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Murashige, Laura
From: MKEABANANA@aoLcom
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 6:10 PM ~-~U7 ~~L~L ~ ~ ~ft~1 ~ ~
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us ~
Subject: Re Bill 51, Draft 5 ,
Richard Ha
421 Lama St
Hilo, HI 96720
We farm 600 acres of banana and hydroponic vegetables at Pepeekeo.
There are two items in Bill 51, Draft 5 that will adversely affect farmers large and small on
the Hamakua coast.
The first is the definition of "development" on page 9.
[{~j] "Development" means any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading,
paving, excavation or drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials
Normal agricultural operations could be included under the definition of "development" and
that could trigger reporting and permitting procedures not required at the present time. This
will cost farmers time and money.
The second area of concern is on page 25
(6)
Within areas where thegrade of the natural elevation of
the
around surface prior to
cons ruction exceeds ten oercent~fllling,grad~~and ather d ve o ment which may i°i°crease
flooding or erosion hazards shall be prohibited unless a professional civil engineer licensed in
the State of Hawaii certifies that the development will contain its own runoff and not increase
floodine or erosion in other areas. Creation of impermeable surfaces on such slo~ne areas will
be limited to no more than forty percent of the total land area of any lot or proposed new
subdivision. A~measures to be implemented in order to revent or decrease run-off or erosion
shall be clearr~ shown or_described on the eradin~or infrastructure construction plan.
On the Hamakua coast, many slopes exceeds 10%. If farmers fall under this rule, we will not
be able to cultivate large portions of our land.
Also, during intense rainfall, the ground becomes saturated very quickly, sometimes in less
than an hour, and the whole area takes on the characteristic of an impermeable surface as
rain continues. But, it moves laterally very quickly, towards the streams and rivers. That is
why the ground dries up so quickly after a rainstorm.
Gomm. No. l17~i • /ZG
Ref. To: ~ressaess t~ 1MF~
Ref. Date,3
7/10/2007
Page 2 of 2
Rather than a 40% rule, we suggest that farmers be allowed to follow best management
practices on a case by case basis.
Average rainfall on our 600 acre farm approaches 140 inches annually. One inch of rain
equals approx 27,000 gallons per acre. Twenty inches of rain on our farm is equal to 324
million gallons. We would have to build 324 @ one million gallon capacity dry wells to
contain this amount of rainfall. Natural drainage allows us to continue harvesting bananas
even during a 5 inch rainfall. I imagine that we could resume harvesting bananas within a
few hours after a 20 inch deluge.
The amount of rain that we can handle on the Hamakua coast is beyond most peoples
imagination.
State Of Hawall Revised Statutes Chapter 165 -Hawaii Right to Farm Act (see below)
§165-4 Right to farm. No court, official, public servant, or public employee shall
declare any farming operation a nuisance for any reason if the farming operation has
been conducted in a manner consistent with generally accepted agricultural and
management practices. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a farming
operation does not constitute a nuisance. [L 1982, c 256, pt of §1; am L 1988, c 242,
§3; am L 2001, c 26, §2]
We sit in the middle of the Pacific importing nearly 70%of our food. Some estimate that there
is only 8 days of food in the pipeline. Any assistance farmers can get would go a long way
toward helping us become food secure.
Thank you for your consideration.
Richard Ha
Richard Ha
President
Hamakua Springs Country Farms
421 Lama St.
Hilo, HI 96720
ph 808 981 0805
fax 808 981 0756
e mail; mkeabanana@aol.com
read our blog at www.hamakuas
rsp ings com.
See what's free at AOL.com.
7/10/2007