HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0595.062 2020-2022 t
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From: Richard Rocker
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2022 5:18 PM
To: Council Testimony CO=CLERK
Subject: Waikoloa Time share C 0UNTY0 F HAlA 'I
RECEIVED
Ti .M. B522 l3 7
Dere is my testimony Date PF
This is a bad deal
bad for the community
bad for the island
bad for the residents
Timeshares in Waikoloa Beach Resort
I read with great dismay that the developers of Waikoloa Beach Resort want to turn 9 holes of open-space golf into
1,164 timeshare units and 25 high-end single family lots, claiming that golf play is down and their 36-hole course
unsustainable. These courses were created as an amenity to lure mainland retirees to their resort. They were never
intended to be sustainable and now that they are running out of land to develop, the developers who are very
financially successful are crying poor-mouth to create this bait and switch.
Luckily this will trigger new SMAs and I assume allow for public comment.
Of all the types of residential development Timeshare is the absolute worst for our island and for us, its residents.
These units will be developed by Waikoloa Land Company for its owner a partnership between Transcontinental
Corporation of Santa Barbara, California, the Bass Family of Fort Worth,Texas and ORIX Corporation headquartered
in Japan, and Hilton Kingsland 1 LLC, incorporated in the State of Delaware and headquartered in Virginia.
Consequently the profits generated from the sales of the units in the project will not stay here on the Island.
Unlike single family homes and/or condominiums which are occupied only part of the time,timeshare units are
typically occupied 50+weeks a year.To make matters worse, timeshare owners usually stay only 7 days. This is the
least expensive way to "own" something in Hawaii, and those who buy are likewise not the affluent tourist that
Hawaii Tourism Authority states they want to attract. They are different from visitors who stay at our already
existing hotels, and similar to short term vacation renters who now crowd our residential neighborhoods, parks and
beaches and deplete our grocery store shelves.
In general they arrive on Day 1 and go from the airport directly to Costco and stock up so they don't have to eat in
our restaurants or support our local economy. For the next 5 days they drive around our already overcrowded roads
to "see the sights" before they leave on Day 7. They often use a disproportionate share of our limited resources as
compared to the average hotel guest as they know and go to all our favorite spots with little regard for those of us
who live here, because they feel entitled as "owners" of their timeshare week.
When I read Tim Richard's comments that "the plan makes sense", I had to ask:To Whom? I would wager a
significant sum of money on the fact that Tim's constituents, people like me, who are spending more and more of
our lives sitting in traffic in our little cross-roads town of Waimea emphatically do NOT support more of this never-
ending tourist development on our island. I would like to see a survey to see who, in fact, actually supports this type
of growth. 2,
Coa� , No,
Ref, To:
1 Ref. Doge 0 � n�
With all the governmental talk of sustainability and diversified agriculture, it's time to put our money where our
mouths are instead of chanting the mantra that mass tourism is our only option. We have now seen what it is like to
put all our economic eggs in one basket and then have it tipped over by forces that we can neither control nor
predict.
Watching our country and state try to come to grips with the spread of the Coronavirus, I am left with the
impression that its more of a WHEN than an IF that the supply chain that provides us with 90+% of our food is
broken. And when the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan we will be left scrambling for a lot more than toilet
paper.
Sincerely
Ric Rocker
Waimea