HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-03-05 PL-SMA-2023-000046 Albert E. Beeman Opposition Testimony From: Al Beeman
To: W PCtesti mony
Subject: PL-SMA-2023-000046 Testimony Beeman
Date: Tuesday, March 5,2024 7:31:28 PM
Attachments: TESTIMONY Beeman March 4.odf
Please see my attached testimony for the Windwarrd Planning Commission meeting on
Thursday, March 7, 2024.
Respectfully submitted,
Albert E Beeman
Punalu'u
DATE: February 4, 2024
TO: Windward Planning Commission, County of Hawaii
FROM: Albert E Beeman,
Colony I Unit #30, Punalu'u
P.O. Box 822, Pahala HI 96777
Tel:808 895 1813 albeeman@gmail.com
RE: SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREA USE PERMIT APPLICATION
PL-SMA-2023-000046; Applicant: BLACK SAND BEACH, LLC
Aloha Planning Commissioners,
I wish to make 5 points for your consideration:
Unreliable and Untrustworthy Developer
EVA LIU, aka XMYUAN LIU the individual behind BSB-LLC as well as
multiple other LLC's has a proven community record of:
Misrepresentation,
County regulation non-compliance,
Business failures, and
Gross mismanagement.
The County should never have approved a project by this notoriously
unreliable and unscrupulous developer.
Fire Prone Area
The proposed development area in the Kau desert is prone to large difficult
to control fires. In recent memory, helicopters had to be brought in to dump
water from the ocean onto fires to put them out.
Punalu'u is blessed with underground electric but thrown cigarettes and hot
catalytic converters seem to pose the most serious threat.
Building a project of this scale in the desert is setting up for another
Lahaina fire disaster only this time on the Big Island.
Inadequate Water and Sewer
The current dilapidated and dramatically under capitalized and poorly
managed water and sewage treatment system is owned and operated by Eva
Liu et al.
The system lurches from failure to failure with no real backup. It is plagued
with cracked pipes and leaking storage.
and must be properly repaired, modernized and brought into compliance.
Not only is the a legal and moral issue but it would also prove that this
developer is even capable or willing to properly manage a large scale project.
To date there is no evidence that she has either the resources or the desire
or the capability of doing this.
Many of the current fire hydrants are broken or do not work and there is
general consensus that even if they did work the water system is not
capable of supporting pressure and delivering the water needed to put out
fires in the area.
Neirative Environmental Impact on the aina, the critters and
the Community
The scale of the proposed project is way beyond the infrastructure that will
be needed to support such an increase in population including:
shopping
medical facilities
roads
Fire protection
ongoing skilled labor force including Police, Firemen, repair people...
Everything is inadequate for this level of population density. The Planning
Commision must scope out the costs and the community impact of this
proposed project.
The developer's project budget must include a significant share of these yet
to be identified but very real capital and operating expenses.
Of course, this analysis must be completed and factored in BEFORE such a
massive project could ever be approved and be given permission to start
construction.
It will also be important for the Commission to consider the environmental
impact on our already overstressed Nene, sea turtles and fish population
especially considering the already dramatically overused Black Sands Beach
Park and adjacent environs.
EA and probably an EIS will be needed
Given the age and dilapidated condition of the current water and sewage
system and the size of the project being proposed, a complete ststem
redesign is needed. It may not even be possible for the current site to safely
handle this much sewage so near the ocean and in an Inundation Zone to
boot...
Considering the fire prone nature of dry, grassy Kau and the many impacts
this huge project will have on the Punalu'u community as well as
neighboring Pahala and Na'alehu an EA seems to be needed at a minimum.
I would be very surprised if the EA does not conclude that a full EIS is both
needed and prudent. Much is at stake...
Me Ka Mahalo (Respectfully)
Albert E Beeman
Punalu'u