HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-21 Debra Vitola Testimony
From: dee vitole
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170
Date: Monday, September 21, 2026 12:16:11 PM
Aloha Leeward Planning Commission and Planning Department,
My name is Debra Vitola, and I am from Kailua-Kona Big Island. My testimony addresses both the Leeward
Planning Commission and the Planning Department because you are asking the community for input on the same
concerns simultaneously.
I am asking our planning commissioners to reject the Planning Department’s recommendation, which prematurely
revises regulations before defining what a data center is. Their proposal currently lacks substantial safeguards. We
must work to clarify definitions before defining regulations.
I support the intent of Bill 170, section 1, and urge the Leeward Planning Commission to recommend a stronger
definition of "data center" that distinguishes data-center processing. The original bill defines a data center using
subjective language that a developer's attorney can easily argue around in court. I am asking the commission to
recommend an objective, airtight definition grounded in what the facility physically contains and how much power
it draws.
Specifically, I am asking the commission to recommend this language:
"Data center" means a facility used for the industrial-scale operation of computer systems and associated equipment
[for the processing, computing, transmission, or dissemination of digital data] that requires supporting infrastructure
beyond that typically accessory or incidental to office, commercial, or public and private institutional uses[.],
including a single facility and any campus of multiple facilities under common ownership or control whose
combined electrical demand meets or exceeds 5 megawatts.
Looking at all the problems these data centers are causing on the mainland should be a tell tail of how they don’t
improve the locals lives but make them extremely worse. Stealing peoples generational land, poisoning the aina,
polluting the water, bright lights and loud noises 24/7 doesn't help to improve a community. Instead of building a
polluting servalance center we should use the land for growing food. The way the world is going there are going to
be alot of starving people. What is the plan for that? Maybe we should listen to the community and not corporations
that really don’t care about us.
Mahalo nui loa for listening and understanding how detrimental this would be to the island if it's not stopped.
Mahalo,
Debra Vitola
Kailua kona
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