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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0739.336 2016-2018 P/Pc ii1( 1O From: Ohara,Eileen To: Council Testimony Subject: FW: URGENT:Bill 108 Date: Monday,October 15,2018 6:24:43 AM • o C7• oa Cn From:Mark&Lucretia Worster[hilifemedia.buzz@gmail.com] c--) - Sent: Sunday,October 14,2018 10:26 PM --G--+, To:Ohara,Eileen O Subject:URGENT:Bill 108 -Tic) (Tl Ms O'Hara, , -. Thank you for your support of an economic impact statement being created before any vote on Bill 108 is held. s is too important,life changing,and quite honestly—devastating to our tax paying small businesses—for it to be taken lightly.We would like the council to be properly educated on how their actions,either pro or against,will impact their constituents. It is the least the council could do when livelihoods are at stake. Mahalo for your time, Mark&Lucretia Worster Volcano,Hawaii I am fiercely in opposition to the Planning Department's devastating version of Bill 108.It is an attack on small businesses and will cripple what is left of our tourism economy.You are our representatives and we desperately need your help.We need a thorough economic impact assessment PRIOR to a vote on the bill,so it is is clear what the impacts will be to each part of the island.We need you to be able to make an educated decision. OUR HISTORY:My husband and I moved to Volcano in 2015.I had a mainland job,but when they wanted me to move back for less money and to a crowded city,we made the decision to stay.Our vacation rentals which we purchased out of our retirement savings—three tiny homes on three individual lots—are everything we have. They are our income now and for the future,and we hope that your decision on Bill 108 will not take that life away from us. FEES:The first issue is the outrageous fee structure.$500 per home just to apply for a permit,and I assume we will not get that money back if the Planning Director decides not to give a permit.If we are lucky enough,we pay an additional$250 per home every year after,of which we get absolutely no benefit.That money is to go after those who are not paying anything. The$1500 we would have to come up with to apply is twice as much as we pay for our mortgage.We have small rental homes in a remote area,catering to newlyweds and small families on a budget.It would take almost 30 days of rental income,after all our taxes and expenses,to pay this fee.No other business-even registered B&Bs-have this kind of financial burden. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT TAXES,JUST ABOUT PERMITS:The bill seems to have shifted from a focus on tax income to permitting.The Planning Department wants to use vacation rentals owners to fund their lacking permit enforcement.This will unjustly put more of the burden on the east side of the island where there are the fewest options for travelers and which has been devastated by a year of earthquakes,vog,ash,and park closures. You are hitting us while we are down and it is not just property owners that will suffer—house cleaners, maintenance people,lawn mowers,restaurants,shops—the every day people who are doing everything they can to make ends meet. Comm. No.1 . c' Ref. To: PIPs Ref. Date OCT 15 2018 ,Det\C:1 OUTDATED BUILDING CODES:I question the Planning Department's lack of updated building codes for more modern and affordable housing.There is nothing for tiny houses,container houses,treehouses,anyone who wants to be off-grid and live closer to the land or provide guests with a quirky Hawaiian experience they will remember for a lifetime. We are being punished for the Planning Department's lack of foresight while off-island owners purchase their Waikoloa McMansions and the affordable housing crisis continues to grow,and everyone is blaming TVRs. POTENTIAL ABUSE:The"verification from neighbors"clause is ripe for abuse.Anyone who has any issue with a rental,or even a disagreement with a rental owner completely separate from their business,can report.Not only do we have to let our neighbors know we exist,we have to provide them all the information they need to put us out of business on a whim.According to the current version of the bill,the Planning Director will be the enforcer.Are they going to be staffed to come out at 9:05 p.m.when a neighbor complains about someone having drinks on the lanai? Or when a baby is crying in the middle of the night and it can be heard by the next door neighbor?Or will "complaints"be blindly added to our file,then we will be turned down when we try to renew the next year? My next door neighbor has been a police officer in Waimea and Kona for over a decade.,He said he has never received a noise call for somewhere he thought was a vacation rental.He said it is usually island residents having parties on long weekends,roosters,or dogs.Long term rentals do not have any of the onerous obligations that are being placed on vacation rentals ... and our guests are gone in two days unlike impossible to evict long term renters. IN CONCLUSION:These restrictions,fees,and open harassment of small business owners is something that is above and beyond anything that has ever been levied on long term rentals,homeowners,B&B owners,or even people who run non-accommodation businesses out of their home.Accommodations owners who rent homes of of equal size on their property are completely exempt.This bill singles out our tax paying businesses for abuse and clearly has a goal of put us out of business completely. If you did an economic analysis,I believe you would see those in the most vulnerable,hardest hit economic segment of the island-the ones who are just trying to make it month-to-month,will be the ones suffering the effects of this decision. If you have a goal of reducing off-island ownership,please address that issue.If you want to collect more tax money,please make that the focus.This bill does none of those things.It impacts the smallest of business owners in the most vulnerable areas.Please don't neglect your constituents in favor of the big hotel lobbyists.We desperately need your help. Sincerely, Mark and Lucretia Worster Volcano,Hawaii