The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2026-07-01 Sierra Club Hawaii Island Group Opposition Testimony -- From: on behalf of Moku Loa Hawaii Island Sierra Club To: Planning WPC Testimony Subject: Testimony on Agenda Item #5 with Appendices attached. Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2026 12:18:09 PM Attachments: WPC mtg #5, Teppy Mountain Special Permit, 7-1-26_20260701_0001.pdf Aloha, Please see supplemental submission of Hawai'i Island Group's written testimony now containing Appendices A&B referenced in the main body.. Mahalo Moku Loa (Hawaii Island) Group, Sierra Club We work hard to advance Sierra Club’s mission to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives. SIERRA CLUB HAVVAI'I ISLAND GROUP Iuly 1,2426 County of Hawai'i Windward Planning Commission 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 Hilo HI 9672A Re: Agenda Item 5. APPLICANT: TEPPY MOLINTAIN LLC (PL-SPP-2024-000075) Aloha Chair Daniele and Commission Members, The Sierra Club of Hawai'i, Hawai'i Island Group (HIG) urges the Windward Planning to vote in opposition to the adoption of the Windward Planning Commision's (WPC) Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Decision and Order that would allow approval of a Special Permit for an annual, multi-day festival event with overnight camping for up to 500 attendees onal4.24-acre portion of a larger l,4l9.lT-acre property (TMK (3)2-7-007:001 (por.)) in the State Land Use Agricultural District. HIG believes the Findings of Fact, Conclusion of Law, and Special Permit application contain material effors. The most significant of these effors is that the overnight camping and event area of the project involves more than 15 acres. Because of what appeax to be material non- disclosures within the the Special Permit application, the WPC should either: 1) request the application withdrawn by the Applicant or 2) reject approval of the Decision and Order and the Special Permit application.. The Applicant should then be referred by the Planning Department to the state Land Use Commission to petition for a state district boundary amendment in order to cornply with the comments with the comments made in the llll2l24letter from state Land Use Conrmission Executive Officer Daniel Orodenker to the Planning Department, Exhibit 12, which referenced HRS 205-4.5(aX6) o'overnight camps are not a permissible use in the Agriculture District" and Ho'omoana Foundqtionv. Land Use Commission, "uses expressly not permissible in the state agricultural district need to be addressed in a district boundary proceeding, rather than through special permits." With regard to Findings of Fact, Figure 2,the "Site Map" (Appendix A) of the Special Permit application prepared by Land Planning Hawai'i LLC does not reflect the facts on the ground as seen by a satellite photo of the area (Appendix B), such as: 1) an accurate location and depiction of all parking areas, 2) an accurate depiction of size and location of the camps, access road, and effigy burning site, and 3) disclosure and an accurate depiction and location of the area involved in the event participants' use of the stream running through the project area by event participants. For instance: 1. The Falls on Fire flyer shown on page 108 of the Planning Department Background Report includes the following language, ool,ocated in Hilo, Falls on Fire is a camping event focusing on art, radical self-expression, commurity, and swimming in watetfalls" [Emp.added]. 2. The large parking area clearly seen on the satellite photo to the northwest of Camp 3 is not described on the Site Map. The parking area for Camp 3 is makai of the camp area, not mauka of the camp area adjacent to the access road. Event participants will not restrict their movement and the proposed permit uses to the roughly- descibed 14.24 acre area shown in Appendix A. Event participants in pnor yearchave entered and will enter the stream and waterfall area adjacent to the proposed permit area under the supervision of event o'rangers". Again, it appears that, to date, the Applicant has not disclosed and accurately described all project use areas. In addition, the Planning Department did not require a certified surveyor's map containing the legal description of the parcel(s), as well as the precise location of all proposed uses within the parcel(s), prior to submission to the WPC. There is no evidence that the Planning Department and the Windward Planning Commission performed a sufficient investigation or exercised the due diligence in order to meet its affirmative duty to provide reasonable assurance that the special permit application to the county Planning Department was appropriate, rather than a petition to the state Land Use Commission for a district boundary amendment. Mahalo for this opportunity to testi$,. \ X sptcr^r rLBMil afrlrc^rcN CONCEFIUAL S'IL PL^N A-00 rnutrE roHlGrwAY r0 TMK (3) 2-7-007: 001 Pq@o$[o *EcrAr PfFutr A(f'\ s !lac l!7n a4I 5r cAtJt,l0tr A0 ii3i00 i SfBoNI[1€ A[aA il ra aa {2{6ilt) I srr riaanP 1 I r r .\{ i6r ,r(rrl r gF cAtrlF 7ur$A( r200ffi tsr lEilrcth|EKNG 3 33 AC i14i oua I 5rA(11SSn{)AO A\y r!661 w%1t!' ! 2BU &O FICURE 2 I -. " i"- --- - rl. - ,-... . ,,]- f-*,] --.t.-' 1 u B t, I of I 71112026,5:15 PM L-