|
<br />
<br />Mori, Ashley
<br />From:test <mvpvv@hawaii.rr.com>
<br />Sent:Saturday, September 17, 2022 9:26 AM
<br />To:LPCtestimony
<br />Cc:Sauer, Noriko; Inaba, Holeka; Villegas, Rebecca; Wendy Baez; Janice Glennie; test;
<br />Kierkiewicz, Ashley
<br />Subject:LPC NEW BUSINESS ITEM 2, Sunshine Holdings, LLC, PL REZ 2022 00032, WRITTEN
<br />PUBLIC TESTIMONY.
<br />
<br />The Leeward Planning Commission (LPC) shares responsibility for the degradation and lack of West Hawaii infrastructure
<br />and lack of affordable housing because so often it has recommend approval of delays in completion of developers
<br />projects with infrastructure and affordable housing requirements, based on decades old conditions, without updating
<br />those conditions to accommodate the additional problems that developed during the lengthy delays handed out for free
<br />by the Planning Director, without authority ot her than the self serving original ordinance he or she dra?ed. Thus the
<br />needed infrastructure and affordable housing don’t get done, if at all, for In excess of 20 years, while the developer gets
<br />a huge increase in the value of the property, without “sunsets”. The LPC has been “nice” to developers with favorable
<br />recommendations for rezoning, subdivision, and lengthy delays, while not requiring prompt delivery of infrastructure
<br />and affordable housing, revisiting those needs when delay is requested, using a “sunset” clause to keep developers
<br />honest and avoid incessant delays, and not objecting to the unauthorized delay power self given to the Planning
<br />Director for the benefit of developers in the ordinances he or she writes. There are thousands of approved but unbuilt
<br />residential units in West Hawaii with unbuilt and now obsolete infrastructure and affordable housing requirements. This
<br />is the LPC and County Council’s fault. The constituency of West Hawaii residents are ignored and sacrificed for the
<br />Planning Director’s unauthorized power of delay and being “nice” to developers.
<br />
<br />The ordinance, drafted by the Planning Director, contains a clear requirement that any request for delay must be the
<br />result of circumstances “beyond the control” of the developer. “Beyond the control”” are external circumstances such
<br />as floods and labor strikes. Not once did this applicant present any circumstances of “beyond the control” in getting his
<br />multiple delays of 25 years. All were for its internal personal financial advantage, or for sales, or because it never
<br />intended or had the capacity to develop. Thus the prior delays are all illegal and in violation of the ordinance. The
<br />Planning Department has admitted through counsel that it has no rules or guidelines to determine “beyond the control”.
<br />This is adequate reason to reject and recommend against this application.
<br />
<br />Although they or their representatives may misrepresent, many, if not most, developers have no intention or capacity to
<br />develop when application is made. They merely are seeking the conditions and approval for the huge increase in value
<br />resulting from rezoning and subdivision, so the conditions, which become obsolete, can be “banked” during extensive
<br />delays, while they sell their project. Thus the LPC and Council are made into fools, and are talked into bad deals for their
<br />constituency by the developers and the Planning Director
<br />
<br />During those 25 years of delays,, Kona’s population has grown by 200%, many subdivisions, B&Bs, and short term
<br />rentals approved, with some built and some delayed, Mamalahoa has become at times a major traffic jam at the Koloko
<br />intersection and into town, flooding has occurred in the area, the Koloko-Mamalahoa intersection is the site of traffic
<br />accidents, and that intersection has become the location for school children to congregate for school bus pickup and
<br />drop off. And the lack of affordable housing has grown dramatically worse.
<br />
<br />MORE STUDY AND INFRASTRUCTURE IS NEEDED. THE APPLICANTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED, OUT OF HUGE IGNORANCE
<br />OR ATROCIOUSLY INTENTIONAL PUTTING ITS PROFITS AHEAD OF YOUR CONSTITUENCY, by seeking a cancellation of
<br />the prohibition against “double density” (condomiumization), deletion or weakening Kona Soil and Water Conservation
<br />District compliance and weaken drainage control requirements, eliminate a requirement for an archeologic survey, and
<br />1
<br />
<br />
|