HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0044.056 2020-2022 From: Robert Smith
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2021 11:59 AM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Testimony--tendo Kern as Hawaii County Planning Department Director
Subject: Testimony Against Zendo Kern as Hawaii County Planning Department Director
RECZrM
Dear Council Members, Time cx.rl,
Date JAN 0 4 2021
1 am Robert P. Smith, retired, and former Operations Manager for the US Fish and Wildlife
Service in the US flag insular Pacific, and former Administrator for NOAA's National Ocean
Service, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve. I am writing as a
private citizen of Volcano, Hawaii.
Mr. Zendo Kern has been nominated as Hawaii County Planning Director. I am writing in
strong opposition to this nomination.
I do not know Mr. Kern, but was involved in reviewing one of his Consulting Firm's
proposals in the summer of 2020. I have attached the cover sheet of the withdrawal of this
proposal, dated September 9, 2020. I urge council members and staff to look at the Planning
Department's file on this proposal, which was to convert portions of two, approximately 30-
acre parcels in the historic Volcano Farm Lots into a church camp. Citizens who live in
Volcano were incensed at both the proposal, and the disingenuous manner of Mr. Kern's
presentation.
In a nutshell, I am astonished at the level of misleading information in the application for
Special Permit filed by Mr. Kern's firm, and certain key ommissions of fact that would have
laid the church camp proposal bare as simply not possible withing the historic Volcano Farm
Lots.
I am urging you to do one simple thing before you move ahead with further consideration of
the nomination of Zendo Kern as Hawaii's Planning Director. Simply go to the Planning
Department, and ask to see the file on Special Permit Application (SPP 20-000217). What you
will see is a proposal to Mr. Michael Yee of Hawaii's Planning Department that is riddled
with untruths, half-truths, misleading statements, and poor research. In my former career, I
reviewed thousands of project proposals from Hawaii and all over the United States. This
submittal from Kern & Associates is perhaps the worst and most misleading proposal I have
ever reviewed.
Comm. No.
Ref. To: T
1 Ref. Date JAN 2021
One final note- I have no way of knowing whether Mr. Kern did not review the deeds to these
parcels or simply did not do the necessary research for such an expansive project as was
proposed. But the Volcano Farm Lots have protective covenants which are held in favor of the
State of Hawaii (controlled by the Board of Land and Natural Resources) that highly restrict
most uses on these properties unless uses are related to agriculture. I've enclosed examples for
your review. In other words, the proposed Church Camp could have never taken place without
13 LN 12 removing these covenants. Again, please look at the above-referenced Special Permit
file for all of the detail that cause me great alarm to proceed with Mr. Kern as County
Planning Dn*49�;" F",
Sincerely, Robert P. Smith (Enclosures)