HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0597.006 1996-1998 November 19, 1997
RECEIVED
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John Santangelo, Chairman p,,~ y
Hawaii County Housing Agency "'"~'~--~-L` i~~'""""'"
Re: Bill for an Ordinance to Amend the Hawaii County Code Relating to
an Affordable Housina Policy for the County of Hawaii
Honorable Chairman Santangelo and Members of the Committee:
I am Fred Galdones, Division Director for the ILWU, representing more
than 6,000 active and inactive members who are also members of the
community at-large. The majority of our membership are in the tourism
industry and employed in the South Kohala and Kona districts.
I would like to express my appreciation to the Chair for providing me
with a copy of the housing needs study yesterday at 4:30 p.m. With
all the available time and effort that I was able to muster,
unfortunately, I was not successful in reading the entire material nor
to make an analysis of the needs for affordable housing. Therefore, I
am proposing that this matter be tabled again to allow sufficient time
for me and anyone in the general public to receive a copy of the study
for their review.
We have members residing in areas from Mountain View through Waimea
and Kohala who travel to work at the hotels in the South Kohala
district. There are two hundred sixty-five (265) boarding the County
bus from Hilo, thirty (30) from Honokaa and fifty-five (55) from
Kohala on a daily basis. Would they be willing to buy a home closer
to their workplace if they were given an opportunity to purchase an
affordable house and lot? Were they included in the survey? Will the
housing needs be met if a prison is built in Ka'u? These are some of
the concerns that we have. We are not against changing the present
formula but we do not know what the new formula should look like
without more time to review the study.
In relation to Section 11-8, Effect on Existing Requirements, we
object to the proposal to re-assess prior affordable housing
requirement that were part of the conditions for permitting approval.
The affordable housing requirement was part of the global approval and
it should remain in effect. Amending the requirement at this time
would dismantle the total application and have an impact on other
conditions that were part of the application.
The provision for developable land should spell out that this land
will be set aside for affordable housing units.
Thank you for allowing us this opportunity to have our concerns heard
and hope that you will give our request your full consideration.
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