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

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it a worthwhile venture. But I have no desire or intent to sell what we grow; it will be given away freely to others as it is now. While our property may be classified as Important Agricultural Land, I can tell you the soil on our property is far less than desirable in many areas. There are shelves of solid blue rock on our property. According to the report, the soil there is rated C, or Fair, and E, Very Poor, by the Land Study Bureau Detailed Land Classification System. In addition, the USDA Soil Survey stated this type of soil is used primarily for grazing and orchards. This is one of the reasons why hydroponics interests me. Grass grows now where we would like approval to subdivide. The Director also discusses, and Christian spoke about it, about the Coffee Belt and most of coffee is grown on five- to ten-acre parcels, with a significant amount of new coffee planted in fields of twenty acres or more. Our mauka neighbor, Bob Trubell, he planted approximately one acre of coffee about six years ago, and about, what was it, two, three years ago the coffee, the beetle borer became an issue, and two years ago Bob cut down all of his, all of his coffee trees. So I don’t have any desire to grow coffee, but I support the people out there that do by buying theirs. The Director also addresses his concern that my zoning could set a precedent should other property owners desire similar changes. So mine is only one of three parcels on, up in Keopu Heights that is not, that is not part of the Keopu Heights Neighborhood Association, so by that we are not bound by their restrictions, their CC&Rs. So I believe that the CC&Rs already keep them from subdividing. But most of, ours are the only three lots that are rectangular in shape; all the other ones that are part of the Keopu Heights Neighborhood Association are basically all three-acre square parcels at the top, those fifteen. And what they did was they put their houses, which I would have done the same thing, right in the center of the parcel. So I seriously doubt any of those people are going to try to subdivide their lot because they already have the house right in the center of the parcel; they would almost have to tear down their house to subdivide it to make it useful. And just to the south of mine there is, like I said, there is, even if I split, even if you would give me permission to split mine now, my parcels would be no smaller than the ones already adjoining mine. We’ve already spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours working to get where we are today in this change of zoning application. I believe the lengthy and difficult process and the related expenses already deters most people from submitting an application. But I am an optimist and I believe this is worth our time and our effort. I think it’s worth the, it’s worth our efforts and we have a lot at stake here, I mean, your decision today is very, very important to us. I understand and agree with protection of important agricultural lands as stated in the General Plan and the Director’s recommendation. I’m not someone who wants to pave paradise and put up a parking lot. In 2012 I was awarded the Puala Award for Environmental Awareness by the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce for our reconstruction efforts after the tsunami at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. I’m a commercial general contractor. There we worked very closely with Tommy Hickcox who is president of Ahuena Heiau, and Tommy was very patient in teaching us the history, the culture and the protocol to follow while dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami, and trying to repair the beach and the rock walls and all the area out around the heiau and all that. We learned about iwi, and the whole new aerie was built to intern those in that. So we 9 EXHIBIT A