HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-08-07 Email Testimony Cory Harden Item #6 WDC Properties DISTRIBUTED AT LPC 8-9-23 HEARING
Item #6 WDC Properties LLC (PL-SPP-2023-040)
2023-08-07 Email Testimony Cory Harden
From: cow Received within 48 hrs of LPC hearing
To: LPCtestimonv
Subject: comments: item#6 Aug 9
Date: Monday,August 7,2023 11:30:17 PM
Attachments: temp 2023 8-9 helo LPC.docx
attachment is identical
comments on agenda item #6 WDC PROPERTIES, LLC (PL-SPP-2023-000040) heliport in Waikoloa
for Leeward Planning Commission, 9:30 AM Wednesday, August 6, 2023,West Hawaii Civic Center
from Cory Harden, Hilo 333coryl@gmail.com
Please ask Blue Hawaiian (BH) helicopters about safety and noise, and about their plans if they don't
get future extensions.
Also please ask staff about the missing Exhibit B (see below).
SAFETY
BH has had four crashes, killing twelve people and injuring eleven more, since 2000.
Would Hawaiian Airlines be allowed to keep flying with a record like that?
In 2000, seven people died in a BH crash on Maui.
"The report from the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington said pilot Larry
Kirsch likely became disoriented before crashing..."
https://www.mkpla i nview.com/news/article/Report-Pi lot-at-fa u It-i n-fata I-copter-crash-
8777357.php, April 9, 2003
In 2011, five people died in a BH crash on Moloka'i.
"The likely cause of a Molokai helicopter crash that killed all five people aboard was the pilot
flying too close to the mountains during inclement weather, the National Transportation
Safety Board determined in a final report published Friday...."
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/report-blames-pilot-for-2011-hawaii-copter-
crash-that-killed-local-couple/,July 26, 2014
And BH failed to clean up afterwards.
"A federal jury awarded more than $160,000 in damages to a Molokai landowner who sued
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters for failing to do reasonable cleanup after a fatal tour helicopter
crash on his property in Pukoo on Molokai's East End."
https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2016/11/160k-awarded-to-landowner-for-
failed-crash-debris-cleanup/ November18, 2016
In 2016, six people were injured in a BH crash on Kaua'i.
"...a chopper touring the Na Pali Coast went down on a beach. All six passengers ended up
suing Blue Hawaiian Helicopters for negligence."
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/12/28/hawaii-has-seen-civilian-helicopter-crashes-
last-five-years/, December, 2019
In 2020, five people were injured in a hard BH landing in Puna.
"Six people aboard a tour helicopter survived a hard landing shortly before noon Thursday in
a Hawaii island lava field near Leilani Estates....
"Five of the six people were taken to the Hilo hospital with non-life-threatening injuries...
"...Blue Hawaiian described the incident as a precautionary landing...
"Shortly before the crash about 20 minutes into the tour, the helicopter, which was flying
just above the trees, began spinning horizontally, with sparks and smoke coming from the
tail, the witnesses said. The craft turned on its side and crashed into trees, they said.
"...[a passenger]said she was hesitant to go on a helicopter tour, but the agent who booked
the flight said Blue Hawaiian had a perfect safety record."
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/03/06/hawai i-news/pi lot-and-passengers-survive-big-
island-helicopter-crash/March 6, 2020
NOISE
Ever-increasing numbers of air tours are severely impacting people under flight paths.
Tour helicopter trips in Hawai'i increased from about 6,000 in 2005 to about 8,000 in 2019.
Tour Helicopter Crashes — And Flights — Have Escalated In Recent Years, by Allan Parachini.
Civil Beat, January 23, 2020, https://www.civiIbeat.org/2020/01/tour-helicopter-crashes-
and-fl ights-have-escalated-in-recent-years
I attended a meeting on air tours on August 14, 2018, at Nani Mau Gardens in Hilo. Over 100 people
attended, some so irate about overflights that they talked about shooting at the helicopters.
Some residents are tormented by as many as 40 helicopters a day, starting as early as 7:30 a.m. and
continuing to 6 p.m. The noise terrifies children and animals, sets off PTSD in war veterans, intrudes
on sleep, interrupts conversations, and causes inescapable stress. On Hawai'i Island, during the
eruption, the helicopters never let up—they kept flying over people who were losing their homes,
their neighborhoods, and their livelihoods.
Planning hasn't received any complaints about this heliport, but people are not likely to call Planning
about helicopter noise.
EXTENSIONS
What are Blue Hawaiian's plans when development increases to where heliport impacts to the
community are too severe, and there are no more extensions?
"... it is recognized that surrounding lands are targeted for urban development, which could
be severely impacted by the heliport."
Planning Commission Findings,June 4, 2015, in Background Report, PDF p. 28
"...since the initial approval of SPP 538 in 1983, there have been six( 6) extension requests...
If approved, this would amount to a total of seven( 7) extension requests.
It should be noted that unlike many other time extension requests, this request is
not for lack of performance but an extension of its life. "
Background Report, PDF p. 10
CONDITIONS MET?
It's impossible to tell if conditions have been met because Exhibit B is missing from meeting
materials.
"... in conjunction with the amended Special Permit in 1995, there were noise related and
flight control conditions to address potential impacts to surrounding properties. (See Exhibit
B)"
Amendment to Special Permit (SPP 538), in Background Report, PDF p. 19