COM 0964.179 2004-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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P.O. Box 248, 81-6581 Mamalahoa Highway, Keatakelcua, Hawaii 96750 8W323-2862 IF: 808-323-2584 www.grccnwe11farms.com FARMS SINCE 1850 M- Mr. Stacey Higa Chairman, Hawaii County Council Hilo, Hawaii November 24, 2006 Subject: General plan amendments for Important Agricultural lands Aloha and good evening. My name is Tom Greenwell and I reside at 81-6581 Mamalahoa Highway in Kealakekua. I am Vice President and General Manager for Greenwell Farms, Inc. and the youngest great-grandson in the family that has farmed and ranched our lands since the mid-1850's. I am here today to ask your consideration to remove the IAL designation from the portion of our lands below the 1000 foot contour on TMKs: 8-1-04:01,54, 74 & 75, as the Director has proposed for the lands of other family farms to the north of us. My Great-Grandfather, Henry Nicholas Greenwell, began farming soon after he acquired these lands in the mid 1850's. He grew oranges for export to California. Dry conditions and a blight forced an end to that venture in about 1867. The makai portions of these lands have to my knowledge only ever been used for periodic cattle grazing, when there was enough rain. We presently grow coffee, mac nuts, avocados and bananas on about 50 acres, as well as graze cattle on the balance of these lands. The productive portion of the lands is closer to the highway, where the soil is deeper and the rainfall more consistent. Coffee needs about 60 inches of rainfall to thrive, mac nuts about 50, Avocados 40 and bananas 60. The soil and rainfall maps show the 50" rainfall is at about the 1000' elevation. Productive farming below that elevation would require irrigation. The County DWS system provides our farm with sufficient water for housing, processing and retail operations, but not for irrigation. Comm. No. ` Ref. To: Ref. Date ~Y u V