HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0417.002 2020-2022 t
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From: Provision Solar
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2021 11:34 AM
To: Council Testimony
Cc: Emily Ebert; Monica Beltran del Rio
Subject: Written Testimony- Issuance of PV Permits
To whom this may concern:
ProVision Solar is requesting action on the issuance of Photovoltaic permits. It is our understanding that the County
has been going through an influx of changes to better serve the community and in converting to a new electronic
system while a new building code is being released, delays are to be expected. We appreciate the efforts that are being
put into effect for efficiency, we must however express our frustration with the slowdown of permit issuance as it has
taken a toll on our business.
We have been patiently waiting for the issuance of permits for over two months now. In order to effectively run our
small business, we rely on the support of our local county.
Historically, standard residential solar electric permits have been issued to us within 2-4 weeks. Sometimes they
would take longer, but 2-4 weeks was average. Since the new system has been implemented over two months ago,
we have not received any permits submitted on EPIC.
We cannot collect payment from our clients until we have permission from the county to install. This heavily impacts
our cash flow. We cannot order materials, cover our expenses, service our clientele or plan a future for our staff and
company because we do not have an idea of a timeline or expectations.
This also impacts us in being able to keep our crews fully employed. In today's environment, it is hard to find a
dependable employee. We need to be just as dependable towards our staff as they are to us.
We are hesitant in the fact that there has been such poor communication in guiding us through these changes and
correcting us when applications are completed incorrectly. We have 25+permits that were submitted through EPIC
since the beginning of August. We continue to submit applications on a day-to day level and we are concerned that
we may have submitted something incorrectly and will then have to re-submit all our applications. Revisions will add
an additional amount of time to our timeline in receiving permits. Comm. No. 411
Ref. o:
1 Ref, mote OCT - 5 2021
Lastly, in preventing the installation of PV on the Hawaii island, we are only hurting our efforts in supporting the
sustainable future that we as a community strive for. fi
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We would like to request expectations for processing timeline from submission to issuance for PV permits. We ask
that permits be processed in order of submittal so that we can be notified of what is expected of us so that we can
serve our clients, staff and community. We would also like to request deadlines be created. We will follow all
procedures but in having a timeline, we can readily prepare ourselves.
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Mahalo for your attention to this matter,
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ProVision Solar
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