect the public interest. Exception should not be easily made. For example, in the testimony supporting the development, they said that the Planning Director interpretation that the parcel falls into the Urban Expansion portion of the General Plan, when clearly half of it does not. I know that that might have been an interpretation of awhile ago, but I think that we perhaps should reconsider that. These issues should not be left to the court to decide. As Judge Ibarra said in a recent decision against the Planning Department, he had some very good things to say; the director, and that was the former director, may not defer decision making with regard to public natural resource trust to another agency or to a future date. So every step along the way we need to consider everything. And he said the director as officer of the County has a constitutional duty to consider and protect Hawai‘i’s natural beauty and all its natural resources. And I think that applies to the Commission, too. 20 EXHIBIT B