2024-03-05 PL-SMA-2023-000046 Diana B. Miller Opposition Testimony

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From: Diana Miller To: W PCtesti mono Subject: Testimony re: Punalu'u SMA(PL-SMA-2023-000046) Date: Tuesday, March 5,2024 11:44:00 AM Aloha Chair Lin, Vice Chair Daniele, and Members of the Windward Planning Committee, My name is Diana B. Miller and I urge you to deny the Special Management Area permit application (Agenda Item #3, PL-SMA-2023-000046) that will build a luxury resort development at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. The things that I really love about the island of Hawai'i are the open spaces, rural areas and unique native ecosystems. I have lived and worked on this island since 2003 and have seen many changes, not all of them good changes. As our climate crisis inevitably worsens, it is critical that our precious natural and cultural resources are managed as a public trust resource, as envisioned in our Hawai'i State Constitution, and as carefully contemplated with critical input from key community stakeholders in the Ka'u Community Development Plan. The SMA applicant proposes a development that caters to tourists at the expense of our own - our own people who are already housing insecure, job insecure, and our natural and cultural resources. The lack of planning with the prematurely proposed SMA application for a development that will only exacerbate the erosion of our natural and cultural resources undermines the Ka'u Community Development Plan and does not facilitate the county fulfilling its affirmative duty to protect nearshore marine waters. Punalu'u has unique ecological diversity. It is home to rare and endangered native animals, including hawksbill sea turtles, green sea turtles, Hawaiian monk seals, native bees and orange-black damselflies. Punalu'u's shores are vital nesting grounds for sea turtles. The SMA permit application and Planning Department recommendations do not sufficiently address negative impacts to threatened and endangered species. 1. The current wastewater treatment plant is outdated at 50 years old. The treatment system only treats water to remove fecal bacteria. Current Department of Health standards require wastewater treatment to remove harmful viruses and bacteria, as well. It is not known how damaged the wastewater collection system is, so it is likely leaking into groundwater. Wastewater is pumped into infiltration basins that flow into groundwater. This groundwater then flows into nearshore marine waters. The Hawai'i State Supreme Court has ruled the county has an affirmative duty to protect nearshore marine waters. This public trust resource is at risk. A 2006 Draft Environmental Impact Statement stated, "[t]he project's engineers have assumed the treatment plant will be replaced when the new development begins." The Planning Department's recommendations do not address the