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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0939.018 2004-2006 Murashige, Laura From: Bill Zabolski [zabolski@hawaii.rr.com] Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 6:14 PM To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: Testimony Against the Jacoby Development Plan 2005 JUL 17 PM 5 '.7 Importance: High C-1 I, Linda J.Zabolski am against General Plan 4-19-06 and Resolution 383-06, for the following reasons: As owner of Captain Zodiac Rafting Adventures, located at Gentry's Marina in Honokohau, I have personal concerns about this proposed marina. However, I have spent a great deal of time talking to members of the local boating (recreational and commercial) community and the Native Hawaiian Community. The general consensus is that this development, as being proposed by Jacoby at the present time, is definitely NOT in the best interest of the community. My husband, Bill, and I bought Captain Zodiac 3 years ago, and we were not present at the 2003 meetings with Jacoby and the Land Board. However, including the 9/23/05 Land Board meeting, we have been present at several formal presentations by Jacoby, their PR Firm, Current Events, and David Tarnas. We actually were contacted by Current Events and had a one on one meeting with Ross Wilson, David Tarnas, and Jacoby's Vice President, Hilburn Hillestad, V.P. of Environmental Affairs for Jacoby. We are being "courted" as a desirable marine oriented tourist business for their new marina development. No one can deny that our existing small boat harbor is lacking in many ways. It is substandard in size and maintenance by the State. Even with hundreds of thousands of dollars that the DLNR receives each month from the 3% gross receipts of all commercial boat operators, not one dime is put into the upkeep of our local facilities. Instead, the hard-earned money seems to disappear into the "black hole" of the general funds in Honolulu. The public boat ramp at Honokohau is in a deplorable state, overcrowded and needs maintenance, there is a waiting list for boat slips (there are boats for sale, but no place to put them), and even the docks used by the paying year-round tenants of Gentry's become unavailable when visiting boats from other islands come and pay Gentry's a temporary fee for overnight stays. With this said, one would think that a "new marina" would be a great solution. The truth is that there are many "red flags" about the proposed marina. The first being that the marina, per the Jacoby plan, offers NOTHING to 85% of the local boating community - recreational or commercial. Since the majority of boaters trailer their vessels, the Jacoby plan does NOT include a boat ramp, a parking lot for vehicles and trailers, stacked storage, and sufficient marine support. The new marina, per the DLNR stipulations to Jacoby, will have 800 boat slips, accommodating vessels 25-30 ft. in length. That, in itself, is ridiculous. Too many boat slips (compare this to the two hundred some-odd boat slips in Honokohau) and too small a length (most people with a 25-30 foot boat would use a trailer). This "lagoon" would be accessed by the same tiny harbor entrance as Honokohau, would use the same fuel dock, and tax all the existing resources of Honokohau. Honokohau is the only haul-out for three islands. So what we have, is in essence, a 5-star intercoastal Florida-type marina, sitting next to a slum of a harbor. The "have" and the "have-nots". The 2 sides of the tracks - the existing, declining boat harbor for locals, and the new deluxe marina for.... who exactly? Oh, I forgot the most important factor about this development - the 1800 "time-share" units and the 800 room resort hotel. It is this fractional housing that is the cog turning the entire Jacoby wheel. They need a marina in order to make their time-shares "ocean front', because they must build on a set-back of several hundred yards from 22pp the coastline. Comm. No.~ Mr.Hillestad told Bill and me directly, that our kind of business Ref. To~retrehrf 1 Ref. Dote was what they wanted in the marina, because our tours would be bringing through potential buyers for their time-share units. That is their bottom line. So, let's talk about the cultural aspect of the land. They were very smart and sneaky when they brought in Native Hawaiian consultants from the Hilo side to question local families 3 years ago about the cultural value of the land. They never said that the land was to be developed for a time-share resort. Instead, the questions were vague, and therefore, what was accomplished was that this is now being presented as testimony that the Native Hawaiian Community has given the "green light" to this project. Totally false. Oh, they are planning a small canoe club landing inside the project - that will cover cultural needs. Environmentally, Jacoby, with decades of strip mall and shopping center developments, professes to understand the sensitivity of this land and coastline. Their claim to environmental fame is "Atlantic Station" - a commercial development that they built on an old steel mill site. In other words, a toxic waste site. Of course, they got accolades from Greenpeace for cleaning up a toxic waste site. Let us not compare urban Georgia to Kona. Home to a resident pod of spinner dolphins and honus, Honokohau's main entrance from the green buoy, will be inundated with boat traffic. Oh, Jacoby people are supposedly here monitoring the traffic every day. I have to mention that 800 more boats means maybe some of them will be here for sport fishing. Just what the Kailua-Kona Coast needs, more depletion of its' waters and marlin and ahi and onu. Let's not forget the fresh water feed to Honokohau. Will that be affected by the blasting and dredging of the new lagoon? When asked that question directly, neither Mr.Hillestad or David Tarnas had a sufficient answer. The good news for the State and/or county is that the sewage treatment plant( sitting smack dab in the middle of this land)- is malfunctioning, smelly, and pouring brown into the ocean -will be fixed by Jacoby so that they can build their time-shares and hotel. So, why not have someone else come in and pay for fixing their problem -what a deal! Traffic, let's talk about that for a minute. By the time the Queen K highway widening project is finished, Jacoby plans on commencing to tear up the makai side, right in the middle of the most congested bottleneck - Hinalani to Palani. Whatever relief will come from the widened highway, it will be negated when 2-3 thousand more cars are going in and out of the "new marina, resort". Never mind the construction phase, which will create havoc, as well. Oh yeah, I forgot, HHL is supposed to let Jacoby bypass Kealakehe Parkway and continue on to Kuakini Highway in old industrial. Maybe they will, maybe they won't - HHL won't even let the County put a left hand turn signal in at Makalapua Shopping center off Palani Road - have they really agreed to Jacoby's plans? Another disturbing piece of news is that Jacoby plans to call their project the something something Village and they have stated that they plan on having buses bring tourists from the pier on cruise ship days directly to their shopping complex/marina/time-share resort. Why are we bothering to support the Kailua-Village merchants in revitalizing the village? Let's continue to build nicer and bigger and more convenient shopping districts, so that our existing merchants have very little chance of succeeding. Competition is healthy, right? Sure, it is, but not when new businesses come in and attempt to take away the client base from our existing core merchants that are struggling to be successful. Once again, the community feels as though it has been sold out by the State and Hawaiian Homelands. The last thing that the community wants is a hotel and more time-shares on this land. Improve and expand the existing harbor and forget the fractional housing - that seems to be the overwhelming opinion. Respectfully yours, Linda Zabolski, C.E.O. Captain Zodiac, Kona 2