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l ED OHIA, LLC Voice 808 887-0846 • Fax 808 885-6063 65-1291 gawailiae Road • PO Box 1599 • gamuela, Hawaii 96743 July 7, 2007 Hawaii County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 Pete Hoffmann Dominic Yagong _ Donald Ikeda r-~ J Yoshimoto Stacy Higa -t: Emily Naeole ~ Bob Jacobson ~ Brenda Ford Angel Pilago W RE: Amendment to Chapter 11 relating to affordable housing requirements. The proposed expansion of affordable housing requirements in this Amendment will, without question, increase the costs of development for many, many properties. It is stylish now to picture developers in a jaundice light, but that picture is incorrect for individuals and families who have struggled to acquire, maintain and hopefully one day develop property to its zoning potential. I am involved in the development and management of a very nice commercial building in Waimea, the High Country Traders Building. We are struggling to find tenants for this building, although our rents are slightly below average. This is a gocd prcject, well-received by the community and environmentally friendly as well. In short, it is exactly what the community wants. Your proposed amendment would make a building like this impossible to develop by increasing the costs beyond the tenants' abilities to pay for the use of it. Our property was purchased many years ago with the promise of CV-7.5 zoning, yet waste water treatment requirements took away much of that potential by requiring no more than 4 dwellings per acre. After long and difficult modeling we determined that we could build an office building on part of the property and make a thin profit if all went well. The balance of the property remains fallow. Your proposed amendment will make it impossible to provide any more office space on our property here. It will be just too expensive. Ref. To: • Ref. Dp~e ~