2017-05-15 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case

Home

be pono. The best option for this land is to avoid this development and to deny the SMA permit. So please pass that on to the Leeward Planning Commission. I started a petition on Change.org to show the public’s desire that the Leeward Planning Commission deny this permit. And as of today, I believe there are 1,100 and 20, excuse me, 1,123 people – that may have changed in the last few minutes – who have signed it and it’s gaining momentum every day. Four hundred and twelve comments were also submitted with these signatures. And all those were submitted by email to Jeff Darrow on Friday, so you have those comments there, and I also have a hard copy here, if you need it, that’s yours. Since becoming involved in this issue, I’ve talked to hundreds of people about the potential of this development at Kahalu‘u. I have not encountered one single person who is in favor of it. I have spoken with Hawaiians, local people born and raised, visitors, snowbirds, rich, poor, scientists, lifeguards, you name it, not one person has supported it. It doesn’t make any sense to grant this permit when just across the street, as has been talked about already, part of the same cultural landscape the Kamehameha Schools Kahalu‘u Ma Kai project will be spending millions of dollars to restore the landscape. Just two years ago the SMA permit was granted by the Leeward Planning Commission to have them tear down the hotels and the massive infrastructure in the name of restoring the cultural landscape and providing a site for cultural education for the community. Many community members – I believe it was over 40 – testified that that area was so culturally important to them, and that those developments never should have been put in place in such an important area. This makes no sense and there needs to be consistency in the permitting process, and the Planning Commission needs to hold Kamehameha Schools and KIC accountable through this permitting process. There are many egregious flaws and inadequate analysis of the potential environmental and cultural impacts in the studies and reports submitted for this development. The FEA and associated subcontracted reports, including all the archaeological documents, are inadequate for assessing extremely detrimental impacts this project would bring. As you are probably aware, this project falls within the Kahalu‘u National Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been since 1974. And the reports for this project state that a portion of the property is within the District. This is also what all the correspondence with the State Historic Preservation Department notes. However, that is incorrect; the map that the assumption is based on incorrectly plots the boundaries of the National Historic District. The text in that nomination form states that the Kahalu‘u District encompasses the seaward half of the Kahalu‘u ahupua‘a and a small portion of Keauhou ahupua‘a. When plotted on Google Earth and/or in GIS, the lat/longs provided on the nomination from show that the boundary of the National Historic District encompasses the entire project area. So, they have not done their analysis adequately. And I have those maps, if you would like to see them as well. The impact to Kahalu‘u County Park would be tremendous. Tourist-driven development on this island continues to rely heavily on county resources, such as beach parks, without providing reciprocal resources to maintain them. The development will add hundreds of people per day to Kahalu‘u Beach Park, which is already in a dilapidated state. The pond wall has not been repaired since the last high wave that damaged it, and you’ve already heard all about the sewage. The surf 16 2017-05-15 Public Testimony on SMA 16-063 Contested Case