2015-06-18 Leeward Exh A (REZ 15-187)

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have a tremendous amount of respect for Tommy Hickcox and this experience gave us a much better understanding and appreciation for the ‘āina. According to numerous sources, roughly 47 percent of Hawaii County is zoned Agricultural. Every day I drive on Māmalahoa through thousands of acres right up there that are zoned Agricultural that sit vacant and unused. In my opinion the reason so many acres of land within the Coffee Best sit idle is because it’s not economically viable. You can look at solar now; PV is now economically viable and it seems like everybody and their brother is getting solar panels. I believe that if, if farming and agriculture were economically viable in the area where we live, the slopes of Hualālai would be filled with activity. But they are not; the land sits idle. Queen Lili‘uokalani Trust has 1,188 acres in the Coffee Best near our home. While these lands sit vacant, while these lands that sit vacant may be being preserved for future agricultural use, it could also be argued that I and others have planted and grown more fruits on our small parcel than those with hundreds or even thousands of acres that sit idle. Coming from the mainland nine years ago, my initial and primary appeal to Hōlualoa was the, was the climate that allowed us to live without a furnace or an air conditioner and the views of the ocean. Since then we’ve come to appreciate the agricultural aspects of Hōlualoa. I, now I know how to cut bananas without ruining my clothes. We enjoy giving our apple bananas and white pineapples. Those seem to be the prized, prized fruit from up there. People, we love, we enjoy giving the stuff away. We never ground, before we moved here, we never ground our coffee; now we never have coffee without grinding it. We treasure Mr. and Mrs. Komo whose, her lot is to the south of us there, and their historical general store that is very close to us. We see how hard these coffee pickers work and the coffee shacks many of them live in. We respect these people and we are not trying to change, change them, the area or the culture. We love Hōlualoa and this is our home. We want our children and our grandchildren to live here. In conclusion, I believe we need to find balance in our efforts to protect the ‘āina and at the same time “promote the general welfare and prosperity of its people,” which is stated on the front page of the Planning Department website. I guess my question would be why can’t there be zoning that allows small residential subdivisions to co-exist within these large agricultural zoned areas? But the truth is, in my opinion, our property is already located within a residential subdivision that happens to be zoned Ag land. So approving our change of zoning request will have no negative impact on the existing cultural conditions within the Coffee Belt. It will have no negative impact on our neighbors. What approval will do is allow me and my ‘ohana to prosper together while living in very close proximity to each other in what we consider one of the most beautiful places on earth. I promise we will continue to treat the ‘āina with respect and teach our grandchildren the value of growing fruits and vegetables on our own land. We will continue to pay it forward and help others as we have been helped. The Director noted he “reserves the right to modify and/or alter this position based upon additional information presented at the public hearing.” And I hope my testimony today has helped, convinced you and the whole Commission here to issue a favorable recommendation. Thank you. 10 EXHIBIT A