HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-17 Haunani Ford Support
From: Haunani Ford
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170.
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2026 7:57:18 AM
Aloha,
My name is Haunani Ford and I live in Hilo. 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.
The idea of having even one data center is very concerning knowing that we are on
an island with very limited natural resources. Water is life and if we learned
anything from the sugar plantation era, diverting large amounts of water only causes
harm. Other islands are still reaping the consequences of such actions and are
having to fight for their water rights. We need to protect our land and our water to
set an example for the rest of the state.
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.
Mahalo,
Haunani Ford
Hilo, Hawaii