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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0734.005 1998-2000 Mal tezzt- HAWAII ISLAND B &B ASSOCIATION, INC PO Box 1890, Honokaa, HI 96727 hibba @stayhawati.com RECEIVED _I October 17, 17, 2000 oate.____/ goo County Coundi /P -!'C Hawaii County Council Agenda 40th Session Committee on Planning In reference to: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING. CHAPTER 25, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (1995 EDITION), RELATING TO BED AND BREAKFAST ESTABLISHMENTS Dear Council Members, Last week the HIBBA Board on behalf of the Association wrote a letter in favour of this bill. We are in agreement with most of it as it now stands except for one item. We wrote our letter in favor of the bill despite our concerns on this item as we were frightened that recommending a change of wording might prolong the approval of the bill. We decided at that time that it would be better to approve it and have it pass rather than throw a monkey wrench in the whole thing and delay it even more. In retrospect and in talking amongst ourselves we feel we really must speak up about the limitations of the wording in item 1#13. Currently the wording limits the single family dwellings to a maximum of two and guest houses to one. We feel it would be less limiting for prospective Innkeepers who own parcels of land in which they may either in the past, present or future have been able to, or may be :. able to obtain building permits for more than the two single family dwellings Comm. Na File No.,_fi Z Ref. To Pip Ref. Date ' 17 M and or a guest house. We suggest rewording it to state instead "Bed and breakfast establishment" means any permitted single family dwellings and or guest houses in which overnight accommodations and only breakfast meals are provided to a maximum of ten guests, for compensation, for periods of less than thirty days." This will open it up to people who may have multiple permitted single family dwellings in existance now or may be able to get in the future as building codes may change. On another note: The planning commission rejected the elimination of the restriction of S bedroom. At the past 2 general membership meetings the consensus of our Association members was to leave it at 5 bedrooms. There is a category of Inn in which to place Innkeepers who have 6 or more bedrooms. Other than the # of rooms they are identical in their guidelines. The County definition of a hotel is 6 or more rooms. It is our understanding that this is recognized by the Real Property Tax Dept in determining our individual tax classification. The Hotel Resort Classification is one which we have fought hard to stay out of. We suggest that it might be better to leave this at the 5 bedrooms as suggested by both the Planning Commission and Planning Department. We would like to thank Curtis Tyler for the immense amount of time he has spent on this Bill as well as the rest of the Council members for their concerns in helping us to make the permiting of B&Bs a less difficult process by clearly defining the law. i,' , Colette Hirata Chairperson Hawaii Island B&B Association, INC