2017-01-19 Leeward Exh A (Bill 227 Draft 2 re Agricultural Tourism)

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Without strong enforcement language and clearly defined funding for enforcement as well as rules suggested by the Sierra Club and others, Bill 227 would make rural and agricultural lands open to continued and possibly increased abuse. Please do not pass this or any ag tourism bill that doesn’t meet that criteria because, honestly, no ag tourism bill is better than a bad one. Mahalo for the time. I appreciate your work. UNGER: Thank you. Commissioners, are there any questions for the testifier? Ma’am, if you want to ask some questions. CARR SMITH: Thank you. Thanks for your testimony. I’m just wondering, what is your ag- related business in Kona? PALMA-GLENNIE: I have a landscape nursery and I’m a landscape designer. CARR SMITH: Okay. PALMA-GLENNIE: So I’ve had that for 30, at least 30 years. CARR SMITH: And you, do you consider that an ag tourism business? PALMA-GLENNIE: No. I don’t have tourists coming and, no, but my neighbors have attempted to do that and, anyway, yeah, I don’t — CARR SMITH: So with your business, would you want to be limited to a certain number of visitors or customers per day? PALMA-GLENNIE: Well, I think customers are different than visitors. In, for my understanding, State Ag Laws, when I sell plants, I generally deliver them, but I have had probably a total of six different landscapers who I’ve known, because, I’m, you know, we are very, we are private, we don’t want a lot of people coming up to our property or my neighbors because we share a driveway. We have a shared easement, and I think all of us have, except for my one neighbor, have been quite respectful of that. So I only have ever had people who I’ve known for years come and pick up plants. As far as limiting my customers I really don’t think that’s the question; I think that the question is how many people are going to be, you know, close to my home. And our houses are wide-open; screens, security is based on, you know, knowing people and trusting people. And when my neighbors had their so-called ag tourism garden parties down the hill, there were about, it’s about 500 feet from me, and I could hear everything, I mean, they had a lot of things going on. They had tour buses on the driveway; we have a little tiny easement, I couldn’t even get home. But the thing is that I’ve seen this happening on many different properties, including my friends who did go through the legal process to stop the ag tourism across the street from them and their shared driveway. And like I said, they, even the people there built more and more structures, they kept building more structures and they kept renting them out and they kept having bigger and bigger events, and none of it was, they could call 4 EXHIBIT A