HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-06-15 Napahu Lilly Support TestimonyFrom:Pipanconsulting
To:Planning LPC Testimony
Cc:Kay, Christian
Subject:Support Testimony for LPC items 6 & 7 Waikoloa Green LLC
Date:Monday, June 15, 2026 7:00:35 AM
Attachments:Joyce Lilly - Support for Waikoloa Green.pdfRobert and Joyce Aton - Support for Waikoloa Green.pdfAugustin Kealii Lilly - Support for Waikoloa Green.pdfNapahu Lilly - Support for Waikoloa Green.pdfSamson Kamekona Lyau Support for Waikoloa Green.pdf
Aloha,
Please see attached support testimony for Waikoloa Green LLC PL-SLU-2026-000016 and
PL-REZ-2026-000096.
Best,
John Pipan
President
Pipan Consulting LLC
Office:(808)333-3391
Cell:(808)430-1441
Nāpahu Lilly
68-1745 WAIKOLOA RD APT K202
MAIL BOX 21
WAIKOLOA, HI 96738-5537
June 14, 2026
Re: Letter of Support — Waikoloa Green (Change of Zone and Special Use Applications)
Dear Chairman Au and Members of the Leeward Planning Commission,
My name is Nāpahu Lilly, and I am a resident of Waikoloa. I am happy to express my strong support for the
Waikoloa Green project, and to ask the Commission to consider approving it.
I have lived in South Kohala for almost 6 years. When I first moved to Waikoloa, it was because I got a security
officer job at Mauna Lani. Prior to that, I was living in my childhood home in Hilo on the Waiakea side of town.
Because of the long daily commute from Hilo, I slept in my truck in the Mauna Lani employee parking lot for
the duration of the 5-day work week of my first year of employment there.
It was so rough. Rainy season especially. Even in good weather, I would often need to strategize finding a spot
to feel safe and able to rest without bright lights shining in my eyes as I tried to sleep. I was thankful for the
locker rooms and cafeteria lunches provided by the hotel, but with regard to the extended days of the work
week; I decided to chalk all that struggle up to building character. I eventually improved my career with the
State of Hawaii hiring me to be a Conservation Resource Officer with DLNR Kona office. I now live in my
grandparents’ condo in the Village, where I pay reduced rent to them.
They are very aged (both are 84 years old) and I do not have a solution for how to afford living in the area I
work as the rent amounts are too high to afford. This is a major source of worry for me as I need to keep my
housing in order to maintain a strong reputation for reliability at work in my new career.
Waikoloa Green offers a real solution. Four hundred attainable rental homes, built within a commuting
distance to my place of work, designed for the workforce that makes this community run. That is not a small
thing. That is a meaningful change in the right direction.
I’m especially interested in their idea of family farm lots and food hub that will give local families a path to
grow food and build a livelihood on land that has sat idle for too long.
I urge the Commission to approve Waikoloa Green. I need affordable housing and I need food security.
Mahalo for your time and for your service to our community,
Douglas Nāpahu Lilly
Resident and Community First Responder for the Waikoloa Community