HomeMy WebLinkAboutPL-SMA-2023-000038 02.24.24 J. MATLOCK TESTIMONY Araujo, Jaclyn
From: janet Matlock <matlockjanet@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2024 3:23 PM
To: LPCtestimony
Subject: Oppose SMA application PL-SMA-2023-000038, Kona Hawaii Development LLC
Aloha kakou,
Mahalo for this opportunity to testify on the SMA application for a potential 100-room hotel on Ali'i Drive.
(Applicant Kona Hawaii Development, LLC PL-SMA-2023-000038, for a Special Management Area Use Permit
to develop a 100-room hotel on a 1.76-acre parcel located at 75-5868 A1i'i Drive, TMK: 3-7-5-18-11)
Please say no to this request to extend, yet again, the holding pattern for this project. It has been 25 years
since the original 48-room hotel was proposed (see timeline below).
So much has changed since then.
Please consider the impacts this doubled-in-size vacation property would have on Kailua Kona's:
• limited water supply,
• stressed sewer system,
• single landfill, plus
• the inevitable runoff,
• the increased traffic, and
• the safety concerns with tsunami, fire, and other evacuation bottlenecks.
It is baffling that the Planning Director's report states, "While there are no anticipated traffic impacts from the
proposed project..."
How can a 100-room hotel's traffic, feeding into a tiny intersection, have no impacts?
What other concerns have been similarly dismissed? (Hint: see list above)
Today and going forward, please think outside the resort box, and please consider development in the
aggregate, not by individual project. There are so many things that we who live and work in Kailua Kona need
far more than expanding hotels.
Mahalo for your time and consideration.
janet Matlock
Kailua Kona
Project Timeline
1998, a 48-room resort condominium /office complex with retail is approved.
2002, four years later, a time extension is granted.
2007, nine years later, building permits issued for the current the slab and structure.
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2008, ten years later, a SECOND time extension granted.
(crickets)
2013, fifteen years later, property bought by Diamond Resorts International.
2014, sixteen years later, a THIRD time extension was granted.
2017, nineteen years later, plans approved for a 46-unit condominium timeshare.
(crickets)
2021, 23 years later, a FOURTH time extension was granted.
September 2022 the property is listed for sale. (Evidently it didn't sell?)
January 2023, per the applicant the SMA Permit was automatically nullified due to non-compliance with the
time performance condition.
May 2023, "Baywood Dai Inc. entered into a purchase and sales agreement with DPM Acquisition LLC to
complete the project."
This doesn't appear to be a real sale with a change in ownership.
Applicant Kona Hawaii LLC is a creation of Baywood Dai Inc., which is a part of DPM Acquisition LLC, which is
controlled by Diamond Resorts International. The only entity added is the potential of a Residence Inn hotel
branding.
September 2023, twenty-five years later, the current application to double the size of the initial proposal is
submitted. They are asking for another five years to build, with the Planning Director able to grant an
additional five years without further public review.
In other words, if approved, the next expiration could be in 2033.
That's 35 years from the initial application and two decades since Diamond Resorts (aka Kona Hawaii LLC)
bought the property.
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