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Pagc 1 of 3 <br /> Murashige, Laura <br /> . <br /> From: Whittington, Noelani ] <br /> Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 8'06 AM <br /> To: Koga, Pat; Aiello, Jeanette; Murashige, Laura <br /> Subject: FW: Resending testimony regarding proposed agtourism zoning <br /> here it is. Enjoy the holiday..... <br /> -----Original Message----- <br /> From: Kent Fleming [mailto:fleming@hawaii.edu] <br /> Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 6:28 AM <br /> <br /> To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us <br /> Cc: Murashige, Laura; Aiello, Jeanette; Koga, Pat; Whittington, Noelani <br /> Subject: Resending testimony regarding proposed agtourism zoning <br /> I regret that I will be unable to attend the hearing regarding agtourism zoning. I <br /> teach on the UH-Manna campus every Tuesday and Wednesday. <br /> First, I commend the County in its long and arduous struggle to develop <br /> appropriate zoning laws that will accommodate the rise of agtourism. Agtourism <br /> has been growing at a very fast pace in Hawaii, especially since the <br /> first "Agtourism in Hawaii" Conference in 1999. To foresee the problems <br /> associated with unplanned growth, one need only look at the problems in Napa <br /> today. Napa's agtourism has exploded over the past two decades in an <br /> environment where there was inadequate planning. Hawaii agtourism is in its <br /> infancy and will not be a mature industry until visitors start coming to Hawaii, not <br /> <br /> just for the beaches and golf but also for its agtourism attractions. (In other <br /> places around the world, such as Italy and Napa, people now visit for the <br /> agtourism.) <br /> So we do need regulation! But we need regulations that effectively help to retain <br /> the invaluable rural character of much of our state while allowing legitimate <br /> agtourism to prosper and grow. Unfortunately much of the current zoning <br /> regulation proposal fails to achieve this goal. This proposal does NOT <br /> accommodate agtourism as it exists today and as most of us would like to see it <br /> evolve. <br /> The core of the problem is Section 25-4-15. "Agricultural tourism", Sub-section <br /> (d) "Agricultural tourism shall comply with the following regulations:" I will focus <br /> on it, although I am sorry to say I also have many objections to other parts of the <br /> proposed legislation. <br /> (d) (6) states that gross revenues from agtourism shall not exceed 50% of the <br /> total gross revenue. That is an absurd requirement because it does not reflect the <br /> reality of agtourism. First of all it is almost impossible to calculate what <br /> percentage of gross comes from agtourism. As an economist I have tried for <br /> many years throughout the world to determine exactly what percentage of gross <br /> is from agtourism. I have now stopped asking the question, and I would suggest <br /> you do likewise. The question concerned me for academic reasons related to cost <br /> of production issues, but I cannot conceive of how such limitations would be <br /> related to good zoning. Z~o_~ <br /> Comm. No. L <br /> Ref. To: <br /> rte. Late <br /> 1 1/10/2005 <br /> <br />