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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0989.013 2018-2020COUNTY CLERK Q / fW Kf We," COUNTY -OF HAWAI ' I 0 171 RECEIVED► Timeb:��f) aM BY July 6, 2020 Date JUL 0 6. 2020 TO: Chair Lee Loy and the Committee on Public Works and Mass Transit FROM: Mattson Davis- Managing Partner Manini Holdings, Proprietor Magics Beach Grill As founding member of the Permitting Task Force of the Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce, I support Bill 179, as a necessary first step towards improvements in Hawaii County's permitting process. My efforts to try to affect a change in the permitting process began in 2018 after numerous interactions I had had with West Hawaii entrepreneurs and Dennis Boyd, Director of the West Hawaii Small Business Development Center. I personally and professionally had many frustrations dealing with the delays and confusion encountered with the County's permitting process which caused me to reach out to Dennis and get involved at changing this system for the good of Hawaii County. Early in the, process of permitting the build out of Magics Beach Grill the Planning Department failed to research our property or notify us of an issue which resulted in a Negative Letter of Determination causing a delay that culminated in a 2 year build out. The delay costs were well over $1.5M to me, my family and business. It became clear to me that the permitting process in Hawaii County was functioning as a barrier to economic development. I had similar issues in the redevelopment of BREW, 3 lots in the industrial area of Kona, home to Kona Brewing Company and numerous new restaurants and Makers. Our tenants had many delays and extraordinary wait times to get approvals and move the permitting process forward. So much finger pointing between departments - We, the citizens of Hawaii County and the County MUST change the direction of this process. It is killing economic investment, especially in West Hawaii, and becomes the catalyst for our high cost of business, housing and lack of interest by smart individuals and companies with vision and financial resources. I fully support the 38 comments submitted on the Rules before you today. While I do support Bill 1792 1 must emphasize that we consider this to be only a first step in building a foundation for a more thorough reform of permitting. Our end goal is a permitting process that is predictable and efficient and assigns accountability for performance in administering it to the County Department of Public Works. Predictability, efficiency, and accountability are attributes the Task Force and many others in the private sector consider as minimum requirements for a sound permitting process. Speaking to accountability, we note there are numerous requirements placed on the community in this Bill in the forms of timelines, fees, and building specifications. There are no corresponding performance requirements for the Department of Public Works. We consider this to be an out of balance framework for the public good. In that regard, I point you to a recent audit of the City and County of Honolulu's Permitting Process, which concluded there was no lasting point to reform without transparent Comm. No. 13 Ref. To: Ref... Dote accountability for administering the process. We would.hope that==the Committee would consider favorably one of our comments which suggested inserting measures for accountability in the permitting framework before you today. Bill 179 is a good first step, and we applaud Chairperson Lee Loy's efforts in managing the endless details involved in developing it, but we have a long way to go.