HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-07-13 Heather Korotie Testimony
From: Heather Korotie
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Subject: Written Testimony: Bill 147
Date: Monday, July 13, 2026 4:29:26 PM
Chair and Members of the Leeward Planning Commission,
Thank you for the opportunity to provide detailed written testimony. This is a complicated issue that has a huge
impact on the future of small family farms on Hawaiʻi Island. I am hoping you will be able to ask any of the
questions presented in my testimony in the Q&P period of the hearing.
My name is Heather Korotie. My family and I run a small tropical fruit farm and operate farm‑stays as the
income‑producing part of our farm. Until Bill 147, the proposed legislation regulating hosted rentals felt favorable
and inclusive of farm‑stays. As written now, Bill 147 would unintentionally and severely harm anyone in the State
Agricultural District who needs to diversify and stabilize their farm income with hosted farm‑stays.
I have been advocating for hosted farm‑stays with Councilmember Heather Kimball since 2022. Over the past four years, she has always had an open‑door policy, has talked with me in depth many times, and has been extremely supportive and collaborative. I genuinely feel she wants to help farmers. Bill 147 is a well‑intentioned plan to ensure that farm‑stays and others living and wanting to host in the State Agricultural District have a path forward. But the path forward requires not a little, but a lot of money and time—neither of which many farm families have. The bill unintentionally creates a very uneven playing field between residents in the State Agricultural District and residents elsewhere, regardless of whether those Ag‑district residents are actively farming and participating in the local food system.
This is where State law has been cited as the reason for the disparity. To my understanding, Rosehill was
specifically about non‑hosted short‑term rentals that were completely untethered from agriculture—large,
resort‑style homes in the State Agricultural District operating as vacation rentals with no real agricultural activity.
That is the polar opposite of what many of us hosting in the State Agricultural District are doing. Many of us are
running small farms with weekly deliveries to stores and distributors, wholesale and Schedule F retail income, with
the overwhelming percentage of our land dedicated to agriculture, active farm plans, agricultural workers, and often
farm expenses that exceed our agricultural sales. Agriculture is the primary activity in terms of land allocation and
time spent. Farm‑stays provide the money that allows us to keep farming.
Small farms need access to agritourism and farm‑stays as a way to diversify, and we need farm‑stays to make
enough money to actually support ourselves. A farm‑stay often takes a fraction of the labor while generating the
majority of our income. In a true farm‑stay, the farm and agriculture are the cornerstone of the operation. It ensures
that we maintain the highest standards of farming and maintenance that we showcase as the experience our guests
are paying for. If you want farms to preserve agriculture and continue farming, please allow us to make money. Give
us conditions and requirements to demonstrate our agricultural use. That way, you are actually protecting agriculture
and protecting our livelihoods.
I am a member of an Agritourism working group, and this year there was a proposed Senate and House bill
(HB2585) that was being developed to help farms diversify through agritourism. Because there is still a lot of
well‑intentioned but outdated thinking about what it means to “preserve agriculture,” the bill did not get enough
support to pass, but we expect it to be revisited next year. Agritourism is a concept that is just beginning to be
looked at and understood in Hawaiʻi County. Right now, there is a lot of education and advocacy needed to give
these programs a needed start. I ask you to give the community a year to continue advocating for this at the State
level and to gain support at the County level to create an agritourism path that will help farmers. This type of
tourism should be what the County is trying to support and embrace: it keeps tourism dollars local, is educational,
protects and promotes high‑quality agriculture, and helps families stay on their land.
Please also consider what the two current formative legal decisions tell us. Rosehill makes it clear that unhosted, resort‑style vacation rentals do not belong in farm dwellings on Ag land, and I agree with that. Neal, by contrast, involved a hosted, owner‑occupied stay on an active farm in Captain Cook, and Hawaiʻi County’s Board of Appeals treated that differently from unhosted STVRs and viewed it as consistent with agricultural use at the time. Rather
than treating these as the same, the County can respect the Supreme Court’s ruling while creating a clear agritourism
pathway for legitimate hosted farm‑stays that demonstrably support agriculture and housing stability for local
families who both farm and need to make money.
There is another, very different issue that also causes unintentional harm to residents wanting to operate a hosted
rental. Many parcels in the State Land Use Agricultural District should really be in the Rural district. Parcels that
have been subdivided into lots less than two acres, are in rural residential neighborhoods, have poor soil quality, and
are being instructed to cut water consumption by one‑third because our water use is not in line with neighboring
rural residential properties must be reclassified. House Bill 2424 tried to address this by allowing the County to
reclassify such properties, but it also did not receive enough support this year. Please give the community a year to
advocate for this need at the Legislature so that this change can be made.gofarmhawaii+1
Questions for the Commission- about Impact on Residents
and Farmers:
There are about 90,000 parcels in the State Agricultural District, which covers roughly 45% of the
island’s land.
Do we know how many of these lots were created after 1976, which would determine whether
some farms are exempt from the cumbersome Special Permit process?
How many are currently operating hosted vacation rentals? How many of those are true
farm‑stays, integrated with farming and agriculture?
How many are struggling small farms evaluating agritourism to stabilize their income?
How many are small family farms?
How many are in the State Agricultural District but, based on size, soils, and water‑use
constraints, should be reclassified to the Rural District?
Questions about B&B requirements for anyone in the State
Agricultural District VS Everyone else:
For a B&B in the State Agricultural District VERSUS all other Residents following the Registration Process:
Must applicants pursue a Special Permit and, as recommended, hire a land‑use consultant for upwards of
$10,000 or go-through the time intensive, requirement heavy process?
Can they only use permitted “bedrooms,” as opposed to other properly permitted rooms (such as offices
or multi‑purpose rooms) for guests?
Must they host all guests in the house they personally reside in?
What other specific requirements apply to farms seeking B&B status?
When a farm goes to the Planning Commission for B&B approval:
How long is the grace period for coming into full compliance?
If anything is found out of compliance, is there a grace period in which they can continue to operate,
similar to the registration process for other resident hosts?
Are there circumstances where a farm‑stay would be required to cease operations while going through the
long Special Permit process?
Additional factors that should be considered:
Many people report their property taxes have already doubled due to commercial activity. If they are
effectively forced out of operating, will they still carry those higher property taxes based on past use?
Applicants who have paid all taxes and fees over the years: how can the County justify taking away a
business it has effectively acknowledged by collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in GET, TAT,
excise, and surcharge revenue?
Applicants who can clearly demonstrate agricultural activity: why can’t this be the main focus when we
talk about “protecting agriculture”?
Applicants whose properties should be in the Rural district rather than the State Agricultural district:
should residents be penalized when they are incorrectly mapped into the Ag district and should be
reclassified?
Thank you very much for reading and considering my long testimony. I have given a great deal of thought and care to this complex and often misunderstood issue of hosting farm‑stays on State Agricultural lands. I am happy to discuss any of these points in person if anyone has questions.
Warm regards,
Heather Korotie
The Mango Farm