2016-06-02 Hearing Transcript - Mile Marker 12 SPP 16-189

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HEAUKULANL Good morning. ELLIS: My name's Graham Ellis. I've been a residence of the Big Island for 35 years, and 31 of those years have been in Puna. And, I ask that you give approval to the Special Permit application for 12 Mile Marker. It means a lot to the people of Puna. And, the people of Puna need 12 Mile Marker. In fact, they need a lot more organizations and groups like this that come here, not to make money actually, but to give to the community because just as Ehulani explained, for them and for many other organizations in Puna, this isn't about making money. This is about serving the community, improving the quality of life. And, they are challenged. And, they are challenged because under the present laws, they're treated as commercial organizations and have to come before you to get a Special Permit because as you may be aware, Puna is very deficient in terms of commercially -zoned properties. In fact, in lower Puna, once you get outside of Pahoa, there are hardly any commercially -zoned properties at all, which consequently means that any group like 12 Mile Marker has to come before you and get a Special Permit to operate legally. The consequence of that is that there are, in fact, have been and presently are, a multitude of organizations serving their community, working to improve the quality of life, but doing it illegally. They haven't been here yet. And, one of the reasons is demonstrated really by this applicant in that it took him five years with all of his resources, which are considerable, to actually get here today. What happens in the interim for him and for others is that they are serving the community but doing it outside of the law. This isn't something that people wish to do. It's a consequence of the tremendous burden that's put upon groups to complete the Special Permit process. It's expensive, it's laborious, and even with the help of the staff of Planning, it's a huge challenge. And, I think that is easily demonstrated through the fact that we have two of the long-standing organizations down in Puna. Kalani Honua have been seven years now in the process of amending their Special Permit, and I know SPACE has been over five years in the process. And, I ask for you to give consideration to this because Puna has changed a lot over the last 30 years. We've got the buildout of the subdivisions nowhere near complete yet, and we're already subjected to huge social, economic challenges there that are only going to increase in the future. And we've really haven't seen the State or the County come in and provide facilities and services for people there. So, it's really left to organizations like 12 Mile Marker to do that. And, they will be coming, hopefully, before you, and I ask that you and the Planning Department make it as easy as possible for them. Facilitate this process because we don't have the benefit of commercially zoned property where you can just go ahead and provide services without going through this Special Permit process. So, thank you for your support, and I hope you'll give that some consideration going forward. Aloha. 9 EXHIBIT A