SC Minutes 19December2016 DRAFT - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

from 2004 or even before, working on the project with the Hakalau gym trying to get farmers to be able to process their vegetables or their farm produce there. Also, working with the old Hakalau School to get it back into the hands of the people so we can use it for classes and looking at that whole area of Wailea — so that whole area, we are not forgetting about our farmers and our people. The Industrial -zoned areas don't have to be Industrial -zoned to be —for our people to survive and be sustainable. So, thank you for that and thank you for all the Committee has done. The people — we are so humbled. Thank you. Michael Johnson, representing himself: Ok, the—first of all, opening Wailea is — is good and it's not so good. It's good that you're opening up the school, cleaning it up and making it available for classes and education, things like that. It's not so good when the Hakalau gym is condemned and it'll cost millions of dollars to recreate. It's not so good for - a 2 -hour Food Share once a week isn't gonna support any farmers and - it supports a lot of Woofers and people, we need thing on a larger scale. We have dozens of farms right now losing a quarter to half of their crops because there is no processing. There is no zoning for processing, no warehousing. There's no facilities in —on Hamdkua coast to serve the farmers. This is an opportunity that we have to move forward economically in this area so our children can stay hereon this island and not move to L.A. These are high paying jobs. Food processing is a high paying job. Taking care of our equipment and welding is a high paying job. You can't do that in a Wailea School. You can't do that in a Wailea gym. You can't do that on someone's private property 'cuz they're not willing to put up the millions of dollars that it would take to create the warehouses. We have an opportunity now to work on a private, public adventure and make this happen in the next year. And to think that it can happen without your approval is not happening. /know that— I'm involved in this permitting process and it doesn't get approved. It's been going on for months because there's a controversy here. That's the excuse that we get from the Planning Department and it's — your decision is crucial to the development of this coastline and to keep our families here and to keep our children here, it has to happen. The approval has to happen. That's all — all I've got to say. Thank you. STEERING COMMITTEE REFLECTIONS: Steering Committee members were given the opportunity to reflect on the CDP process and their personal thoughts relating to the CDP. Ms. Gloor disclosed that the Planning Department has learned many lessons and will continue to find ways of improving the CDP process. Ms. Pahi'o expressed thanks for being able to be a part of the Steering Committee and stressed how important it is to continue to ask the right questions moving forward. She also shared thanks from Ms. Badua who had a difficult time stepping away from the Steering Committee because she wanted to make sure her beloved Hamakua was taken care of. She was able to do so because she trusted the other Steering Committee members and the decisions they would make. Mr. Neff thanked staff, former staff, the Steering Committee and their'ohana. When he thinks back to the first meeting, he wondered what he had gotten himself into. You have to be able to take care of your house before you can take care of anything else - he got involved based on that, he needed to take care of his community. He decided at that first meeting that he would base all of his decisions on the idea that what is good for the land is essentially good for the people. And so the Hamakua CDP Page 113