HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0413.008 2008-2010
Date: September 2, 2009
To: Hawaii County Council
County of Hawai'i 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
From: Jason Coombs <jasonc@science.org>
PO Box 636, Kurtistown, HI 96760
RE: Opposition to Proposed Bill 103
To Whom It May Concern:
I have just learned of the existence of the pending Bill 103 and have, in the past hours this
morning, attempted to formulate this written opposition to the Bill in its revised form. If the
Council would like additional information from me regarding this statement then I would be glad
to re-appear at a future Council meeting to present more comprehensive socioeconomic analysis.
I write to you today on my own behalf, as an owner-builder whose family has been attempting to
build a home in this County since 2005. Our property is located in the Kohala district very near
to Kamehameha Park. At first, back in 2005, we rented a home in Kohala near our property, and
were therefore able to participate in and direct the work of our contractors. But then somebody in
Kohala complained to the County about the work being done on our property and the County
sent an inspector who issued a stop work order, telling us that our building permit was not
adequate for the work that we were doing, that we also needed a grading permit. Our contractor
was certain this was not correct but we had been issued a stop work order so we stopped work.
We spent over a year trying to get that grading permit only to be told by Planning that we didn't
need a grading permit after all, exactly as our contractor had advised us.
Our rental expense was $1,550.00 per month, and because the County had issued a faulty stop
work order all of that money was wasted as our home did not get built. In 2006 we could no
longer make sense out of paying rent for a house just to live close to our property where we
weren't allowed to build until we first solved the alleged permitting deficiency, so my family
moved into a tent on our property. Photos of our tent are enclosed for your review. Prior to
erecting this temporary tent dwelling we had constructed, pursuant to our building permit,
temporary storage sheds in which all of our building supplies and tools were being stored dating
back to 2005. Those temporary storage sheds are also visible in the enclosed photographs.
We did not expect to be living in a temporary tent dwelling for more than a few months until
construction resumed, but it took so long for a grading permit application to be prepared, and it
then took the County so long to respond to my grading permit application, that as of the end of
2006 we had not even received a reply from the County. In 2007 we finally arrived at the point in
our re-permitting effort where we were ready to submit a new building permit application but
first our construction lender required an up-to-date appraisal for our project.
Comm. No 413.1
Ref. To, V'1 ~i
Baf D~ixa 2
Page 2 - Coombs letter to County Council, September 2, 2009
The County also informed us at that time that we would be required to revoke our existing
building permit through a written request for same, before we would be allowed to apply for a
new building permit showing our revised home and site plans. This caused further problems with
our construction lender's internal policies and procedures, causing further confusion and delay.
By the end of July 2007, 24 months after we started construction with a building permit and a
fully-funded construction loan our lender was not willing to grant us an extension of time to
finish our project, in part because of the ongoing permitting difficulties, despite the fact that our
new appraisal came in looking just fine and reflected a very good future value for the finished
home and good existing equity in our land. The current global financial crisis had just started, in
August of 2007, and our lender (Indymac Bank) was bankrupt and was seized by the FDIC in
2008. During the portions of 2007 and 2008 when my family lived in a tent on our property in
Kohala we enjoyed a far greater quality of life than anything we had available to us in Puna.
Photos are enclosed showing the activities we have had available to us in Kohala. Swimming,
tennis, golf, ping pong, annual events such as 4th of July at Waikoloa, safe places to fish and to
swim in the ocean, and the excellent parks of both North and South Kohala. These photos are the
best evidence I can think of to demonstrate that there is a qualitative difference between living in
Puna and living in other parts of this County. Everyone knows this, but I wanted you to see it
first-hand, from our perspective as people who have lived in a tent while trying to build a home.
From August 2007 we have continued to try to negotiate with our lender, Indymac Bank, and
then with the FDIC when Indymac was seized in 2008, and recently with the new owner of
Indymac, known as One West Bank. We have attempted to receive an extension to our loan term
so that we can obtain the new building permit we now require, finish our grading work, and build
our home. We did not even require additional construction funding, as we had the ability to pay
for the remainder of our construction project out of our own pocket, in part because of living in a
tent on our property for as long as we ended up doing so (though I would note that our mortgage
payments to Indymac were only a little less than our previous rent payments, not having to pay
both a mortgage and rent each month has made a difference to us, financially, during this time).
I respectfully submit to you that excluding areas outside of Puna from your proposed revisions to
Bill 103 is improper, as you have misdirected the economic benefits of Bill 103 away from the
people and places that need it the most and turned this Bill into nothing more than the classic
Not-In-My-Backyard official act of Localism and improper oppressive politics. The government
must tread with care when it presumes to have the legal authority to evict a camping family from
its own property, and I would like you to be aware that in the entire time we have resided in a
tent in Kohala, in plain view of everyone in the community on a property adjacent to Akoni Pule
Highway, not once has anyone from the County informed us that we did not have the right to live
on our own property in a tent. This is despite the fact that complaints were filed against us for
alleged "squatting". You must already know that the current prohibition on temporary residences
is not being enforced, so your new official designation of Puna as a tent-friendly zone is simply
offensive and should be reconsidered. Please pass the original version of Bill 103 not the revised.
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