Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-05-24 TSUPERSTORE PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAII HEARING TRANSCRIPT May 24, 2007 COUNTY COUNCIL INITIATED AMENDMENT TO A regularly advertised hearing on the ZONING CODE RELATING TO “SUPERSTORES” RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS was called to order at 2:43 p.m. at the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel, 75-5660 Palani Road, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with Chairman William Graham presiding. PRESENT: Takashi Domingo ABSENT & EXCUSED: C. Kimo Alameda William Graham Andrew Iwashita Shelly Ogata Alvin Rho Rene’ Siracusa Rodney Watanabe Rell Woodward Ivan Torigoe, Deputy Corporation Counsel Jeff Darrow, Staff Planner And approximately 14 people from the public in attendance. INITIATOR: COUNTY COUNCIL Amendment to Chapter 25 (Zoning Code), Hawaii County Code 1983 (2005 Edition), as amended, relating to Retail Establishments. The proposed amendment would not permit “superstores” in any zoning district. “Superstore” means a business exceeding 90,000 gross square feet, offering for sale more than 25,000 different stock keeping units, and dedicating more than 20,000 gross square feet of floor area to the sale of groceries. GRAHAM: We’ll move onto our next agenda item today. This one, we have the County Council as initiator; and it’s a proposed amendment to Zoning Code relating to retail establishments. And the proposed amendment would not permit superstores in any zoning district, and we have a definition of superstores. Again this is a Zoning Code issue, so we will only do recommendations. My understanding is we will have two hearings: One here today in Kona and then our next meeting in Hilo. So we will not be taking any voting action on this today, but just getting a little description from Jeff on the intention and how this Zoning Code amendment would work, and also take public testimony. So Jeff, if you would. DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just briefly I’ll reiterate a little bit of the background and recommendation as provided by the Planning Director. This is a County Council initiated action requesting that the Planning Director and the Planning Commission review and recommend an approval to be able to ban superstores on the island. At this time they are proposing to define “superstore” as a business exceeding 90,000 gross square feet, offering for sale more than 25,000 different stockkeeping units, and dedicating more than 20,000 gross square feet of floor area to the sale of groceries. For reference, a stockkeeping unit is an individual type of sales item. And within the background it uses an illustration of a can of soup EXHIBIT E 1 as being one stockkeeping unit.In essence, the bill proposes to ban a combination of a large department store with a grocery store. Mainly they are looking at Wal-Mart Superstore types of stores, but it also would be similar to a Target type of store as well. Under the current Zoning Code, there is no definition of a “superstore”; we would just define it under, as a type of retail establishment. Under the proposed ordinance, the Council defines a “superstore” as well as adds in under retail establishment the section that states “or superstores” – let me just reiterate the last line under the definition of retail establishment. It states that the term a retail establishment “does not include open storage yards for new or used building materials, yards for scrap, salvage operations for storage or display of automobile parts, service stations, repair garages, veterinary clinics and hospitals” – and then it adds in a phrase – “or ‘superstores’ as defined in this section, as superstore shall not be permitted in any zoning district in the County of Hawai‘i”, basically not allowing superstores on the island. The Planning Director has reviewed this request, and is recommending that the Planning Commission send an unfavorable recommendation on the bill. He states his reason within the recommendation. Basically, the Planning Director proposes an alternative approach that the Zoning Code be amended so that a superstore is a permitted use only in a Superstore District. It would be a new zoning district that the Planning Director is bringing forth. This would establish a superstore in an area specifically designed for a superstore. Further on it states that the Planning Director has added on Exhibit D, which is the proposed amendment. For purposes of today this particular alternative was not published, so there would be no action on that; the only action that would be taken today would be, you would be looking at the request to send a recommendation to the Hawaii County Council on its proposed amendment. But the Planning Director is proposing to submit an alternative, which is already under Exhibit D. Because of not being published at this point, it can’t be, there can be no action on that particular amendment. But again the Planning Director is recommending an alternative that would allow a new zoning district called a “Superstore”.Right now this would allow most of the commercial uses that are currently allowed in an MCX, which is a mixed commercial district. A developer in a Superstore district would also want to possibly do other types of uses that would be similar to those in a Commercial Mixed district. The Superstore district could be rezoned only from a site currently zoned General Commercial or Commercial-Industrial Mixed, or on a property that would qualify to be rezoned to CG or MCX under the General Plan. And again, for any of these types of zonings to occur, obviously they would have to come to the Planning Commission and to the Hawaii County Council for their approval. So at this time the Planning Director is recommending that an unfavorable recommendation be sent for this particular application to the Hawaii County Council, and then at a later date – I th believe on June 5 – the Planning Director will be presenting his amended alternative request. It’s my understanding as well that this particular item will be rescheduled for a Hilo meeting as well. GRAHAM: Thank you, Jeff. If we have any signed-up testifiers, it would be good have a list. And if the Commissioners have any questions for Jeff, we could ask them right now. Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE: Jeff, just for clarification, he is not expecting us to forward an unfavorable recommendation at this meeting, right? EXHIBIT E 2 DARROW: I don’t think so. I think -. th WATANABE: We are going to re-discuss, rehash this on the June 5 meeting, right? DARROW: Correct. WATANABE: Yeah, thank you. DARROW: But I believe what’s going to happen is, similar to how this is going to need to be heard on both sides of the island, his proposed amendments will need to be heard on both sides of the island as well. WATANABE: Can I follow up? GRAHAM: Commissioner Watanabe? WATANABE: Yeah, you know, I liked his comments and all of that. My only issue with this is – and you might ask him this since he is not here today. Does that mean this, by this definition of a superstore, does that mean if I have 90,000 gross square feet, 25,000 different stockkeeping units, but 19,000 square feet dedicated to groceries that I’m not a superstore? So I’m wondering if we defined the superstore maybe too narrowly. Yeah. I’m not against what he is saying; I’m just saying maybe we defined it too narrowly. DARROW: I believe the definition actually is initiated by the County Council. So this was a definition that was proposed by -. WATANABE: The Council? DARROW: Yeah, I mean they’re suggesting that this be the wording for the definition of a superstore. GRAHAM: Okay. Any other questions? Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: Rather than a -, well, a recommendation to deny the Council’s request has been made by him; and in its place he’s introducing a bill that would create another zoning district to enable such a store to be built. Now I think you indicated that naturally it would have to be under commercial or general designation also, and then within that you would create the zoning for the superstore? DARROW: What would happen is a Superstore district would only allow to be rezoned from a General Commercial, current General Commercial district -. DOMINGO: Current. DARROW: Or a Commercial-Industrial Mixed. And again, it would have to go through the rezoning process, so it would come under scrutiny from the Planning Commission as well as the Hawaii County Council. EXHIBIT E 3 DOMINGO: You know, I’m wondering what’s the Planning Director’s concern with regard to him initiating his own bill if in fact it would address the concerns that the Council may have, or probably not at all. And I think, from what I’m hearing, the Council’s concern is the impact the so-called superstores will create within the community, be it rather infrastructural impact or their effect on surrounding businesses in a particular area. So I don’t know if those concerns would be addressed also. If not, then, you know, I think his amendment is just redundant and would not accomplish anything at all. I think we need to decide in actuality in plain words why we don’t want superstores. And I don’t think superstores are totally negative, have a negative impact on a community. Of course, we’ve heard instances where some of these stores have created their own problems from where they are in the mainland. And so far, I haven’t seen or heard anything like that happening here on the Big Island or in the State. So I think before we even consider doing this, we just need to look at its economic impact and impact on other probably social issues that may or may not be there. Thank you. GRAHAM: Commissioner Siracusa? SIRACUSA: Actually, I think that what the Director’s proposed resolution does is the opposite of what the County Council’s generated -. Because the County Council is saying basically no to superstores, and the Director’s resolution by saying, well, we can only put it in an S zone district is enabling superstores. So I think they are quite opposed, and depending on how you feel about the issue, that seems to be the way, you know, that one would choose to vote; whether you believe that superstores are a good thing and would do all the things they are saying they would do, lower prices, blah blah blah, or if you feel that they are too intrusive, it would destroy other local smaller businesses, and all the other things that are being said on the other side. I think it’s an either-or. I think they’re diametrically opposed, the two resolutions. GRAHAM: Okay, thank you. I think we can probably discuss some of these issues a lot better in our next meeting when we have the Planning Director present, and really today what we’re here to do is get public input as much as possible. Jeff? DARROW: Just for note, I want to bring to the attention as well. The Planning Department has received numerous letters on this item, basically many for support, many of opposition, so just mixed coming in from the letters as well. GRAHAM: All right. Thank you, Jeff. I have nine folks signed up to testify here today, so maybe I can take four at a time. And since we are late and are tired, I would hope you could be concise and to the point, and just let us know how you feel about this as clean and crisply as you can. I’ll read off four names, and if you folks would all come forward up to the table: Brian Halsey, Craig Nishida, Marie Aguilar and Richard Bryant. It looks like maybe somebody had to go home. So I also have a Rhonda Ulysse signed up. Maybe Rhonda could come up, if she is here. All right, we’ll go with what we have. So could I ask the three of you now to raise your right hands, please, and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today on this matter to the Hawaii County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. EXHIBIT E 4 GRAHAM: Thank you very much. I can start with the gentleman on the right, and start with your name and address, please, and use the microphone, so that we can catch it on our transcription. HALSEY: Okay. GRAHAM: Go right ahead. HALSEY: Good afternoon. My name is Brian Halsey. My office address is at 94-595 Kupuohi Street in Waipahu. I am the Hawaii Market Manager for Wal-Mart. I oversee all the operations for the stores here in the state. I’d like to thank you for this opportunity to testify against the Resolution 21-07, the Amendment to Chapter 25 of the Hawaii County Code, relating to Retail Establishments. We strongly oppose this legislation. It’s anti-competitive and unfair. I’ve been with the company for over 18 years. Since the mid-90s, I actually helped as an assistant manager open the Hilo store. And I’ve come to truly appreciate the people and the communities on the Big Island, and I want to see the island continue to thrive with smart growth and planning for generations to come. One might assume that Wal-Mart would be the only existing business on the Big Island affected by this legislation. Unfortunately, that assumption would be wrong. Many of the local farmers and businesses would also be harmed. Why? This bill would keep us from expanding our local supplier base with additional farmers and local businesses. Approximately 40 percent of our items for our Hawaii stores come from the State of Hawaii, from over 487 Hawaii vendors and suppliers, supporting nearly 17,000 jobs. Many are based on the Big Island. One example is Hawaiian Sunshine Nursery; they have supplied our Hawaii stores with various plants since 1996. Even our Wal-Mart branded milk and bread is done in the State of Hawaii by local vendors. Wal-Mart is proud to be a part of the Big Island. As one of the island’s largest employers, we provide work for more than 750 associates in the two stores in Hilo and Kona. Average full-time associates earn $12.19 an hour for the State of Hawaii, with great benefits and bonuses. Wal-Mart stands ready and willing and able to sit down with County leaders to discuss community problems and concerns to find fair solutions that do not restrict free competition and unnecessary burden on island residents. Our goal at Wal-Mart is to be able to serve our communities with the best service and the best quality and selection at our everyday low price. After all, that’s what the residents of Hawaii deserve. Thank you again for allowing me to testify. GRAHAM: Thank you, Mr. Halsey. Do we have any questions for Mr. Halsey from the Commissioners? Thank you. Yes, Commissioner Woodward? EXHIBIT E 5 WOODWARD: I just wondered if you had any current plans for a superstore. HALSEY: We are in negotiations on the Hilo store. WOODWARD: Okay. Thank you. GRAHAM: Okay. Sir, you are next. If you would start with your name and address. NISHIDA: My name is Craig Nishida. I don’t know if you need my specific address; I’m actually from Oahu. Do you need -? GRAHAM: Yes. NISHIDA: Okay, it’s 91-2048 Luahoana Street. It’s in Ewa Beach. My mother side of the family is from Kona; and when I was growing up, I spent many really happy summers over here. When you get away from Honolulu and you come to the country, it was wonderful. I mean you felt so free. And that’s what I love about the Big Island, you know, so much open space, there is not as much traffic, so many people. And I’d like to see is stay that way. Unfortunately, superstores would cause a lot more traffic in that particular area, a burden on the utilities there. And I was horrified to hear about the Superstore district. That just multiplies the effect that they’ll have. People would be driving from far away just to get there, and that’s going to cause a lot more, you know, traffic in that area. You are going to be wasting fuel. Instead, there should be a lot more local businesses spread out all over. Just keep the country country. Thank you very much. GRAHAM: Thank you, Mr. Nishida. Any comments or questions from the Commissioners? Thank you both for coming over all the way from Oahu. Ma’am? AGUILAR: My name is Marie Aguilar. I’m also representing my partner, Philip Mosher today. My P. O. Box is 1874, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96745. I am a business owner in Kailua-Kona, in historic Kailua Village. I have been here for 14 years. There is a deep concern from the members of our island community about the commercial business development on Hawaii Island. Today, the County Council has recommended that you review superstores aka Big Box stores on Hawaii Island. This is a great vision for County Council Stacy Higa’s action to halt the Big Box stores on this island. The concern for small businesses is very realistic. This island’s foundation for business has been solely in the hands of families making their living and creating jobs for its community. We have families here with deep dedication for over five generations who give back to this island and share their aloha. They have worked hard and struggled in high and low economic times. We are owners of a small business in Kailua-Kona, and do not wish to see the business owners like myself have the hard economic turndown if Big Box superstores are allowed on this island. It will hurt every small business owner. We have struggled to make Kailua-Kona a world class destination. We have the world’s best 100% Kona coffee, World Champion Ironman Triathlon, Big Island Marlin Championship, National Historic sites, Historic National Park along Queen EXHIBIT E 6 Kaahumanu Highway, Historic Kailua Village and scenic beaches that people travel from around the world to visit. Our reputation is on the line. We deserve to keep our priorities in place. We must contribute to the excellence of planning of our community to a world class destination. It is our responsibility as residents of the County of Hawaii, the Planning Director, the Planning Commission, the County Councilors to stop Big Box stores. They do not belong in a visitor destination area – island, I should say. The traffic congestion around the island is already in a major problem. The Big Box stores would cause a gridlock situation in the larger population areas. The number of visitors to our island and the growing resident population create a daily heavy use of our highways. We are experiencing a level now of under developed infrastructure, and it will take years to catch up with our growth. We can not create more gridlock to our highways now or in the future. The Planning Commission should make their recommendations to the County Council and the Planning Director and decide to halt Big Box superstores on Hawaii Island. It is the right decision. Thank you for allowing me to be here at this meeting and to make my comments regarding this important decision. I am here because my partner can watch my store. But I can tell you today, this is a day where there is a cruise ship, and most of the businesses would have been here today, but they had to take care of their businesses. So I want you to know they would have been here to represent themselves. And I want to also tell you that today the County Council of Kauai County voted to ban superstores at 75,000 square feet by a unanimous vote. Their voice should be heard. They made a great decision. And thank you very much. GRAHAM: Thank you, Ms. Aguilar. Any questions from the Commissioners? Yes, Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Comments not directly involving superstores, but the fact that there is a gridlock and traffic is congested, I think that is not contributed by those Wal-Mart or Costco or other huge stores that we have in Kona or in Hilo. Congestion is here because of the rapid growth and the influx of people from the mainland or wherever they come from. And because of the huge numbers of in-migrants who come here, that has caused the problem of congestion in traffic and other problems, social problems that we face. So regardless of what happens and what the Council decides to do and whether or not superstores come here, the traffic problem will persist unless we can do something about it. I just want to make that clear and not blame those huge stores for the problems that we are facing now. GRAHAM: Thank you. Thank you for your testimony today. I appreciate it. All right, I have four more testifiers. If you all would come forward, please, Sally Marone, Gordana Leonard, Alapaki Tampos and Billy Kimi, III. Jeff? Excuse me? DARROW: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As a reminder, if any public testifies and happens to bring written testimony, if we could get that or a copy of that or the original for our records. Thank you. GRAHAM: And as a kind of an addendum to what Jeff just said, if you did bring written testimony and we get it, you don’t need to just repeat it verbatim. Maybe you can just summarize it quickly because we’ll be having it to read. All right, thank you. Could the EXHIBIT E 7 four of you raise your right hands, please, and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth today on this matter before the Hawaii County Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS: Yes. GRAHAM: Thank you all. I’ll start on my right. Could you use the microphone, give your name and address, and then give us your testimony right away? MARONE: Yes. My name is Sally Marone, and I live at 77-6128A Mamalahoa Highway, Holualoa, Hawaii. And I will keep my comments brief. I just wanted to let you know that I am in support of the Council’s bill to ban the superstores. I feel that we need to keep our West Hawaii as self-sufficient as possible. And bringing more things in from China and produce from thousands of miles away is not what I see for the development of our island. GRAHAM: Thank you, Ms. Marone. Any comments or questions from the Commissioners? Ma’am, you’re next. Please start with your name and address. LEONARD: Aloha. My name is Gordana Leonard, and I live at 75-374 Aloha Kona Drive in Kailua-Kona, 96740. I’m a member or I’m one of the Kailua residents who have been working on the Kona Community Development Plans from almost the beginning, and I’m a member of the environmental quality working group. But I do not speak on their behalf; I speak as a private citizen and on behalf of my ohana. In view of what I’ve heard the Planning Commissioners’ exchange by way of remarks amongst yourselves, I feel that there is nothing that I need to add other than to say that I strongly support the proposed amendment put forth by the County Council, which opposes the giant stores; which I, for the purpose of this particular meeting, was simply going to say are antithetical to the Hawaiian way of life, antithetical to the even Americanized Hawaiian way of life, antithetical to the welfare of our children and certainly of a warming planet. And with that, I will thank you for, whatever it is that you do on behalf of, making wise choice on this particular issue. And I will testify further when the Planning Director’s bill comes up, and give details. Thank you. GRAHAM: Thank you, Ms. Leonard. TAMPOS: Aloha. GRAHAM: Sir, go ahead. Name and address, and then your testimony. TAMPOS: My name is Alapaki Tampos, and I live at 74-5037 Kealapua Street. And I live right here up in Kona, right up the hill. And I’m here to testify that I oppose of these big stores coming in, due to the fact I’ve been in business for 20 years, and just this past year I have gone out of business. Maybe all you folks know the radio station KAPA; you guys probably heard, “Aloha. Welcome to Alapaki’s” – that’s me. But now you don’t hear me because I’m out of business. Due to all these superstores coming in, like we have right now Wal-Mart, K-Mart, I mean that’s the type of stores. And now they want to come up with a superstore? What are they going contain of? Lumber? Like the brother over there said, he didn’t mention that. But how do we know what is a superstore? Just another food super market, or a combination of all these other things? So all the local businesses, like HPM and all these EXHIBIT E 8 other small lumber companies, they can go out of business, too. Just like me. And I protest, and I will hold banners to subject that there is no superstores here in Kona. And like brother Domingo said, which will it be, Hilo or Kona first, -- When we had our first Costco, we had the majority of the island coming here to Kona -- which traffic. But will the County or the State combine together to see what the problem is? Because our infrastructure here in Kona is no longer, not even progressing. I moved back home here back in 1979, and that’s how long I’ve been in business in Kona. But now I had to close my business because like we say in Hawaii, “Where have the mom & pop stores gone?” And I can vouch that there is only one store that carries all made-in-Hawaii products, it’s what, the lady sitting right here in this seat. And also I was doing that, too. And we support all the local arts and crafts people. But with the superstores come in, and I vouch for this, when Wal-Mart first came up, the manager of Wal-Mart and one of the assistant managers came into my shop, Alapaki’s, they tried to get me to get into the groove with them to open up a Hawaiian gift shop in the Wal-Mart right up here. And I knew that once I get in, they’ll take over me, and you know, and so forth on. But needless to say, I’m just here today to oppose the big, big superstores, and I fully support you folks on the panel. Mahalo. GRAHAM: Thank you, Mr. Tampos. KIMI: Aloha. My name is Billy Kimi, and I’m at 75-5816 Lupa Place in Kailua-Kona. I’m representing Kona Inn Shopping Village right here in Kona. And I just want to make a few comments because I’ve just found out about this. And I just want to remind everybody that we’re an island. We have a lot of island styles no matter where we are from. And I believe the local businesses have suffered enough in the past from all these Big Box brand companies that come over here to our islands. We are small; we don’t have the land like other places do. And it should stay simple, and let the regular business people move ahead and have an opportunity to do business with their families for the future. If Kona doesn’t maintain this type of a local retail culture and heritage on the Big Island or the State of Hawaii, there will be no reason for any of our tourists to come back and visit us over here. This is what it’s all about. We are on an island. I oppose not having superstores come into the Big Island of Hawaii or the State. Aloha. Thank you for letting me speak today. Everybody have a nice afternoon. GRAHAM: Thank you, Mr. Kimi. Any questions from any of our Commissioners? Commissioner Domingo? DOMINGO: One clarification, Mr. Kimi. Your last sentence was “I oppose not having superstores come to the Big Island.” Can you make it more clear for me? KIMI: Superstores, I do not wish to have anywhere on the State of Hawaii. Sorry. GRAHAM: Thank you. All right, thank you all four of you. I appreciate your testimony today. TESTIFIERS: Thank you. EXHIBIT E 9 GRAHAM: And we’ll be carrying this in our minds when we next meet in Hilo. So I think we took all our public testimony. I don’t think we need to take any action on this agenda item so -. DOMINGO: Mr. Chair. GRAHAM: Yes, Commissioner Domingo? Would you like to give testimony, sir? ESTEBON: Yes, please. GRAHAM: Yes, come forward. ESTEBON: Gentlemen, thank you for giving me the opportunity. I came in late, so I wasn’t here this morning. But -. GRAHAM: Okay. Could you -? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth before the Commission on this matter today? ESTEBON: I do. GRAHAM: Thank you. And could you give your name and address? ESTEBON: Okay. My name is Rolando Estebon. I live over here in Kailua- Kona, 75-6164 Hoomama Street, Kailua-Kona. I’m here and I heard your testimony, and then I really support what the County Council, as well the Planning Commission, have been doing. And I’ve been all over, and I may not say all my past experiences, but I swear to God, I just want to give some comments why I oppose these superstores. First of all, we will have to think, yeah, corporation. Do you think that they think about, or they see about the picture of the island or they see the picture of the community? No. They only see the figure, number, nothing else. They will tell you, of course, that they will benefit the whole community.Yeah? But try to say, I’ve got 75,000 items, and they said, oh, we’ll get it from the local companies or the local farmers. But try to take a look. How many percent in a big store they get in their store? Does it even have 5 percent? Of course not. As the others have testified, most of them are from the mainland, from China, or whatever. The question is, right, do you expect any tourists to come down here to see the same old products that came from, and they can see, from the mainland and all over? They want to see the one that we have here locally. Ninety-five percent or five percent – it’s a big difference. Secondly, we will have to think, yeah, the question is how much is too much. It is just like we’re building; if you go let it go, you’re going to build a mansion in a 10,000-square foot lot. Simple as that. It will all come to waste. Thirdly, we will have to think monopolizing. Okay? I’ll be true, as I said, I do some research and everything. There’s been research. Yeah? These big companies, big corporations, their intent is to pull their competitors. And after they kill them all, they can ask their price whatever they have. And that’s going to happen, the same thing over here. And of course we’ve got to think how can with the population of the Big Island or the State? We already get K-Mart, we EXHIBIT E 10 already get Wal-Mart, then you got double them up, you kill everybody. And they said, oh, they give new jobs to the community. They’ll give jobs to the community, they’re going to need a thousand jobs opening. But how many will be hired in this community? The rest we’re going to get it, they said they’re going to get it. Of course, being a corporation if I cannot get them over here, I’m going to import my own people. Product wise do you think they’re going to get from you if I can get it cheaper, if I can get it from you but get it more expensive?Of course not. That’s why we have to think all those factors.It’s very simple. We don’t need those already. We already being suffering. We don’t want to suffer more. I think it’s about time for us to realize the real situation, look at the real picture. And go on and we’ll support you, whatever it takes to support you to ban this one. We need to help people in here, not the big corporation. They already get their own ways. We need to help these people, small business, more especially, and the people in this community. So I thank you. GRAHAM: Thank you for your testimony. Okay. I think we have what we need on this item already. And in that regard, I think we should move on. DARROW: Continue? GRAHAM: So we’ll carry this one forward until the Hilo meeting. Do we need to take any vote on that, I think, Jeff? DARROW: Yeah, I think maybe we should just do a vote for continuance; we can do an all-in-favor. GRAHAM: Okay. Is there somebody to move that we have continuance to the Hilo meeting? SIRACUSA: Yeah. I’ll move that we defer this matter to the next Hilo meeting. GRAHAM: Second? WATANABE: Second. GRAHAM: All right. Moved by Commissioner Siracusa, seconded by Commissioner Watanabe. All in favor of continuing this to our Hilo meeting, say “aye” please. COMMISSIONERS: Aye. GRAHAM: Any opposed? Okay. DARROW: Thank you. GRAHAM: We will continue to the Hilo meeting with this agenda item. I have folks in the audience raising their hands, but if it’s a point of clarification or something, maybe you can write. We’re going to end the meeting in a couple of minutes. Maybe you could ask one of our staff members here. PUBLIC: I’m just wondering when the meeting in Hilo is. EXHIBIT E 11 GRAHAM: Jeff, could you tell him the meeting in Hilo? th DARROW: The next scheduled Hilo meeting is June 5. GRAHAM: Okay. So that finishes our regular agenda items today. The discussion ended at 3:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Noriko Sauer West Hawaii Secretary EXHIBIT E 12