HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-02 Ronda Hoxsie Support Testimony
From: Ronda Hoxsie
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 6:13:50 PM
My name is Ronda Hoxsie and I live in Kailua-Kona.
I am writing in strong support of Bill 170 and asking the Windward Planning Commission to
recommend one additional strengthening change before sending it back to the County
Council.
The original Bill 170 language uses subjective phrases like "industrial-scale operation" and
"beyond that typically accessory or incidental to office, commercial, or public institutional
uses" that a well-resourced developer's attorney can argue around.
The definition below replaces that subjectivity with objective physical criteria and a clear 20
megawatt threshold that cannot be disputed. Cooling, power, and support infrastructure,
including but not limited to servers, network equipment and appliances, telecommunications
equipment, data storage systems, systems for monitoring and managing infrastructure
performance, environmental controls, fire protection systems, security systems, electrical
substations, generators, and redundant power supplies; and which requires or is designed
to require 20 megawatts or more of electrical capacity at full build-out. This definition
includes a single facility and any campus of multiple facilities on contiguous or adjacent
parcels under common ownership or control whose combined electrical demand meets or
exceeds 20 megawatts. This term includes facilities commonly described as large-scale,
hyperscale, neocloud, and artificial intelligence data centers and colocation campuses. This
term does not include telecommunications facilities regulated under Section 25-4-12,
hospital or government data systems, university educational and research facilities, or
business offices in which servers are incidental to the primary use."
I am against AI data centers on Hawaii Island. Water is a precious resource and very limited
on our island home.
We do not have the infrastructure to support this. We do not have the electrical grid or
power.
We DO NOT need AI data centers here.
Please recommend the strongest possible version of this bill to the County Council. Shut
down this kind of development now.
Mahalo,
Ronda Hoxsie
Kailua-Kona