Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-23 Roberta Hickman SupportFrom:Roberta Hickman To:Planning LPC Testimony Subject:Bill 170 Date:Wednesday, September 23, 2026 8:47:16 AM My name is Roberta Hickman and I live in Ocean Viewing. I am writing in support of Bill 170 and asking the Leeward Planning Commission to recommend additional strengthening changes 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." Those phrases don't set a clear line, and a well-resourced developer's attorney can argue around them either way. I'm asking the Commission to recommend replacing that subjective language with an objective, enforceable standard: a specific electrical-demand threshold, measured in megawatts, that applies to a single facility and to any campus of multiple facilities built under common ownership or control, so a developer can't dodge the rule by splitting one large project into several smaller buildings.Our island's closed water system, fossil-fuel-dependent grid, and already strained infrastructure cannot support data centers. Please recommend the strongest possible version of this bill to the County Council. Hawaii is such a unique State in so very, very many wonderful ways. WE DO NOT NEED NOR WANT AI DATA CENTERS HERE! Please please please let's keep it this way! Malama aina!