HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0493.094 2000-2002 MICHAEL MATSUKAWA
ATTORNEY AT LAW
TERRITORIAL CENTRE, SUITE 201
75-5751 KUAKINI HIGHWAY V = ~ ~ j I ~
KAILUA-KONA, HI 96740
TELEPHONE NO. 18081 329-1385
FAX NO. 18081 329-0512
July 23, 2002
Mr. Christopher Yuen
Planning Director
County of Hawaii
101 Pauahi Street, #3
Hilo, HI 96720
RE: HELLO KEAHOLE STATION SITE
GENERAL PLA~< G°16, KALAOA, NORTH KONA
Dear Mr. Yuen:
Thank you for your letter on this subject. My clients
°want to make it clear that county officials have tried to justify
„putting this site into an Urban expansion area for unjustified
:.reasons.
1. First, planners told the public that the
General Plan LUPAG map change was an error (Kealakehe
Intermediate School meeting).
2. Second, planners then told the public that the
change was to conform to a prior Director's
interpretation (King Kamehameha Beach Hotel), the Court
ruling in Civil 96°017K notwithstanding.
3. Third, planners now tell the public that tr.Q
HELLO site is an "island" of Conservation district land
and should be urbanized as a matter of sound planning.
The problem here is that the State told HELLO for sound
:planning HELLO should change its land from Conservation to Urban
-:back in 1993. HELLO refused and wanted to keep its land as an
itisland," no matter what state planners wanted in order to get a
CDUP by default.
Now, HELLO is being forced by the BLNR to do what HELLO
-was told to do nine years .ago and after nine years of litigation
-that has proven that the State was correct from the start.
l~
mss, Z3~~>r 1 ~ Q
IM IChIA~L J. I~ATSUKAWA
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Mr. Christopher Yuen
July 23, 2002
Page 2
Why should the County now accommodate HELLO at this late
date? We believe HELLO should be forced to live with the
consequences of its actions (which completely disregarded the
public interests and which forced the public to put things right at
their sole expense and with no su~aport from county officials).
Changing the LUPAG map for this area to Urban Expansion is a "slap
in the face" to the public_
Your philosophical view of what is appropriate ignores
the harsh reality of the harm that HELLO has inflicted on the
community. Any effort to accommodate HELLO under these
circumstances is improper, especially since county officials tried
to help HELLO avoid the federal air pollution laws in 1998 (which
led to litigation), did nothing to enforce its General Plan goal to
diversify generation sources and to promote alternatives and
refused to intervene in agency proceedings as a representative of
the public at large.
In short, the County has no standing to emerge out of the
dark after nine years and try to be a "player" in the field of
electric generation which the County left to private citizens to
advocate on their own for nine years. Having elected to abdicate
its responsibility to the public, the County should stay out of
this field. Thank you.
Yours truly,
Michael J. Matsukawa
MJM: ~ f f~131\binr\Yuen.ltt
xc: ~obby Jean Leithead°Todd
Curtis Tyler
Land Use Commission