HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-10-09 Julia Marrack SupportFrom: Julia Marrack
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170
Date: Friday, October 9, 2026 7:00:23 AM
My name is Julia Marrack and I live in Kamuela. I am
writing in strong support of Bill 170 and asking the Leeward
Planning Commission to recommend it favorably, with one
specific strengthening change.
The current bill 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 draw a clear line,
and a well-resourced developer's attorney can likely argue a
project around them.
I’m asking the Commission to give a favorable
recommendation for Bill 170 AND to recommend replacing
that language with an objective 5 megawatt electrical
demand threshold, the same figure the Hawaiʻi State
Legislature itself is already using to study large data centers
in HCR 206 HD1. The state’s own working group is still
studying the full effects of these facilities, but that’s exactly
why 5 megawatts is a solid place for our definition to start:
it’s the same line our own state lawmakers have already
agreed is significant enough to study.
Hawaiʻi Island has limited water, a fragile grid, and
electricity rates nearly three times the national average. We
don't need to wait for a company to show up with a proposal
to know this is the wrong place for a hyperscale data center.
Please recommend Bill 170 favorably, with a strengthened,
objective definition.
Mahalo for your time and attention to this.
Julia Marrack, Kamuela