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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-39 Way Testimony re SPP 1122Communication No. 2013 -39 Testimony submitted to PCDP Action Committee 719113 From: Jenna way, Executive Director, Hawaii's Volcano Circus (HVC) Subject: Amendment to Special Permit No. 1122 (Docket No. 01-000013) Applicant: Hawaii's Volcano Circus, Ltd. Request: Amendments to SPP 1122 to Establish a Self - Sustainable Community Arts and Education Center Demonstration Model, Including a Farmer's Market, Allow Pub- lic/Fundraiser Performances and a Certified Kitchen Location: The properties are located within and adjacent to the west side of Kalapana Sea View Estates subdivision near the intersection of 'Vest Pohakupele Loop and Ke- hauopuna Street, Puna, Hawaii, TMIK: 1 -2 -009: 034 and 1 -2 -038: 0500 Members of the Action Committee, I am Jenna Way, a Seaview resident, as well as the Executive Director of Hawaii's Volcano Circus. I am very grateful for this opportunity to clarify and correct misinformation and misunderstanding regarding the special permit application for the Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education ("S.P.A.C.E."). First off, I would like to address the comment in your draft letter to the Planning Director where it states that HVC is "operating more like a business than a community service." Frankly, I was confused when I read this. I thought to myself, "How could someone say that about us ?" I believe that if you understand the scope of what we do with our very limited resources, you can see that we are an outstanding service to our community. Personally, I hold a Master's in Business Administration from oxford Brookes University in England and worked for ten years on Wall Street. Before that, I worked in finance in other industries. From my perspective as an individual with many years of business experience, I can tell you that HVC is most certainly not operating like a for - profit business. I have been Executive Director for Hawaii's Volcano Circus for seven years and was a volunteer for two years prior to that. For the past nine years I have witnessed and been responsible for several other organizations' business decisions. No for - profit business would or could operate as we have been. At HVC, we live to serve. In fact, it's all about service! Every person that contributes at SPACE feels passionately about our work. Everything from our mission, which is "to creatively promote sustainable local community in Puna Makai," to our actions, which reflect our service to the community. We serve the community at our weekly farmers' market. The market's mission is "to promote sustainability as a vital part of the local economy." This initiative provides a safe, village -based marketplace for the community to buy and sell goods and services. The market serves our local economy - vendors are limited to selling only local products and services, which is defined as being produced on the Big Island. We assist in the creation and maintenance of a healthy local economy where the community can provide for ourselves and limit our reliance on imported goods. Community members and tourists come to share conversation, enjoy live music (when we were allowed to offer entertainment), and shop among local wares ranging from adornments to homemade soaps to fresh fruits and vegetables; all handmade or grown and sold directly by the Big Island's artists and farmers. We're proud of the SPACE Market for being an example of economic and sustainable growth, while enllancing community strength and culture. In order to better serve our customers and maximize access and participation in the marketplace by local people, we networked with local agencies to approve the use of EBT (food stamps) and other stipends at the market. We are very proud to say that we were only the second market on the island to offer this method of payment. This is especially important in Puna where over 20% of residents rely on EBT. EBT purchases at our market have reached a single -day high of $4,350.00, and overall EBT purchases have more than doubled in the past year. All of this money, every penny in fact, went into the pockets of our vendors, hence increasing their sales, and therefore supporting small businesses and our local economy. This increase reflects HVC's success in serving the community by maintaining positive relationships and widening access for all members of the community to shop for local, healthy foods. Since many people in lower Puna do not have reliable transportation, they often find it difficult to get to Pahoa or Hilo to buy food. Our market gives these people an opportunity to shop close to home once a week. For those who do have cars, many market shoppers have expressed their gratitude for not having to drive 30 miles round trip to buy wonderful fresh food. The weekly farmers' market at SPACE serves our environment by reducing the traffic on our state highways and vehicle emissions in the air we all breathe. We serve the community by providing education in the performing arts. We provide a performing arts workshop curriculum to the general public, including youth camps, after- school programs, and recreational classes. Each year, HVC offers dozens of workshops in performing arts, such as circus arts, dance, gymnastics, and yoga; all providing individuals with specialized training and activities In the arts. Both adults and children attend workshops and educational activities offered at SPACE, most of who live in lower Puna. Our flagship circus arts program, the HICCUP Circus, is an innovative and highly successful ongoing education program serving the children and youth of Puna, many of whom lack access to safe, healthy extracurricular activities. The mission of the Hiccup Circus is "to promote the healthy development of children and the community through the time honored skills of the circus." We also offer educational services to the public at large with emphasis on elementary and intermediate school age children and teenagers, especially in our under - served isolated rural community. Our methodology for developing and implementing programs is through partnerships with other educational, civic, and charitable organizations. Since 1984, the award winning `Hiccups' have been a regular feature at most Big Island festivals and parades for years, performing for community events and benefits extending across the Hawaiian Islands to the west coast of the United States. Our most popular Hiccup program is our circus camp. These camps, generally held twice a year during school holidays, offer a focused, intensive time for developing circus skills and serving families by offering a positive alternative for kids to participate in during time off from school. HVC invites older youth (former campers) to work alongside professional instructors as camp assistants to encourage leadership skills and economic responsibility. The success of our youth camps is marked by our annual retention and growth of campers, who are 'Inspired by their instructors to achieve their highest potential through practice, *discipline, and positivity. HVC's programs not only teach artistic skills, but healthy self - esteem, leadership, and other vital social skills. Instructors lead by example and help students learn how to work together and guide newcomers in their learning. Our staff not only model leadership skills, but also train others in these skills, leaving a legacy of confident, caring future leaders in their tracks. We serve the community in partnership with local public charter schools. HVC serves families and the local community by offering a facility for a school in our neighborhood. we partnered first Waters of Life Public Charter School for two years and then Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science (HAAS) Public Charter School for four years. This year, we are happy to include Kua 0 Ka La Public Charter School to the list of schools that we are partnering with to serve children in our area. Without the option of a school at SPACE, kids must go to Pahoa for school every day. That's a 30 mile round trip each day. If they need to ride the school bus, which many do because their families don't have a reliable car, the children must leave home at close to Gam and return around 4 to 4:30pm. This is for a school day that runs from approx. Sam -- 2pm. Families deserve to have schools closer to home and SPACE makes that happen. There are two other organizations along the Red Road that serve the Puna Makai community: Kalani Honua and Uncle Robert's. Lower Puna desperately needs services like these! I love the diversity of offerings that are available through this trio. As it happens, SPACE has the greatest number of programs for kids. And we all know how important it is to keep our keiki positively engaged. So as you can see, we do serve the community. And all of this we do on a shoestring budget. Our staff consists of two part -time administrators (myself and Maura, who manages our farmers' market) and four part -time staff members (two of which are teens), each working ten hours a week or less. Our average budget for the past three years has been $79,000. Compare this to the Pahoa Community Center's budget of $132,000/year, over 67% more than ours. And I'm sure that many more people come to SPACE in a year than go to the Pahoa Community Center. No for - profit business could run these programs with the budget that we have. The only way we can accomplish this is through our amazing network of volunteers. We have volunteers who help at the market, the school, community performing arts classes, and maintenance and cleaning of our facilities and equipment. In doing so, we act as an example for our youth. It's not just adults who volunteer for us — kids and teens also pitch in. We offer them the opportunity to learn what it means to be of service and we know that this will continue for the rest of their lives. How do we know? we've been doing circus youth programs for 25 years and so have seen many of our circus kids grow to adults and remain active in their community here on the Big Island or wherever their lives take them. The person who volunteers the most is Graham Ellis; who is our Board Chair, Hiccup Circus instructor, and all - around go -to guy. Graham spends hours each month working for SPACE and HVC, and doesn't receive a penny. He is strictly a volunteer. I have heard a multitude of rumors that Graham is personally getting rich off of HVC and SPACE. I personally sign all of the checks and I can tell you that no one is getting rich here. As much as we rely on our volunteers, the past three years have been over - taxing on them, particularly since receiving the Cease and Desist order. We cannot rely on this level of commitment indefinitely. This is why we need the income from performances and fundraisers in order to become economically sustainable again. Grants are great, but in these tough economic times, there are fewer and smaller grants available and the competition to get them is higher. We want to be able to sustain ourselves with reliance on grants but we can't do that without the performances. without performances, our community could lose the other vital services that we provide. I'd like to address a few of the specific issues raised in your draft letter to the county planning director: Noise from proposed events at SPACE: Upon reflection and discussion with our SPACE Advisory Committee in April, we decided to reduce our special use permit amendment application request noise limits. In the draft that you reviewed, we proposed to voluntarily reduce the noise emissions from SPACE from the legal limit of 70 dba to 65 dba averaged over a 24 -hour period. In our new version, we will be limiting ourselves to 45 dba for workshops, rehearsals, etc. and 55 dba for performances and fundraisers, with no averaging. Also, we have secured a grant of $30,000 to use for noise reduction measures for the SPACE pavilion, which we will receive as soon as the Planning Commission approves our amended Special Use Permit. We feel certain that the combination of the lower decibal limit and the noise reduction for the pavilion will alleviate one of the major inconveniences for our nearby neighbors. Number of events at SPACE: I've seen testimony with people referring to us as "requesting a weekly night bazaar for an additional 52 events per year." We are not requesting to hold a Night Bazaar. In our original amendment, submitted in Oct. 2010 to the Planning Department, we did ask for it, but that application was rescinded. when Uncle Robert's started their highly successful Wednesday night market, there was no longer a community need for us to hold one and we removed it from the application that we submitted in Sept. 2012. However, there was one place in the document where a reference to a Night Bazaar slipped our notice and was left in. So, to clarify, we are not requesting to hold a Night Bazaar. The mistaken reference remaining will be removed when we resubmit the application with the lower noise limits. I hope through this written testimony that I have been able to show you a different side of HV C and SPACE. My intention has been to communicate some aspects of our organization and our situation that you may not have been aware of I would love to see all of you down at SPACE. Please come down and see for yourselves what we're about. Mahalo nui loa, Jenna way Executive Director Hawaii's Volcano Circus Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education