2018-09-20 Leeward Exh B (Bill 108 re Short-term Vacation Rentals)

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NATALIE: Aloha — UNGER: Aloha. NATALIE: — Chair Unger, Mayor Kim, Commissioners. My name is Natalie and I’m from Kona, and I’m sharing a maybe slightly different perspective than we’ve heard so far. I’m an employee of a local management company along with 30 other employees of my company. I’m also here representing my husband who is a small business owner. And all of our livelihoods and our families rely on the vacation rental industry to continue to enjoy living life in Kona, and so it is important to us that the industry is able to grow as it has, and at least sustain. And so my concern kind of falls in line with what Chair Unger mentioned earlier, which is that there is this sense that this, all this hard work is going toward regulating when it may in fact kind of prevent or inhibit this industry and the growth, or at least sustaining what we’ve got at this point. And so I’m just here to ask that we consider that – it seems that the aim of the bill is to protect the local community, and from where I sit, my husband and my fellow coworkers, it may only be at our detriment, if we prevent future vacation rentals from coming to enter existence – so what I’m asking is to consider, when it comes to the nonconforming piece, that there may be some communities where perhaps the local CC&Rs are already addressing and allowing for short-term vacation rental, nonconforming licenses could be applied for beyond just what are grandfathered. If we only allow the properties that are in those nonconforming areas to be grandfathered in, then the growth in those areas will cease and many of the people I’ve mentioned will be affected, and personally. So that’s what I’m asking for to be considered as you guys move forward. I absolutely believe that regulation is important; I just would like to see it done in a way where it protects the local folks like myself that are employed in this industry. So, thank you for your time. R. THOMPSON: Aloha. My name is Rick Thompson and I live in Kailua-Kona. I specifically want to address the nonconforming permit. And first of all let me just begin by saying that I’m not in favor of trying to take livelihood away from anybody, but I’m here to tell you that my peace and joy in my home has been taken away from me because of managers and owners that are not living up to the standards that are here, and that’s not to paint everybody here with that brush. So I’d just like to say just a few things. Number one is this, is that people that are in running these businesses currently in either agriculture or, zone A or RA, are currently running illegal businesses; they are currently illegal. And if anybody can tell me I’m wrong about that, I’m open to hear it, but as I understand the law, they are currently illegal. So by now offering them the opportunity to have a nonconforming permit, we are going to reward them for having broken the law, and I don’t believe that that’s right. Number two is that every house, if you go to our tax department for property tax, it gives all of the details on every house that’s here in terms of square footage, how many bedrooms it has and all that kind of thing. Well, some people, I can only speak for the one next door to me, is misrepresenting the number of bedrooms, and they are now saying that every mop closet and 25 EXHIBIT B