HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-21 Jeannette Soon-Ludes, PhD Testimony
From: Jeannette Soon-Ludes
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Subject: Support for Bill 170
Date: Monday, September 21, 2026 2:13:05 PM
Aloha Members of the Leeward Planning Council,
My name is Jeannette Soon-Ludes and I live in Honoka'a. I am writing to support the intent of Bill 170 and asking the Leeward Planning Commission to recommend
additional strengthening changes before sending it back to the County Council. Your
decisions will set a precedent across the island and I am hopeful that your
recommendation will be a model for protecting our limited island resources.
Bill 170's current 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 a clear, objective definition of "data center," distinct from the county's existing "data processing facility" definition.
My preferred definition is: 'Data center' means a facility, or two or more facilities on
contiguous or adjacent parcels under common ownership or control, whose primary
purpose is housing, operating, or co-locating computer servers and associated cooling, power, and support infrastructure, and whose combined electrical demand at
full build-out meets or exceeds 5 megawatts.
I'm also asking the Commission to reject the Planning Department's recommendation
to add smaller data centers as a permitted use. That change would open a legal pathway for data centers here rather than close one, with no discretionary review of
grid impact, water, noise, or anything else. It is vital that we retain the ability to review
potential impacts of even smaller data centers.
We live on an island where water resources are finite and electricity is already at a premium. Providing pathways for data centers -- of any size -- jeopardizes the
wellbeing of our entire island community by creating pathways for monopolizing these
precious resources.
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.
Me ke aloha,
Jeannette Soon-Ludes, PhD
Pronouns: she/her
Honoka`a, Hawai`i
Mobile: (808) 217-7209
Email: jeannettesoon@gmail.com