HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-05-08 Letter to Magdalene Phillips re financial future of Puna, Bill 108 �Y ar
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Managing Director
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25 Aupuni Street,Suite 2603 • Hilo,Hawaii 96720 • (808)961-8211 • Fax(808)961-6553
KONA: 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy,Bldg C • Kailua-Kona,Hawaii 96740
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May 8, 2019
Ms. Magdalene Phillips
Dear Ms. Phillips:
Thank you for your correspondence of May 7, 2019 regarding the financial future of
Puna, especially Pahoa.
You mentioned Bill 108 in your correspondence. To be clear, Bill 108 and Ordinance
2018-114 are laws that established short-term vacation rental permitted zones and
short-term vacation rental areas for potential non-conforming use. Without additional
County Council action, non-conforming use is part of the vacation rental zoning
landscape on our Island.
The next step might be for another bill to consider areas of growth for short-term
vacation rental permitted zones. I encourage you to reach out to your Council
representative to share your ideas.
Thank you for taking the time to write to me.
Alo ,
arty Kim
MAYOR
County of Hawaii is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
Rodillas, Martha
From:Hart <hamofhawaii@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, May 07, 2019 7:53 AM
To:Kim, Harry
Subject:The Financial Future of Puna, especially Pahoa
Aloha:
My name is Magdalene Phillips. I would like to draw your attention to sad factors that will continue to have a
negative effect on the people of Puna and their pocket books.
Mayor Kim recently stated that of the approximately 500 homes lost to the lava in Kapoho, about 250 of them
were vacation rentals. If we assume that theses homes had about 30 different groups of guests per year, that would
total 7,500 couples, families, or groups of friends. If these groups only ate once at a Pahoa restaurant during their
stay and spent $60 for their meal, and spent a further $60 on groceries or souvenirs, that is a loss of $900,000 a
year for Pahoa restaurant and store owners.
A cleaning fee of $100 per group of guests, represents $750,000 of income lost by Puna resident cleaners. Add to
that yard work at $50 a month and repairs at $150 a year per home. That represents a total of $187,500 lost to
Puna gardeners and handymen or women.
All in all, that comes to $1,837,500 of yearly income lost to Puna residents, which I believe is a conservative
estimate.
So, you are wondering if plans are in place to allow owners of these rentals to re-establish a rental in a different
part of Puna. NOT SO! Bill108 was passed conveniently right after the eruption by our County Council, making
all vacation rentals in Puna non-conforming, and making no special allowances for rentals lost to lava. I agree
with Susan Barraackman’s letter to the editor May 3rd, which states: The people who think the operators of
AirBnB rentals are just a bunch of speculators looking to buy up homes to host guests and price the poor out of
the neighborhood are victims of propaganda.
Puna vacation rentals are desirable, because many couples and especially families with children, who can hardly
afford to pay hotel prices, prefer to stay in a home in a quiet area,
instead of putting up with the hustle and bustle, noise, and high prices of resort area stores and restaurants. Puna
has NO resort areas. There are many vacant homes for residents to rent.
We need to be able to designate all oceanfront and near ocean areas with homes in Puna, as well as areas
surrounding parks and beaches as tourist destinations, to take away the non- conforming label from our vacation
rentals. Otherwise, the financial future of Puna will be bleak!
Mahalo for listening, Magdalene Phillips
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