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period of time prior to 2008 agricultural tourism operations, but there was no ordinance in place,
<br />so we treated them simply as a zoning violation; whatever they were doing was not permitted in
<br />the Code without a Special Permit. And so they were issued a violation and they were supposed to
<br />come in for a Special Permit.
<br />
<br />But in 2012 the Planning Director initiated an amendment to the Code, and these are all within
<br />your background report for reference. The Planning Director’s proposed amendment was
<br />presented before the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions who both forwarded a
<br />favorable recommendation to the Hawai‘i County Council. Councilmember Pete Hoffman
<br />introduced Bill 266, Draft 1, in 2012. Over the course of about one year, Bill 266 went through
<br />five different drafts. So what’s you have in your background is Draft 5. This was, you’ll hear the
<br />phrase “major” and “minor” agricultural tourism operations. This was presented through this
<br />proposed bill, and basically what they were trying to do was have a limit where, if you were under
<br />that limit, you would be considered a minor agricultural tourism, and it wouldn’t be as restrictive;
<br />if you are a major agricultural tourism operation, you had other hoops you had to go through, if
<br />you are a major. So —
<br />
<br />CARR SMITH: Excuse me, can I —
<br />
<br />DARROW: Sure.
<br />
<br />CARR SMITH: Is it defined somewhere what the major and minor is?
<br />
<br />DARROW: That would be in Bill 2- now, this is not adopted, but this would be in — let me pull
<br />that out.
<br />
<br />KEALOHA: Is it the 30,000 visitor count?
<br />
<br />DARROW: Yeah, well, let’s see, 09, I believe it is Planning Department Exhibit No. 4, and if you
<br />look in the definitions, you’ll see the definitions for agricultural tourism, minor and major. It’s on
<br />Page 2. So for minor it’s that they do not exceed 15,000 visitors annually, a maximum of 350
<br />visitors per week for a total not to exceed 15,000 visitors annually.
<br />
<br />So on January 8, 2013, the Council’s Planning Committee voted to forward a negative
<br />recommendation on Bill No. 266, Draft 5.
<br />
<br />Then on January 23, 2013, the County Council voted to postpone indefinitely Bill 266, Draft 5, in
<br />order to allow the Council to introduce its alternative bill, which is Bill 25, Draft 2 — and that
<br />would be your Exhibit No. 5 — in order to allow the Council to intro- I’m sorry, Draft 25, I’m
<br />sorry, the bill was presented before the Windward and Leeward Planning Commissions, who both
<br />forwarded a favorable recommendation to the Hawai‘i County Council. Bill 25, Draft 2, was
<br />postponed to the call of the chair on August 6, 2014, and was never taken back up at Council.
<br />
<br />So that springs us to today. Councilmember Margaret Wille had introduced Bill 227, Draft 2. It
<br />was sent down to the Planning Director, as well as the Planning Commissions for review. And
<br />what I’d like to do is briefly touch upon some of the key points of this bill. Bill 227, Draft 2,
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<br />EXHIBIT A
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