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11116 OCT ?i Pf9 ? P1. • <br /> October 22, 2016 JO`J1\;i Y (JF I-lA\Ainl <br /> PO Box 199 '7 <br /> Hakalau, HI 96710 <br /> c <br /> Farrah-Marie Gomes,Vice Chair <br /> Hamakua CDP Steering Committee _' <br /> c/o Hawaii County Planning Department <br /> Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street,Suite 3 <br /> Hilo, HI 96720 - —— <br /> RE: Hakalau Point <br /> Vice Chair Gomes and Members of the Hamakua CDP Steering Committee: <br /> I am Susan Forbes and I live in Hakalau.Thank you for this opportunity,yet again,to testify in <br /> support of preservation of Hakalau Point. I appreciate the care with which you have listened to <br /> communities along the Hamakua Coast during the eight years of this process. It's my <br /> understanding that this is your 27th Steering Committee meeting.Add that to the other"speak <br /> out" sessions, and you have heard and witnessed a lot. <br /> Hakalau Point is a prime example of what Hamakua residents have said when they gave their <br /> input to the Community Development Plan folks about discouraging development on the <br /> coastal bluff. This land sits between a recreational area (the Bay) and a residential area. It is <br /> the bluff beside Hakalau Bay, precious and environmentally sensitive. Not a place for industry; <br /> not anymore. As well, it is an historical place. I want you to consider this status and this history <br /> as a reference point for planning decisions in the future. <br /> I want to reiterate the historical significance of the site. <br /> Prior to the days of the sugar plantation, Hakalau Point played a major role in Hawaiian history <br /> during the Battle of Hakalau.Subsequently, it was the descendants of Kamehameha I, <br /> Kamehameha the Great,who later sold the property to sugar interests. <br /> Hakalau Point is part of the Hakalau Historic District recorded in the State Inventory of <br /> Historic Places in 1973 (SIHP 50-10-16-7392) <br /> The Hakalau Plantation was established after the enactment of the Reciprocity Treaty,which <br /> allowed Hawaii's sugar to enter the United States duty free.The 9,000 acre (at that time) <br /> plantation was established by Claus Spreckels in 1878,with William Irwin &Company as agents. <br /> Spreckels was the major figures in the sugar industry in Hawaii during the nineteenth century. <br /> By 1890,the plantation's mill, located on the shore at the base of a two hundred foot bluff, <br /> produced five thousand tons of sugar a year.The plantation's maximum production was 26,509 <br /> in 1944,following the 1943 merger of the neighboring Wailea Milling Company into Hakalau <br /> 108158 <br />