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<br />PLANNING COMMISSION
<br />COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I
<br />
<br />HEARING TRANSCRIPT
<br />APRIL 5, 2012
<br />
<br />A regularly advertised hearing on the PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED AMENDMENT CHAPTER 25
<br />(ZONING CODE) OF THE HAWAI‘I COUNTY CODE 1983 (2005 EDITION, AS AMENDED) RELATING
<br />TO AGRICULTURAL TOURISM, was called to order at 9:02 a.m. in the County of Hawai‘i, Aupuni Center
<br />Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i, with Chairman Zendo Kern presiding.
<br />
<br />COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Zendo Kern, Dean Au, Ronald Gonzales, Wallace Ishibashi, Stephen Ono and
<br />Raylene Moses
<br />
<br />STAFF PRESENT: Ivan Torigoe (Deputy Corporation Counsel), B. J. Leithead Todd (Planning Director),
<br />Daryn Arai (Planning Program Manager), Maija Cottle (Staff Planner), Jeff Darrow (Staff Planner), and Sharon
<br />Nomura (Secretary)
<br />
<br />And three people from the public in attendance.
<br />
<br />APPLICANT: PLANNING DIRECTOR INITIATED
<br />
<br />Amendment to Chapter 25 (Zoning Code) of the Hawai‘i County Code 1983 (2005 Edition, as amended)
<br />relating to Agricultural Tourism. The proposed amendment will specifically amend Sections 25-1-5(b),
<br />25-2-71, 25-2-75, and 25-4-15 relating to definitions, plan approval requirements, and use regulations,
<br />respectively, as they are related to agricultural tourism.
<br />
<br />KERN: Let’s get started with the application No. 1, Planning Director initiated Amendment to Chapter 25
<br />(Zoning Code) of the Hawai‘i County Code 1983 (2005 Edition, as amended) relating to Agricultural Tourism.
<br />And we’ll let Daryn go through the rest of it. Thank you. Good morning, Daryn.
<br />
<br />ARAI: Hi, Commissioners. Before I let the Planning Director kind of give you a brief overview of the proposal
<br />before you, I wanted to apologize for the last-minute revisions that we made. The revisions are not substantive,
<br />for the most part, but it was to provide for a much greater clarity and consistency throughout the bill. The
<br />Planning Director spent a lot of time working on this, with the members in the community, in the development
<br />of this bill. I also want to recognize Maija who spent a lot of time reviewing the bill as well and making some
<br />very productive comments. With that, if I could turn it over to the Planning Director.
<br />
<br />KERN: Madam Director?
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<br />LEITHEAD TODD: Some time back the State Legislature approved agricultural tourism as an activity on ag
<br />lands, provided the counties adopted an ordinance. Hawai‘i County' is the only county that has actually adopted
<br />an agricultural tourism ordinance. And under the theory of the law, ag tourism actually isn't a theoretically legal
<br />activity unless you have an ordinance or if you already had a special use permit granted for specific types of
<br />activities. Not included, kind of in the concept of ag tourism, is if you had an ongoing thing where, you know, a
<br />school came and brought school buses to look at your operation, that wasn't to be considered ag tourism, but
<br />something that, you know, is just part of the educational experience. And I think they were not envisioning, you
<br />know, one time tours like that where you have got a conference and they want to come out and see what is
<br />happening on a particular farm. But they were looking more at the ongoing day-to-day, week-to-week, month-
<br />to-month types of activities that you might have where people come and do a tour.
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<br /> EXHIBIT A
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