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From: trustharry(aaloha.net <br /> To: W PCtesti mons <br /> Subject: KILL BILL 121 <br /> Date: Wednesday,April 24,2024 11:27:50 AM <br /> Attachments: imaae001.ipa <br /> Importance: High <br /> Aloha Chairman Lin, <br /> The Ohana Aina Association is asking that people write to you <br /> suggesting that you ask the County Council to do an economic impact <br /> study on bill 121. It doesn't take a million dollar study to know what will <br /> happen if this bill passes. <br /> Here is a letter I wrote to Heather Kimball several months ago: <br /> I read the article in Civil Beat News about your attempt to further curb <br /> vacation rentals on the Big Island. This argument: <br /> ""There's so much outside investment and speculation in the county. <br /> Property is picked up and land-bagged by outside investors and used for <br /> transient accommodations instead of being made available to local <br /> residents," Kimball said." <br /> This argument is not valid because the current bill 108 cut off the <br /> availability of new STVR permits back in 2019. Since then, no more <br /> STVR permits have been allowed to be granted. You should know this. <br /> Did the article mis-quote you? Because the "'outside investor" argument <br /> has been dead since 2019 and you said your bill was for hosted <br /> vacation rentals anyway. That means the "'host" lives on the property. <br /> So why bring up the old "'outside investor" argument? <br /> Also, hosted vacation rentals are not owned by "'outside" investors; they <br /> are owned by Big Island residents who use the income to offset the <br /> high cost of living in Hawaii. When you have to pay a million dollars for <br /> a house that would cost $350K on the mainland, the vacation rental <br /> income helps to offset your high mortgage payment. It is really a good <br /> idea to force homeowner's to sell at a loss and leave Hawaii because <br /> they can't make their house payments anymore? (postscript: If <br /> hundreds of people are forced to sell, the result will be a glut on the <br /> market which will reduce home prices. Likewise, demand will go down <br /> when people find out they won't be able to vacation rent a room in their <br /> home; further reducing home prices.) Does reducing land value really <br />