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HomeMy WebLinkAboutP-0108 PUBLIC HEARING TRANSCRIPTS 2009-Doc8685• • PUBLIC HEARINGS LISTING ~ ~~~ BILLORDRES SUBJECT PHHELD BILL 2295 AMENDING CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO ZONING 1/14/2009 DESIGNATION IN POIPU (RICHARD E. FULLER, JR, ET AL, APPLICANT) / BILL 2296 AMENDING B-2008-672, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO OPERATING BUDGET 1/14/2009 OF COK, FOR FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (POLICE DEPARTMENT: $65,000 FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES AND $20,000 FOR ADVERTISING) BILL 2297 AMENDING CHAPTER 5A, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987 AS AMENDED, 1/14/2009 RELATING TO KULEANA LAND /BILL 2299, 2300, 2301 AM B-2008-672 AS AM, RE TO FY 2008-09 OPERATING BUDGET OF COK, BY 2/11/2009 REVISING THE SURPLUS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (APPROPRIATION OF $40,203 FROM THE GENERAL FUND TO BUILDING LEASE, FIRE DEPARTMENT)/($833,696 FROM COUNTY'S GENERAL FUND TO GOLF FUND OF $233,405 AND SEWER FUND OF $600,291)/AM B-2008-673 AS AM, RE: FY 2008-09 CAPITAL BUDGET (WORK FORCE INITIATIVE (FISHBOWL) PROJECT) BILL 2302 AMENDING B-2008-673 AS AM, RELATING TO FY 2008-09 CAPITAL BUDGET 2/25/2009 OF COK, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($900,000 -NEW KAPAA/KEALIA FIRE STATION OFF- SITE WATERLINE) BILL 2303 AMENDING ZONING CONDITION IN PM-2002-358, RELATING TO ZONING 3/25/2009 DESIGNATION IN WAIMEA (KIKIAOLA LAND COMPANY, APPLICANT) BILL 2304, 2305 ' AMENDING B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO FY 2008-09 OPERATING 4/8/2009 ~ 2. 5r,~ciraw h~IVUtifGs BUDGET, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE SOLID WASTE FUND (APPROPRIATION OF $400,000 FROM THE SOLID WASTE FUND TO OTHER SUPPLIES FOR PURCHASE OF 4,000 BINS FOR THE AUTOMATED REFUSE COLLECTION PROGRAM), AMENDING B-2008-673 AS AM, RELATING TO FY 2008-09 CAPITAL BUDGET, BY REVISING SURPLUS AND c! I'YllbllifG$ CpVhblrle APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN PUBLIC ACCESS FUND (BLACK POT BEACH ~ PARK EXPANSION-LAND ACQUISITION) / BILL 2306, 2307,2307, 2~9 AMENDING B-2008-672 AS AM, RELATING TO FY 2008-09 OPERATING 4/22/2009 / BUDGET, BY REVISING SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE / S ~ ~ ~ I ~ ~'~ GENERAL FUND ($500,000 KAUAI VISITORS BUREAU ECONOMIC STIMULUS epGt4 Gl ' GRANT), ($300,000 CONSULTANT SERVICES -SPECIAL COUNSEL), AM CH 19, SUBSECTION 19-3.2(b) AND 19-3.2(i), RELATING TO INCREASING PLAYING AND DRIVING RANGE BALL TOKEN FEES AT WAILUA GOLF COURSE, AM SUBSECTION (a) OF SECTION 21-9.2 OF KCC, 1987, RELATING TO INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT -T~±'%r - -REi-A-TINE-T-A-FY~A99-49-OPEf2A~FING-BraDGET-Ai~FD-FIIVAN61N6--THEI~EAF-~- ~i/6/2009-~ -(l;OIFOPERfkTING-BEJDGET-ORDI NANC-E•)- ~ BILL 2310, 2311, RESOLUTION 2009- RELATING TO FY 2009-10 OPERATING BUDGET AND FINANCING THEREOF 5/6/2009 32 (COK OPERATING BUDGET), RELATING TO FY 2009-10 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF (COK CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS BUDGET), ESTABLISHING REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR FY 2009-10 -Sttt29tt- - RELATING TO•FY 2009-10-C-API-TAL-IMPROVEMENTS-AND-FINANCING- 5/6/2-009J -~FfEf2E0F- / BILL 2312 AMENDING CHAPTER 17A, KCC 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO BUS 5/20/2009 FARES FOR THE COUNTY BUS SYSTEM ~ BILL 2313 AMENDING B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO FY 2008-09 OPERATING 5/20/2009 BUDGET, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (PROSECUTING ATTORNEY) ~ C-2009-184 (FILED BY BILLS 2310 COMMUNICATION (5/6/2009) FROM THE MAYOR, SUBMITTING HIS 5/27/2009 AND 2311) SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET COMMUNICATION FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009-2010 AND PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE BUDGET BILLS BILL 2314 AMENDING CHAPTER 12 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987 ENTITLED 6/16/2009 BUILDING CODE BILL 2315 AMENDING ARTICLE 9 OF CHAPTER 6, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS 6/16/2009 AMENDED, RELATING TO THE HOUSING REVOLVING FUND BILL 2316 AMENDING ZONING CONDITION IN PM-31-79, RELATING TO ZONING 6/16/2009 DSIGNATION IN POIPU, KAUAI (KIAHUNA LAND COMPANY AND POIPU TOWN CENTER, LLC, APPLICANTS) BILL 2291, 2317, 2318 AMENDING SECTION 8-24.1, KCC 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE 7/8/2009 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE, ESTABLISHING A NEW ARTICLE 28, 3 se ava~ CHAPTER 8, KCC 1987, RELATING TO SMALL WIND ENERGY CONVERSION P SYSTEMS, AMENDING CHAPTER 9, KCC 1987, RELATING TO .yn/~,~~ COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE (FARM WORKER HOUSING) Wednesday, January 12, 2011 Page 1 of 2 s • PUBLIC HEARINGS LISTING BILLORDRES SUBJECT PHHELD / BILL 2319 AMENDING CH 8, KCC 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE 7/22/2009 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE (AMENDING ARTICLE 27, CHAPTER 8, KCC 1987, RELATING TO SHORELINE SETBACKS AND COASTAL PROTECTION) ~ BILL 2320 AMENDING CHAPTER 19, KCC 1987 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PUBLIC 8/19/2009 PARKS AND RECREATION ~ BILL 2321 ESTABLISHING A NEW ARTICLE 19, CHAPTER 22, KCC 1987, RELATING TO 8/19/2009 PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION ~ BILL 2298 AMENDING CHAPTER 8, KCC 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE 9/9/2009 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE AND SINGLE-FAMILY TRANSIENT VACATION RENTALS ~ BILL 2322 AMENDING CH 8, KCC 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE 10/7/2009 COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE (ADU BUILDING PERMIT DEADLINE EXTENSION FOR NON-RESIDENTIALLY ZONED LAND) BILL 2323 AMENDING B-2009-691 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO CAPITAL BUDGET OF 10/7/2009 COUNTY OF KAUAI, FOR FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2010, BY REVISING SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($132,000 - MOANA KAI (FUJII) SHORELINE DESIGN/PERMIT) ~ BILL 2324, 2325, 2326, 2327 AMENDING STATE LAND USE DISTRICT BOUNDARY, AMENDING PM-2006-382 10/7/2009 RELATING TO GENERAL PLAN DESIGNATION, AMENDING ZONING CONDITIONS IN ORD PM-2006-383 RELATING TO ZONING DESIGNATION, AMENDING PM-2006-384 RELATING TO VISITOR DESTINATION AREA DESIGNATION, ALL IN NAWILIWILI (MORI GOLF KAUAI, LLC, APPLICANT) ~ BILL 2328, 2329 AMENDING PM-227-91, RELATING TO STATE LAND USE DISTRICT BOUNDARY 10/21/2009 IN KILAUEA, AMENDING PM-228-91 RELATING TO GENERAL PLAN DESIGNATION IN KILAUEA (COUNTY OF KAUAI, APPLICANT) ~ BILL 2332, 2335 ' ~ AM CH 12, ARTICLE 6, KCC 1987 RE: ENERGY CODE, AM CHAPTER 13, 11/18/2009 a Se~la,/A~ ~l'r~rull`td ARTICLE 4, SEC. 13-4.1 OF THE KCC 1987, AS AM, RE: ELECTRICAL CODE AND ADOPTING THE NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CODE, 2008 EDITION AS A STANDARD FOR ALL ELECTRICAL WORK ~ BILL 2333, 2334 ~ ~ AMENDING B-2009-691, AS AM, RE: FY 2009-10 CAPITAL BUDGET OF COK, BY 11/18/2009 qyq~ /Y11hti1K.~S oZ REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE , ~ GENERAL FUND ($150,000 - KAPAA WAILUA DEVELOPMENT PLAN), AMENDING B-2009-691, AS AM, RELATING TO FY 2009-10 CAPITAL BUDGET FY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (TRANSFER $230,000 FROM KAPAA NEW FIRE STATION TO PIIKOI BUILDING DESIGN) ~ BILL 2336 AMENDING CH 16, ARTICLE 20, KCC 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE 12/2/2009 TRAFFIC CODE ~ BILL 2337, 2338 ~ AMENDING CH 5A, KCC 1987 RE: LIMITATION OF TAXES ON PROPERTY USED 12/2/2009 a~ S GWGt~fJ h'tI ~~S - FOR LONG-TERM AFFORDABLE RENTAL, AMENDING B-2009-691 RE: CAPITAL l BUDGET OF COK BY REVISING PROJECT DESCRIPTION IN GENERAL FUND (AFFORDABLE HOUSING - $1,000,000) ~ BILL 2339 AMENDING ARTICLE 8 OF CHAPTER 8 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, 12/16/2009 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS IN THE OPEN DISTRICT Wednesday, January 12, 2011 _ _ _ _ _ __- - -Page 2 of 2 PUBLIC HEARING JANUARY 14, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, January 14, 2009, at 1:32 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2295 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO ZONING DESIGNATION IN PO`IPU, KAUAI, (Richard E. Fuller, Jr., et al., Applicant), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on December 17, 2008, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on. December 26, 2008. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1.33 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao ~, ~ • PUBLIC HEARING JANUARY 14, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to"order by Derek Kawakami, Chair, Public Safety/Energy/Intergovernmental Relations Committee, on Wednesday, January 14, 2009, at 1:33 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami , ~, Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: ~~ BILL NO. 2296 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND - - ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-672, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (Police Department: $65,000 for Consultant Services and $20,000 for Advertising), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on December 17, 2008, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on December 26, 2008. The following communication was received for the record: • Glenn Mickens testimony, dated 0 U13/2009 The hearing proceeded as follows: GLENN MICKENS: For the record, Glenn Mickens. Thank you Derek. You have a copy of my testimony; you can go over it with me. I want to read it for the viewing public and for the audience. The purpose of this bill appears to be recruitment of more police officers. Since I understand that we are about 24 officers short on our force, I certainly have no problem with doing whatever is necessary to get added police. However, in my opinion, before throwing $85,000 at the problem, I 1 • ~ ~ would hope that the use of these funds will be scrutinized and justified. Under our former chief K.C. Lum, we were about 10 or 11 officers under full hire. Since he was wrongly forced to retire, this number has doubled to about 24. So it appears that the problem with having enough officers is more than one of recruitment. There appears to be a morale problem with our force that is causing good officers to quit, retire, or find better employment elsewhere. From what I read and heard, we are hiring new recruits, but as the numbers indicate, we are losing more than we are hiring, and the deficit grows. In other words, we are hiring 5 or 6 police officers, and we're losing 7 or 8. So we go on the deficit side. Certainly filling vacant police positions on Kauai has problems other than morale-cost of living, finding an affordable place to rent, buying a home, or deciding if a salary of about $40,000 is enough to survive on. However, I understand that the Big Island and Maui have their police positions filled, and since SHOPO sets salaries for the entire State, pay is not the biggest problem. Personally, I believe that any person who becomes a police officer and puts their life on the line each day, they pull a vehicle over or respond to a domestic violence call, should earn a lot more than $40,000 or $50,000 for what they .do. This is probably a hiring restriction too. So the suggestions I have to help solve this hiring problem are: one, forget spending big bucks, $85,000, on consultants and advertising. Unless we lower our cost of living on Kauai and/or SHOPO increases the pay scale, all the advertising in the world will not help. Two, the morale problem is an internal one, and only the chief and his subordinates can solve it. Three, one possible hiring aid may be to offer a per month rental incentive to prospective hires, and to make it equitable, then all the other officers on the force will have to get the same. With this huge economic downturn, it may be hard to go after a rental incentive. The same goes for SHOPO being able to pay more money, and realistically, our cost of living is only going to go north-it's not going to go down. So it appears that the only real solution to this problem is solve the morale issue, and that is one for the new chief to address. And I hope you Councilmembers too can look in to this. I mean there's obviously a problem. You guys all know it as much as we do. You've seen the ads on television. I have. I've seen them in the paper advertising for police officers, and we just can't do it. I understand, you know, they get cops to come over here from the mainland. They want to get a job here and they find out what it's going to cost of living, everything, they just can't afford to do it. So I do hope that you Councilmembers will take this under advisement and do that. Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Kawakami: Does anybody have any questions for the speaker? Council Chair Asing: I don't have a question, but Glenn, I'm not sure where you're getting your information from. You know, this 10, 11 officers under full hire, that's not true. I mean we've had police vacancies under all chiefs. I'm not going even pick one chief. It's always been a problem, and it's not easy. You know, they're trying to find ways and it's not easy, and I don't know where you get the Maui and Big Island is all filled. You know, when you make presentation before the council, I hope that your research is accurate, because I do not believe that the 2 statements you're making here are accurate, Glenn. I know for sure, yeah, the vacancies in the police department have always been there. As a matter of fact, I had a little wager on the 'side with my friend Chief Lum about his filling vacancies when he made the statement that he would get vacancy filled...I believe he said two months, and I said, well you know, I'll buy you lunch if that happens. And it never happened. It's tough. Mr. Mickens: I think he was referring to the dollar funding part of the thing too. If you take away the dollar funding part of it, I think there were 10 or 12 that they were short on their force. If you add those in, then I'm sure as you're pointing out, Kaipo, I think it would have been more. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. Mr. Kawakami; Any other Councilmembers with to comment? Councilmember Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. My comments are, you know, since originally it was my money bill that's introduced here, I want to talk about the general environment that exists right now. The fact of the matter is, we only budgeted $45,000 for recruitment and promotion of the vacancies that are in the department. After visiting with Malcolm Fernandez as I stated earlier, they too feel giving more money for specific recruitment at this time was appropriate based on the fact that the general economy has slowed down. Fact of the matter is that National Guard recruitment, U.S. Army recruitment, is way up from originally projected, because people are seeking some opportunity with stability. And I did not want us to miss out on the opportunity, given 7.2% State unemployment, to at least market for the County of Kauai the vacancies in the public safety segment, and therefore, I think that given the current economic environment and the fact that we've not had the kind of marketing dollars to promote these vacancies, I think it is a fair assessment of the investment we have to make to attempt to support the department to fill vacancies. Thank you committee chair. Mr. Mickens: And Jay, just for my information, you're saying that you feel that the money...monetary part of this is the biggest problem and... Mr. Furfaro: No I didn't say that, and don't put words in my mouth. Mr. Mickens: Well, I thought...I'm just trying to connect... Mr. Furfaro: I didn't say that. Mr. Mickens: No, I'm trying to connect what you're saying... 3 • i ~~ ~' Mr. Furfaro: Here's what you've heard many times here. If we want to retain police officers, we got to work for the federal government to see if there's grants available for incentivising(sic) people to buy homes. Mr. Mickens: Then it is monetary. Mr. Furfaro: And, which means that through federal government grants with urban development, so forth, .possibility of officers being recruited and being able to retain or get reimbursed for closing costs, the commissions, and so forth, there are grants available for the federal government. What I am assaying is this is one part of it. Having the marketing dollars to recruit and promote the vacancies, and the fact that we are making strides in the department to get us to full staffing. The fact of the matter is right now we use people in uniform to do the background checks and all of that, so those are officers that are off the street. But if in fact if we put money in for one year to assist the recruitment and the background checks that this may help the department fill the vacancies. That's my statement. I didn't say it was the absolute most important. I said, the opportunity exists and we should attempt to strike while the iron is hot. Mr. Mickens: ~ Okay, I understand what you're saying, but on a prioritized basis, you're saying then that the monetary part of it would be the thing you would go after first. Is that...am I understanding you right? Mr. Furfaro: No, I never mentioned anything in ,this bill about the rate of compensation and so forth. I see it as a complete issue that will require us to address recruitment, address marketing, address what the federal government the possibility of incentives for homes and purchases and closing costs, but also through SHOPO, there is this ongoing negotiation with all counties about base pay and other incentives. So I think they are equal in their urgency, but we have control over certain parts. One of them is marketing, advertising, recruitment, background checks to help fill these vacancies, and that's what this bill is about. Please, that's what this bill is about. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Councilmember Furfaro. Any other Councilmembers wish to ask any questions on Mr. Mickens' testimony? If not, thank you Mr. Mickens. Mr. Clerk, are there any other.speakers? Mr. Taylor? KEN TAYLOR: Chair and members of the Council, my name is Ken Taylor. I know this thought is an ongoing problem and has been for some time and will be into the future, as the existing officers retire. My thought and ideas is that maybe what we need to do is institute an activity within the high school, similar to the ROTC program that would be specific to police activities, and whether individuals that went through that part of the program became policeman in the future, or not they would be wonderful citizens to have in the community. But it would certainly open up young people's minds into the potential of a future in law 4 enforcement, and I think...I think this would be a place to put some time and effort in to getting the State to institute this kind of an activity within the high school program to...which, like I say, you know, we have some...we have a number of openings today, but in the near future, we're going to have the existing police force retiring and they have to be replaced. And so if we started this program now, as time goes along we would be developing a young group of people from the island, which is the kinds of things we need to be looking at, move forward with that kind of a program that would benefit not only these young people coming up, but would also benefit the community. You know, like I say, even if you go through this program and don't become a police officer, you might go on to be an attorney or other law related activities, probation officers, and so on, so forth. And so I think it is very important that the council take a position on this and push on the State to institute this in the school system, because it's a win-win situation for the community, completely. Thank you. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Mr. Taylor. Councilmember Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Mr. Taylor, I just wanted to say I think your idea is a really good idea. It's a police explorer kind of a program, and you know, we, the Council, there are other examples in the police department that put the police in connection with young people in not criminal situations or problem situations, like DARE, like KPAL, that we all are very supportive of. But the problem is that when you have vacancies in the police department, the police chief is faced with this very difficult decision about how to prioritize the officer's time. There's only so many hours in a day, and giving them too much overtime, you know, stresses them out and makes it difficult to retain. So we're caught between this rock and a hard place often. You know, we advocate for school resource officers, for instance, where we had funding to put officers in the middle schools, but we didn't have the officers to go there. So this recruitment piece is an attempt that...to give us the latitude to do these things that I totally agree with you are a really good idea. Mr. Taylor: You might be look at... I know I've met a number of retired police officers here on the island, and it's very likely that some of those folks would be available on a part-time basis to take care of programs like this, and it may... You know, there's... I understand that there's a lot of logistical issues, but if we don't start. thinking outside the box and start trying to look at the different options and what can happen, we continue to muddle in the same dilemma that we've been in-not being able to fulfill these billets, and like I say, the problem's not going to go away, because retirements are going to continue to happen. So... Mr. Bynum: Well, I'm not here to testify, but I think this is an example of a worthy attempt to do what we can to try to get to that goal that you're saying. So thank you very much. 5 Mr. Kawakami: Thank you. Thank you Mr. Taylor. Mr. Clerk, any other speakers didn't sign up wish to testify? Mr. Chang: Mr. Chair, I have a comment. I just wanted to let it be known that I recently had a conversation with some friends on Maui, and I want to correct myself if I'm wrong, but he did tell me that there were a shortage of police officers on the island of Maui. So if that's the case that the Big Island and Maui have their police staff full, maybe we can learn from them how they were able to position themselves to fill up their vacancies, like the Police Explorer or what have you. On another note, as Mr. Mickens was saying, it's, you know, maybe apparent to many for years that the police department had morale problems, if that was the case, but I would like to say, speaking with Chief Perry and many of the rank and file, I believe that the police department hopefully is at an all time high as far as morale is concerned. I believe he's been extremely hands-on. I've..been able to watch the police officers participate on Cop On Top. Not only did they spend hours there on the top of Safeway, but fellow officers stop by, they give encouragement, they pump up morale, and as many of us know, recently Chief Perry took a challenge and said to every single officer with the police department, he raced them all. It was one against the whole department on a bike race, and that brought a lot of joy and a lot of morale to the officers. I understand Chief Perry was light years ahead, but due to a flat tire, the guys was finally able to catch up. But it was a good...it was very good experience, because they knew who the chief was deep down inside, not only because he really out-distanced them, but because of a flat tire, they all realized that, you know, off of the every day duties, I believe they all had a great time. So I want to just speak positively, because I do feel that morale at the police department has gotten leaps and bounds. That's my observation. Thank you. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Councilmember Chang. Seeing no other speakers that wish to testify on this matter, I'd like to adjourn the public hearing. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, .~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 6 ._ _, i ~ PUBLIC HEARING JANUARY 14, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, January 14, 2009, at 1:52 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2297 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 5A, KAUA`I COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO KULEANA LAND, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on December 17, 2008, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on December 26, 2008. The following communication was received for the record: • Cheryl U. Lovell-Obatake, dated 01/14/2009. Mr. Nakamura, County Clerk: We received one written testimony from Cheryl Lovell-Obatake, Mr. Chair. She wanted to note that in her written testimony in the fifth paragraph, she asked that we note that she refers to the date and time...she actually wanted to make sure that we recognize that this is supposed to be the date and time deadline. Mr. Kaneshiro: So noted for the record, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Chair, perhaps this is something we can work on in committee? Mr. Kaneshiro: Absolutely. 1 • i Mr. Furfaro: And I want to thank Cheryl for her testimony on the time date specific. Thank you. The hearing proceeded as follows: MAX MEDEIROS: Good afternoon Council. I just wanted to... Mr. Kaneshiro: For the record, state your name. Mr. Medeiros: For the record, Max Medeiros. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Mr. Medeiros: I live on the ahupua`a of Kalaheo, and I just wanted to put this section c of the kuleana act, if we could have amendments saying that all the lands from 1850 to 1892 that these lands could be exempt from all lands you know from that time. Because now you guys reading just a certain portion of that, those Acts yeah. So if you guys could ever amend that, because got other lands are involved in the kingdom or the constitution of government that had other people that had other lands like, you know. So we trying to see if we could have all lands from 1848, 1850, to 1892, you know, if you guys could ever put that in that amendment. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay. Is that your testimony for today? Mr. Medeiros: Yeah, I just wanted to... Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay. Anyone has questions for Mr. Medeiros? Mr. Furfaro? Mr. Furfaro: Yes. Thank you very much for your testimony. I think the way we are approaching this is from the period of 1848 to 1852, which was the bulk of the Great Mahele claims. You're quite true. Subsequently, other homestead acts and so forth occurred, and also, some lands were actually sold. This bill is intended to go address those that actually claimed under the Great Mahele their kuleana rights. It does not prevent us from looking at other options and expanding the bill over a period of time. But the intent is to first address the Great Mahele. I know and I will be asking when we go into committee if the chair of this committee could in fact send correspondence to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to have members of OHA come to Kauai to assist people to understand their deeds with more clarity and so forth. I think that's extremely important, but I think this is only the beginning, Mr. Medeiros, in what we're trying to do. Mr. Medeiros: So you guys acknowledging the 1848 then? 2 f, •_. • Mr. Furfaro: about 1852. Mr. Medeiros: Mr. Furfaro: were... Mr. Medeiros: Mr. Furfaro: land. The Great Mahele period was from 1848 to Well, had other acts after that. Yeah, there were many acts after that, but they Or royal patents. They were claims that people could make to buy Mr. Medeiros: No, no. Had lands all the way to 1860, 1892, that lands was given. Mr. Furfaro: Right. Mr. Medeiros: From the kingdom to the chiefs...or the heirs. So it's still an act...those laws are still ongoing. So if you're acknowledging 1848, I can understand that. Mr. Furfaro: From 1848. Mr. Medeiros: Yeah, but as all I have to know, because I don't see that act, 1848. Mr. Furfaro: But I think it's very important what I said earlier. The fact of the matter is the Great Mahele occurred in that period. Mr. Medeiros: Yeah, I understand that. Mr. Furfaro: But many people need assistance from OHA, which is not the jurisdiction of this Council, to help research to those deeds to verify what types of claims they might have. Mr. Medeiros: Well, I spoke to OHA, you know, and OHA has told me they only specifically reading that one act, 1850. So they... You understand where I going now. You said you guys understand the 1848, but she told me she only specifically going to read 1850, specifically now. So she don't want to read nothing more than that, 1850, 1852. So we got acts before 1848, right? 1840/1848, constitutional government made these acts of law. All the way through 1892, lands was still given out those times, hui lands and royal patents. They're still there. But the lady I spoke at OHA, she needs better people assisting her, and that should be 3 • . ~, . title guys, expert of land. Because I tell you, sorry to say, she don't know what she doing. Mr. Furfaro: understand your dilemma... Mr. Medeiros: Mr. Kaneshiro: Well again, as I said, when we go into committee, I Yeah, okay... Let me stop this... Mr. Furfaro: I would suggest that we write and ask OHA to be here. Mr. Medeiros: Well that's my testimony. That's my testimony. Mr. Kaneshiro: As the Chair, hold on one second. I've heard what Mr. Furfaro has said that we'll probably get OHA over, and then we can get into dialogues like this. Mr. Medeiros: Okay. Mr. Kaneshiro: But currently, what I wanted to do is take testimonies from the public on this specific bill as this specific bill relates to this topic currently that we see before us. Mr. Medeiros: Yeah, I see that. Mr. Kaneshiro: Those discussions can happen later in committee and so forth when we get into, you know, those areas. Mr. Medeiros: There are more people to testify on this bill than me? Mr. Kaneshiro: No, no. I'm saying but... What I'm saying is we're testifying on this bill today specifically the way the bill is written, and what you have brought up are concerns that we'll bring up in committee as we work on this bill. Mr. Medeiros: Okay. So I just wanted to share that. Mr. Kaneshiro: And Mr. Furfaro said he would... Mr. Furfaro: My intent is to write to OHA, ask them to come over and give us a better overview. But I do not disagree with you, Mr. Medeiros. The fact of the matter is from the period of the 1840, late 1840s through 1892 or 95, 4 .. ~~ ! ,. I don't know specifically, there were several other exchanges of land, whether they were royal patents, sales, and so forth. But this first bill only, in our understanding, was addressing those kuleana pieces. Mr. Medeiros: Okay. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Mr. Medeiros: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Mr. Medeiros from other committee members or Councilmembers? Thank you for your testimony. Mr. Medeiros: Thank you. Have a nice day. Mr. Kaneshiro: Anyone else wanting to speak? Mr. Nakamura, County Clerk: We had a registration form for Presley Wann, but I don't see Pres around, so... Mr. Kaneshiro: Alright. If not, this public hearing is now adjourned. Thank you. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~_ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 5 r~ u PUBLIC HEARING FEBRUARY 11, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Vice Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, February 11, 2009, at 1:34 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair Excused: Honorable Tim Bynum The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: 1. BILL NO. 2299 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (Appropriation of $40,203.00 from the General Fund to Building Lease, Fire Department) 2. BILL NO. 2300 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($833,696 from the County's General Fund to the Golf Fund of $233,405 and Sewer Fund of $600,291) 3. BILL NO. 2301 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-673 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (Work Force Initiative (Fishbowl) Project), which were passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on January 14, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on January 22, 2009. There being no one present to testify on these matters, the public hearing adjourned at 1:37 p.m. R ectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao PUBLIC HEARING FEBRUARY 25, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, at 1:35 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair Excused: Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2302 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-673 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($900,000-New Kapa`a/Kealia Fire Station Off-Site Waterline), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on January 28, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on February 5, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:37 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 1 PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao k ~, • • PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 25, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at 1:30 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2303 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ZONING CONDITION IN ORD. NO. PM-2002-358, RELATING TO ZONING DESIGNATION IN WAIMEA, KAUAI (I~kiaola Land Company, Applicant), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on February 25, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on March 9, 2009. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Frank O. Hay, dated March 23, 2009 2. Mark Nellis, dated March 23, 2009 3. Kelly Liberatore, Broker/Owner, Makai Properties, LLC, dated March 23, 2009 4. Owen S. Moe, dated March 24, 2009 5. Ray Ishihara, dated April 23, 2009 6. Aletha G. Kaohi, dated March 23, 2009 7. Cindy Goldstein, Business and Community Outreach Manager, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., dated March 24, 2009 8. Michael G. Perel, dated March 23, 2009 9. Stephanie N. Iona, General Manager, Waimea Plantation Cottages, dated March 23, 2009 10. G. Douglas Tiffany, PhD, dated March 23, 2009 11. Cathy Hensley, A Hideaway Spa, dated March 24, 2009 1 .~ 12. Mary Jean Buza-Sims, President, E Ola Mau Na Leo O Kekaha, dated March 24, 2009 13. Petitions (3) supporting Bill No. 2303 14. Status Report, submitted by I~ikiaola Land Company, dated August 6, 2007, with 2 packets of support letters. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:31 p.m. Respectfully submitted, > • PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 2 • • PUBLIC HEARING APRIL 8, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Tim Bynum, Chair, Public Works/Elderly Affairs Committee, on Wednesday, Apri18, 2009, at 1:33 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2304 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE SOLID WASTE FUND (Appropriation of $400,000 from the Solid Waste Fund to Other Supplies for purchase of 4,000 bins for the Automated Refuse Collection Program), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on March 13, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on March 26, 2009. The hearing proceeded as follows: ARNOLD LEONG: Good afternoon: For the record, my name is Arnold Leong. First time I've .ever been before the Council here testifying, but I think... But I have a major question.- Where is this money coming from in the solid waste fund? In all the years I've been involved with solid waste as the deputy county engineer, the solid waste fund has never had a surplus. The solid waste fund has always had to been fed by the general fund. So my question is, is this fund sitting there and is this part of the moneys that are supposed to be set aside for the 30-year maintenance...closure maintenance of the Kekaha Landfill? Mr. Kaneshiro: Very good question. 1 • • Mr. Bynum: Mr. Leong, I don't know the answer to that question, but I will send written communication asking that question of the solid waste division. Mr. Leong: I think you need to, because if you spend that funds that required by federal law, somebody's going pay the price. EPA is going to come down big time. Then the second part to that question is, do you have any idea what kind of follow-on cost there is to this appropriation and after these bins are purchased? Mr. Bynum: On that question, we have had presentations from the solid waste division about the plan for the use of these bins and its impact on the budget. So...I mean the short answer is yes, we have had that. Mr. Leong: Are you able to say briefly what the plan is and what kind of follow-on cost we're going to have? Mr. Bynum: Well, we're going to put all of your questions in a communication, but these bins are to support a automated collection that according to the department will result in some cost'savings in terms of labor cost. Council Chair Asing: Let me help a little bit. There is a plan. The plan is already set. Public Works is in the process of going through the process now. This is one portion of the plan. The trucks have already been purchased and it's on its way, so we need the bins to work with the truck so we can do the project. So there is a plan, Arnold, and the plan is with Public Works. They've completed the plan and this is part of that plan. This is like the second half of the plan. Mr. Leong: ~ So this is... These bins are going to be used solely for refuse collection and nothing in the recycling area? Council Chair Asing: No, I believe it's going to be used for recycling. Mr. Bynum: The bins... Initially. The bins are initially going to be used for refuse collection, as I understand it. But they are the same type of bin that could be reallocated and also used for curbside collection. Council Chair Asing: Because that's the long term plan. Mr. Bynum: Right, and there is a... You know, I want to thank Councilmember Kawahara who does her homework and has the implementation plan here, and so it's been presented here at Council, and I'm sure it's a public document that'll be available. Mr. Leong: Okay. 2 • • Mr. Furfaro: I have something. Mr. Bynum: Sure. Question from Councilmember Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: I think the concept of the solid waste and the evolution into curbside recycling is available in a public presentation. If you'd leave your address, I'll get it to you if you do not have access to it through a website. But your statement, earlier statement about the funds, the funds do come in fact to supplement the solid waste department; it is a transfer from the general fund. I think the way it would be justified accordingly is that any FF&E purchases and so forth that will long term benefit the operating cost for the County, I think can be justified. And I think as Mr. Bynum...but your question was excellent, and I think Mr. Bynum kind of recaptured our goal of getting to this recycling, curbside recycling process. But the idea is, long term the impact would be hopefully to reduce operating cost. Mr. Leong: Okay, because my concern was peaked because I've heard through the grapevine that these bins may...some or all, I don't know, were going to be used initially for...to establish a curbside recycling within the Lihu`e area. Mr. Furfaro: I think the study, and I will get you a copy of what was presented to us, I think the study might have covered a Kapa`a-Wailua area and/or a Lihu`e area. I'm not absolutely recalling exactly where it was, but the material I will get to you could in fact show that. I think Mr. Bynum answered that portion of the question. I just wanted to answer your question about the financial piece. Mr. Leong: Okay, because in this second or third-hand information I got, also I heard that supposedly the recycled materials as collected are going...you know, are combined and they were going to be shipped to Oahu to be sorted? Mr. Furfaro: I can also say to you that one of the things I've been a proponent of here is a material recycling facility here on Kauai. We will be covering, you know, Public Works items in the budget tomorrow, and that is an excellent question to me to resurface. Obviously, if there's the opportunity to, whether it's a clean MRF where the material is separated, or a dirty MRF where everything comes in and gets separated, your question and the reality is we still have to have a material recycling center. Mr. Leong: I agree, but I kind of thought if they're going to establish curbside recycling with this initial purchase of bins that, you know, it's 3 • • like trying to have a horse connected with a rope to a cart and push the cart, you know, (inaudible). Mr. Furfaro: I understand what you're saying, and I hope Mr. Bynum answered your question that, you know, it's something that will evolve into a recycling program. But it's an excellent question. Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Mr. Leong, we will forward those questions, and I believe the budget hearing for Public Works is not tomorrow huh? Is it tomorrow? Mr. Furfaro: Next week. Mr. Bynum: Next week. Yeah, I thought you said tomorrow. Mr. Furfaro: Oh; I might have, but I meant Thursday. Mr. Bynum: The Public Works budget hearing is on the 14~. Mr. Furfaro: Yeah, and it's almost an all day session. Mr. Leong: Well, I won't be able to attend. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for coming today. Mr. Bynum: Thank you Mr. Leong. Anyone else want to testify on this? GLENN MICKENS: For the record, Glenn Mickens. Thanks. You're chair of this thing Tim? Mr. Bynum: Yes. Mr. Mickens: Thank you. Mr. Leong asked some good questions. Do you have data on this thing? I got a copy of the bill here, and you know, it doesn't say anymore than the agenda. But do you have data like...Kaipo, you were talking about they've already ordered the trucks. How many trucks, what are those trucks cost, you know, where is the money coming from, stuff like that? Council Chair Asing: It's on order already. Mr. Mickens: Do we have... Council Chair Asing: This is the second half of the project. Order the trucks, then we order the bins, then we're going to curbside recycling, because that's the idea. 4 • • Mr. Mickens: Right. Council Chair Asing: So we're going to move into it. Mr. Mickens: It says it's $400,000, so that means each bin costs a thousand bucks a piece. Now with 4,000 bins, is this an experimental program? I mean is it going to be like, you're saying... Council Chair Asing: They're already doing it elsewhere. There doing it in Honolulu right now, and we're kind of mirroring what Honolulu is doing. Mr. Mickens: But is our program set up to mirror their program? Council Chair Asing: The program is currently in Honolulu. They're doing it now. Mr. Mickens: Council Chair Asing: Mr. Mickens: or not? Council Chair Asing: I understand. This program will be similar to that. But have we got it in place to mirror their program Not yet. Mr. Mickens: We haven't. So we don't have MRF or anything to take the recycle stuff or do anything. So how is this program going to start? Mr. Bynum: With all due respect, this budget item is about refuse collection. Mr. Mickens: Okay. Mr. Bynum: And I did answer Mr. Leong's question that if necessary in the future, the bins could be used. Because one of the things we decided was that the equipment need to be consistent with that hopeful long term goal. But they are currently scheduled for refuse collection, and the recycling is not this agenda item; it's a separate thing that I'd be happy to talk with you offline about that. Mr. Mickens: But you do have material there that's open to the public we can get? Mr. Bynum: Yes. 5 • Mr. Kaneshiro: Can I add something Mr. Chair? Mr. Bynum: Yes please. Mr. Kaneshiro: I know this is a public hearing, so basically I'm going keep my comment short. There was a presentation made before this Council on February 25, 2009, just to give you a reminder. You might have been here, and basically he talked about the automated refuse collection cart. So I want to point that out to you that it was presented here. Perhaps at that time you were just looking at recycling. This is not about recycling. This is basically we talked about the refuse collection. Mr. Mickens: The collection only, that's what you're saying? Mr. Kaneshiro: Correct, and there was a presentation made here before the Council on 2-25-09. Mr. Mickens: I think I was here, but I don't remember hearing what the collection was going to...what's going to happen with it, you know. Mr. Kaneshiro: Well, it was also on the screen, so I don't know... Mr. Mickens: Yep. Okay. Mr. Kaneshiro: ...if you saw it or not. But we have that material. Mr. Mickens: Okay, so we can get information regarding this thing to look at the whole picture again to see what's going to happen with this thing, whether the MRFs are going to be there, and everything else, after you collect the material, as you're pointing out, which is the agenda item here. It's for the collectable things. But as Kaipo is saying, it's being done in Honolulu, but we're more or less experimenting with this to see if we can go along with the same way? Mr. Furfaro: Committee Chairman, I'd like to point out that all of the questions that Mr. Mickens is asking, it would be appropriate to share with him, that is a committee item next week on the 15th on Public Works. There's a follow up presentation. And I'm sure rather than us to conceptually give you more, I would encourage you to attend that meeting on the 15th. Mr. Mickens: Fourteenth. Isn't Public Works and Parks and Recreation... Mr. Kaneshiro: No, committee meetings. This is going to committee. 6 Mr. Mickens: Oh, oh, committee meeting. I'm sorry. Mr. Furfaro: We got two things going on-we have our regular committee meeting on Wednesday of which this is an agenda item; then we have our budget meeting on Thursday which covers Public Works. Mr. Mickens: Right, right. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Chair, I just wanted to offer that to you. Mr. Bynum: So any questions about... Okay, Councilmember Chang? Mr. Chang: ~ I think the Public Works budget is on the 14th, which is a Tuesday, not a Thursday. Is that correct? It's a Tuesday. Mr. Bynum: Mr. Chang: Mr. Bynum: Mr. Chang: is on Wednesday... Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Mickens: Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Mickens: Mr. Bynum: wish to testify on this issue? You're right. Public Works for 12 to 4:30. Tuesday, not Thursday. On Tuesday the 14th So it's on Tuesday, and then the committee meeting The 15~. Fifteenth, okay. Which this is an agenda item. Okay, got you. Okay, I'll be there. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else in the audience ROB ABREW: Aloha Councilmembers. Rob Abrew for the record. I understand this and I understand there's a plan here going on. Right now there's an expenditure for $400,000. We've been told next week there's more information coming and everything. If we're going to do this, let's defer this bill until we know all the questions, after we do next year's budget for the Public Works. So giving a month is not going to change how these come here. Mr. Furfaro: We're not going to vote on this today. 7 Mr. Abrew: Okay. Mr. Furfaro: This, just so that you know, in the format today is our opportunity to collect public information, and you can certainly send in testimony to that matter. The actual decision making will be done in this later process, the same as regarding the next bill regarding funding. There'll be no vote today. It's an opportunity to take specific testimony on the Black Pot expansion, and that will then go to the committee, the Finance committee. . Mr. Abrew: Thank you Jay for clarifying that. The other thing I would like to see is I hope the Council is responsible in having solid waste produce a program to where they can recover the cost of this bin if the homeowner or whoever it goes to happen to get lost, stolen, or anything, because this $400,000 should be able to be recouped from somewhere as of loss of stuff. So I hope we try to get that into this bill too. Mr. Bynum: Okay, thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Abrew: Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Anyone else on this bill? Seeing none others, this public hearing is closed. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:48 p.m. . . Respectfully submitted, ,~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 8 • PUBLIC HEARING APRIL 8, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, Apri18, 2009, at 1:48 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2305 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-673 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE PUBLIC ACCESS FUND (Appropriation of $1.85 million from the Public Access Fund to Black Pot Beach park Expansion-Land Acquisition), , which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on March 13, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on March 26, 2009. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Carl Imparato, President, Hanalei to Ha`ena Community Association, dated January 4, 2009 2. Makaala Kaaumoana, Executive Director, Hanalei Watershed Hui, ,dated January 2009 3. Donald H. McConnell, President, Kauai North Shore Lions Club, dated January 21, 2009. 4. Charlie Bass, Chair, North Shore Council, dated Apri13, 2009 5. JoAnn A. Yukimura, dated Apri18, 2009 ~ 6. Pictures (2) and TMK map submitted by Michael Sheehan. The hearing proceeded as follows: 1 • • JENNIFER LUCK: Aloha Councilmembers. For the record, my name is Jennifer Luck, and I'm the executive director of the Kauai Public Land Trust. KPLT, we'd like to thank the Council for giving us the opportunity to come before you today, and also the Administration, in particular Mayor Carvalho and Gary Heu and Lenny Rapozo for their guidance, support, and leadership throughout this process. On behalf of the Kauai Public Land Trust board and staff, I would like to voice my strong support for appropriations bill 2305. For generations, the land at the mouth of the historic Hanalei River has been a popular gathering spot. Henry Tai Hook solidified the park's reputation as one of Kaua`i's places of the heart when he began his tradition of cooking the day's catch in his black pot and sharing it with all who came by. I'm sure that Cathy can expand on that even further. His generosity and compassion for his neighbors created an atmosphere where people from all walks of life, locals and visitors, could come together, enjoy .the stunning surroundings, and relax in the sun. Expansion of the park has been a priority of the Kauai community for many years, as evidenced by its continued ranking as a top priority acquisition by the open space commission. In addition, I have submitted copies of letters of support to you today from the Ha`ena to Hanalei Community Association, the North Shore Lions Club, the North Shore Council, and the Hanalei Watershed Hui, all of who are in...very supportive of this bill as well. After years of unsuccessful efforts to expand the park, we now have a real opportunity to purchase land adjacent to the park. The owner of lot 11, Mr. John Hodge, is a willing landowner and has agreed to a bargain sale of his property, reducing the price by $700,000. This is a tremendous but limited opportunity. Mr. Hodge has already obtained building permits on the site, and does plan to begin construction of a single family residence unless we are able to secure funding for acquisition in the next few months. If we do not act now, we will lose this opportunity forever. To successfully complete any land acquisition, there are many complex elements that must come together at the same time. The Black Pot Park expansion project has never had all these elements in place at the same time until now. KPLT and the Administration have worked closely to identify and secure $1,450,000 in non-County funding already. We have a willing landowner, again as I said previously, who has generously agreed to a bargain sale, as well as the support of the north shore community. Securing 1,850,000 from the open space fund is the final piece of this puzzle that would enable us to finally expand Black Pot Park. So with that, I want to thank you again for your time, your attention, and your consideration of this request. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions? Next speaker please. MICHAEL G. SHEEHAN: For the record, Michael Sheehan. Nice to be here today. I'm just waiting for some pictures and a couple of tax map keys and things for everyone that's viewing information... I only made 7 copies, Peter, so maybe you can give one to each and... I want to thank the Council for making 2 • • over the years. The first color photo of all these cars parking opposite the pier is along a private roadway that belongs to us. On any given afternoon, particularly on the weekend, there's probably 2 to 300 cars that try to fit themselves into the County Black Pot, which is 2.47 acres, and the land surrounding it, which is a State land along the beach, or the Department of Transportation access road to the pier. There's just not enough room, period. So what they do is they overflow onto our private property, and which we've been allowing that to go on, and we will probably continue to do so in the interest of community spirit and... But that requires us to have liability policy. We don't receive any compensation for that. Second page is a cross-hatch in green. Those are parcels 49 and 50 right opposite the County park and Weke Road. Just north of that is a parcel that's marked Princeville to Montage Resorts, approximately half an acre. Now, Montage is trying, I believe, to turn this half acre parcel over to the County. I believe that's a condition of their purchase of the former Hanalei Plantation Hotel across the river. So my suggestion, and I've been in discussion for years with the Kauai Trust for Public Land, my suggestion is that you use those funds to purchase the green cross-hatched area first, and then at the same time acquire the half acre north of that from Montage, and you effectively get approximately close to an acre, and then you get to continue to use the free parking down that easement on my property. So I think my proposal is a pretty good one, and you also...people also get the use of my restrooms. I maintain restrooms for the benefit of the public on parcel 33, which is the parcel to the right of the green cross-hatched area, approximately one more acre. And gee wiz, I don't know what else to say, but if you got any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Sheehan. Any questions for Mr. Sheehan? Mr. Furfaro: I just want to clarify some public information that was in a press release that conveyed 122 acres of land to Montage. And so we are clear, that sale was not just a Hanalei Plantation piece, but it also included the possibility of evaluating the restoration of Kamoomaikai fishpond. It also transferred land equal to the density portrayed in our housing arrangements. And it also implied in the deed that when the County had' a master plan, and when the County had a master plan, that parcel that's referenced here could be conveyed to the County, not as a sale, but at a gift for park expansion. I just wanted to clarify the intent of that deed was not to create a sale of that parcel. I would also like to thank the whole family of people that have been working with Mr. Sheehan on this first picture. I think you need to be publicly thanked, Mr. Sheehan, on allowing that parking to happen. Mr. Sheehan: Happy to continue providing it as long as we can, so no thanks are necessary. 3 • • Mr. Furfaro: Well, it is a community service, and that is one of the things that we need to address in Hanalei-is finding a safe and appropriate parking for a highly used beach park. Depending on your time in Hanalei, some people refer to it at Black Pot after Uncle Kalani Tai Hook, I was one of the recipients many years of his ability to provide a place to harvest taro and work and surf. But I also do want to point out that, you know, it goes all the way back to many of the old timers, including the Dates and other family members of mine, you know, referred to it as the landing. So you can know, from the landing, it goes to the pier, to Black Pot. It has great history, great utilization, and you deserved to be thanked for allowing some parking access there. Mr. Sheehan: Well, we need to continue that expansion, and I just wanted to just remind the Council that there are other opportunities out there, and we are working cooperatively with the Kauai Trust for Public Land and with the County of Kauai. So just keep all your options open, and as Councilman Furfaro clarified the understanding, I guess, of the deed... Mr. Furfaro: Well, it's in a press release. Mr. Sheehan: Yeah, okay, I didn't see that, so I'm just aware that this might be an appropriate time for that master plan, and get that half acre from Princeville, and combine it with lots 49 and 50, and maybe Mr. Hodge, his piece on the other side of the pier as well. But parking is what's critical down there, and you know, we provide at least 150 parking stalls mostly manuahi, some of the stalls, some of the parking on parcel 50 is the commercial tour boat patrons and the surfing patrons and the kayak people, and we'll certainly continue providing that service and facility as well. So thank you very much for your time, and aloha. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any other questions? Mr. Bynum has a question for you, Mr. Sheehan. Mr. Bynum: Mr. Sheehan, public land trust said that, you know, a number of factors have come together to allow us to move potentially on the Hodge parcel, and one of those was a willing landowner. So I assume from your testimony that you're a willing landowner in terms of the purchase of this property? Mr. Sheehan: I'm a willing landowner. Mr. Bynum: And other properties in that area as well? Mr. Sheehan: There's other properties there as well, so...just requires a master plan. Somebody's just got to come up with a plan and follow through. That's the problem, we have these hiccups-people make plans and they don't get followed through, and then somebody else makes a plan and... So maybe this is the year we follow through with a plan. That'll be really good. 4 • Mr. Bynum: Okay, thank you very much. Mr. Sheehan: Thanks, Councilmembers. Mr. Furfaro: I want to thank you for that confirmation on the County initiating a plan, and that you would be willing as well. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Sheehan. Can I have the next speaker please? JOANN YUKIMURA: Chair Asing, members of the Council, good afternoon. My name is JoAnn Yukimura, and I speak today both as a director of the Kauai Public Land Trust and as a resident of Kauai. With your approval of this bill appropriating money from the open space public access fund for expansion of Black Pot Beach Park by acquisition of oceanfront property adjacent to the historic Hanalei pier on the renowned Hanalei Bay, you will be investing wisely in the future of the north shore and Kauai. This is one of the main responsibilities or kuleana of government-to take action to secure a good future for present and future generations. As Jennifer Luck mentioned, the open space public access commission has deemed expansion of Black Pot Park a top priority in the county, and use of the moneys from this open space fund would fulfill the very purpose that the fund was created for, plus there is a willing seller. And if we don't seize this opportunity and the owner builds a house on his lot instead, as was mentioned he already has a building permit, the lot will be lost from public use forever. And as I'm sure you all know, we cannot let this happen. I remember sitting in this very room in the back row many, many years ago when the planning commission approved the subdivision -of those lands in `Anini that are on the makai side of `Anini Road that goes to the park. That's the land where now there are big mansions on the makai side, and can you imagine what `Anini Beach Park would be like today if the County had acquired those lands instead? We let that opportunity slide by us. Let us not do that here. Expanding our much beloved, much used Black Pot Beach Park will benefit both residents and visitors. It will promote the economic vitality and the social well being by preserving a common wealth, which is the foundation of our local lifestyle and our visitor industry. I thank you for your past support of Black Pot Park expansion, and I ask that you follow through and approve and expedite this bill. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions for JoAnn? Ms. Yukimura: Thank you very much. 5 • Mr. Kaneshiro: Can I have the next speaker please? CATHY K. TAI HOOK HAM YOUNG: Good afternoon Mr. Chairman. My name is Catherine Kaliko Kalehua Tai Hook. I am a Ham Young and (inaudible). I reside in the ahupua`a of Wainiha, and my interest in Black Pot is why I had adopted Black Pot.. Black Pot comes from my dad who was with the County almost 40 years or 40 years over as a supervisor, and he used to take care all of the tourists that were at the first Hanalei Plantation Hotel and cooked for them in this black pot, and we as children used to run around there, and our children were raised there, so is Mr. Furfaro's children and my children. They were the girls, and mine were the boys, and we brought them up very well that they too want to be in this, but they had to work. I've had a restaurant there named Black Pot in Hanalei, and I had a lunchwagon too down at the pier. I feel that in this case right now, the park is getting very crowded and we need more ample parking and tent space. And we have halaus that come down that use the parks, we have the Hokulea that comes now and then, and they're almost on their way around the world. We have lot of families that unite there from all over the islands, the State, at our tourism. And with the tourist, if they're...most of them that will be coming over, like we have different countries like China and wherever, Cuba, whatever, I don't think we going to have enough space. As it is, we don't have enough housing. And so I really want you folks to look into this problem very well, and I'd like to have the expansion right next door in Mr. Hodge property. I feel that it's more convenient, and it's close to the ocean and the beach, and I know there's a lot of opposition, but there are more problems that we have there right in front of them in Hanalei, and some of the properties there I don't think have permits for what is going on right now I will not mention. It's right...really visible. And so the County has to do a lot of studies too before... They have to clean up the whole area and make sure what we got to look after is our children and our families that have the ties, that come to the beach, camping and all that, and we need all that security. And thank you for the rest of the people that have been before me. I don't have to go into other properties like...thank you Mr. Sheehan, and JoAnn, and Jennifer. I hope and pray that you people will look into this very carefully and make it real soon, because I need help there. And at one point, I heard that they were going to put stones and block the front going down to the river, and to me it's a no-no. Thank you very much. Mahalo. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Yes, I just have a statement for Kalehua. Thank you for being here. First of all... Kalehua, I also...it would be inappropriate of the Council not to personally thank you for taking the stewardship of the pier, the landing, Black Pot. We all...some of us have some very fond memories of your dad, a great host there at the park, his 40 plus years as a County supervisor, but it's very important for us to say thank you to you, especially in the effort that former Mayor Baptiste had on acquiring the point that with the accretion of land and getting some 6 jurisdiction there for the County so that we can come up with a master plan. And I do believe, after hearing from Mr. Sheehan today and summarizing the opportunity with Montage and this willing landowner, hopefully in the very near future we'll be able to come up with a master plan. Ms. Tai Hook: Mahalo. Thank you very much. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Next speaker please. That was the last registered speaker. Anyone else in the Chambers wanting to give testimony on this public hearing today before I close this public hearing? Mr. Mickens. GLENN MICKENS: Thank you Daryl.. For the record, Glenn Mickens. I just want to say I'm in complete support- of this land trust getting Black Pot Beach. I think it's a tremendous idea; we need all the land we can get. My only caveat is that we have people that are going to maintain the properties, you know, like the rest of our parks and recreation were shorthanded, and I don't know, you know, what plans have been made if any of being able to look after this. But you know, you want your property. I remember Mel sitting there 5...6 years ago showing pictures of our parks and recs on the island, and they were in disarray. So I just want to bring that point up. But I do completely support any land we can get to keep open space on this property, and I salute all these land trust people. I think they're doing a great job. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Good point, Mr. Mickens, and I believe some of that discussion will come up during our committee meeting. Thank you. Any other speakers? Going once, twice... The public hearing is adjourned. Thank you. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:11 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ____ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 7 • PUBLIC HEARING APRIL 22, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, at 1:50 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2306 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($500,000 - Kauai Visitors Bureau Economic Stimulus Grant), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on March 25, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on April 2, 2009. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Glenn Mickens, dated Apri121, 2009 2. Chris Moore, dated 4-20-09 3. Randall Francisco, President, Kauai Chamber of Commerce, dated April 21, 2009 4. Shari Chang, Sr. Vice President Sales, Marketing & Revenue Management, Aston Hotels & Resorts, (undated) 5. Lorna Hoff, dated Apri121, 2009 6. Katy S. Britzmann, Director of Sales and Marketing, Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa, dated Apri120, 2009 7. Doug Sears, General Manager, Grant Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, dated April 20, 2009 1 • 8. Casey Riemer, General Manager/VP, Jack Harter Helicopters, dated Apri120, 2009 9. Roy Thompson, President, Po`ipu Beach Resort Association, dated April 20, 2009 10. Leesha Kawamura, Senior Sales Manager, Hawaiian Airlines, dated April 21, 2009 11. Richard A. Holtzman, President, Kukui`ula Development Company, (Hawai`i), LLC, dated April 21, 2009 12. Maureen Mulvihill, American Savings Bank Branch Manager, Lihu`e Branch, dated April 20, 2009 13. Sheraton Kauai employees, dated April 20, 2009 Mr. Kaneshiro: I wanted make a notice here. I see on some of the public testimonies that I'm reading, they're asking for a total of $lmillion tourism economic stimulus package. I just want to clarify this at this time that what we have before us is a bill for $500,000. The other part of this is in the budget itself. So basically I just wanted to clarify this as you do your testimony. So it's for... The bill before us is for $500,000 to start the first part of this stimulus...Kaua`i Visitors Bureau economic stimulus grant request. So with that Mr. Clerk, can you call the first speaker please. The hearing proceeded as follows: GLENN MICKENS: For the record, Glenn Mickens. Thank you Daryl. I have a short testimony before I go to my ball game. As you know, I've been a strong opponent of giving KVB this $500,000 stimulus grant. Basically, we in the public were never given any information or a breakdown of how this money was going to be spent, and this left a lot of skepticism in our minds. However, Sue Kanoho, George Costa, and Councilman Chang were good enough to spend two hours with Ken Taylor and me showing us exactly where this grant money was to be spent. It was an extremely informative meeting, and I would suggest that in the future, any large sums of money proposing to be spent on legitimate projects have this same itemization information available to the public. Though I may disagree with some of the projects that the funds are being allocated for, I will know that there is complete transparency in the process. And again, I do wish to thank George, Sue, and Dickie for having this meeting with us. I still take exception with HVB...that's not HKVB, and the $93million (I believe that was the figure that they get per year) they spend on tourism for all our islands, Oahu getting the lion's share. I believe that Kauai should get a larger piece of the pie, and I believe that part of it should be spent to help upgrade our deteriorating infrastructure, which is used in large part by the visitors-our beaches, our roads, and our recreational facility. So anyway, I thank you, Daryl. 2 • • Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Mickens. Any questions for Mr. Mickens? Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: I just want to clarify, Glenn. You're an opponent of this bill? Mr. Mickens: No, I have been until my meeting with these people. I was... bill. Mr. Bynum: So now you're... You're testifying in support of the Mr. Mickens: Oh yes, yes. Yeah, in support of it. Mr. Bynum: Okay, I just want to clarify. Thank you very much. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Mickens. ANGELA VENTO: Aloha Council, I'm Angela Vento for the record. I'm here today representing Sheraton Kauai where we have 291 associates. I'm also here as part of Starwood Hawaii, which encompasses not only Sheraton Kauai, but also the upcoming St. Regis Princeville, and additionally the Westin Princeville and those associates there, as well as the Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association. I want to be able to say we appreciate that you are here discussing this with public testimony. As a company and certainly in the hospitality industry for the last 25 years, we have all faced uncertain times, but this is really a paramount opportunity. And as we have discussed this as industry leaders, we find that the financial acuity that our county has had has helped us be able to have fund that we could allocate in a need time. And certainly knowing that these circumstances are at a time when we don't know how long they will last, knowing that this is a rainy day in which we need to be able to control our future is important. When we look at the first quarter of the year, we find that our tourism is down over 20%, and I think you certainly are aware of those statistics. We as an industry have all looked to ways that we can attract visitors. We know that our airline service to the island is critical to continuing to have visitor counts. We also do know that being able to attract quality visitors helps ensure that they can spend in our environment. But I will tell you that the measurement we use as industry leaders are revpar, which is revenue per available room, and that for us as an industry has dropped 30% when you take a look at STR, which is a Smith Travel Researches Report, and that is for March of 2009 results. On that STR report shows that typically the first quarter of the year is our best quarter of the year with higher rates, higher occupancies. And knowing that we've had a drastic downtrend in the number of unemployment, which continues to decline, these are things that present concerns, and as an industry leader, you know we live in a small community, and my associates are my friends, they're my neighbors. The Sheraton Kauai, we were able to put together 3 • • testimony that talked about what we were doing. We are certainly looking at increasing our travel...me personally, I went to five cities on the mainland in February, and our company covered 40 cities from the State of Hawaii to try and be able to increase business. We also had our counterpart Marriott Hotels and Resorts that did a bus tour, which was very successful, and the recent KVB component focusing on the film industry, and San Francisco was a great success-continuing to be able to expose us. You'll see in your testimony you should have received a note from 120...I have 122 of our associates that have signed this. I also have testimony signatures that I'll provide to you from St. Regis Princeville, and the Westin is sending that as well. And then I'll tell you as I was able to meet with our associates, I have a monthly meeting to talk about what the trends are and the concerns, and help educate our team, and we've continued to be able to focus on what we do to drive business. And I will say that we...I am a proponent for the support of this 500,000 to be able to continue to drive. I have an associate that told me that they would sit outside of Big Save and collect signatures, and I think that states really their commitment, as well as mine, to this important measure. Thank you for your time. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Furfaro, go ahead. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for being here. Ms. Vento: Oh, you're welcome. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for being here. I want to let you know that we did have some discussion with Chairman Asing during our budget process, in particular when we are looking at The Garden Island presentation of their marketing efforts, and their ability to link us to several of their publications to the Midwest, and in that particular concept, we were talking in terms of sources that we could collect information that measures our success. And as you pointed out, many of us are familiar with the STR report which is a competitive profile of, you know, the island and the competition, .and it certainly is held with being able to forecast yourself in the market, and this particular destination. being Kauai. Do you know of any other reporting system that we could, the council going forward, have access to that would be able to measure this net results from this extra moneys? We were talking about that, and the only document I think comes close to it is the STR reports, but do you have any subscribing... Ms. Vento: There's the PKF as well. I would just say that as I sit on the KVB board, I also sit on the Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association board, which support these measures. One of the things we discussed about is the importance of deliverables. I believe that for us as a business, we look at market share. The money that has been... I've had a chance to review the plan, so I have some perspective of that. The money that has been allocated... The component of presenting it to wholesalers to develop a plan, they already have marketing in 4 • • place, so this will subsidize that. We can't be naive to the fact that there are other islands competing for the same visitor. As we talked about ways to be able to measure that success, we feel confident that those partners that plans would be probably accepted, and probably the deliverable they could say is maybe not the number of visitor counts, but perhaps that this program was able to move share from an island such as Maui to an island to Kauai, and I think that's a number we could expect they might be able to demonstrate, because we look at market share on the Smith Travel Research. And I do believe as you take a look at visitor count numbers that would be a viable way to measure and could be able...information we can access. 1VIr. Furfaro: Thank you, and I do respect your commentary on vehicles we could go to measure this, because you know, we have an opportunity in the upcoming budget to further enhance this, but I think we have to have a common agreement on where we measure it. So between the Smith's Travel Resource(sic) and PKF, we feel we're... Ms. Vento: I think, you know, it's going to be by market segment. There's also some thing relative to...there's ways on to... The goal would be have some deliverables. While I think the events that we've got that are hosted up at the South Pacific event, I think you'll be able to have two measurables, not only ones that showed visitor traffic, but I think you're also going to be able to see PR impressions, and impressions do drive visitor traffic from that end. So negative/positive impressions, they certainly do from that end, and I think as many positive impressions that we can get out through media publication helps us be able to expand the advertising effort. Mr. Furfaro: I know this is a public hearing, but I wanted to share this with people in the industry, and the fact that we're supposed to hear testimony, but it is very important that you folks as a group have a common understanding with Mr. Costa in the county's office of economic development on the measurables. I want to say that because, you know, we're looking at losing TAT money here, okay, and if you follow the media right now, Maui is going to lose 18 million. But people don't realize, Maui's operating budget is $503 million, so it's roughly 3.5% of their budget. For us, you know, the 14.8 is 9.5% of our budget. We only operate on $153 million. So we're going to lose in proportion a larger share of tax revenue. Ms. Vento: I do appreciate that. I would like to let you know, and I think I did copy Councilman...Chair, our team has really taken into account that our voice is important, and we have actually made comment on all TAT, not only the removal of that from the county budget, but we sent testimony as well from our hotel and associates on the (inaudible). 5 • • Mr. Furfaro: And we do appreciate that, but I just wanted to point out the ratios, so money here becomes even tighter than money on Maui. Ms. Vento: And I will tell you we have increased our advertising as a hotel from that end as well, to let you know that it's not alone, that we understand we need to be involved in the process. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Angela. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. FRED ATKINS: My name is Fred Atkins. I'm representing the Kauai Visitors Bureau and Kilohana Plantation. I've been on Kauai for a number of years and I've seen a lot of downturns and some recessions, and they seem to follow a pattern. The economy seems to start getting weak on the east coast, and then it moves to the west coast, and it finally hits Hawaii. And on that side, we're fortunate that it takes a while before we see the effects. The negative side is that we always come out of a recession much longer and much later than the mainland. So I think right now we're very close to being right in the middle of it. You know, the unemployment numbers tend to show you where we are. I don't believe that probably is the bottom yet for Hawaii. It may be...you know, if you look around the country, you see some signs of progress in Atlanta and some areas on the east coast, but California is still suffering really bad, and we're going in to it. So I really think this cycle is going to carry through this fiscal year and definitely into the next year. And so we have taken this very seriously and really appreciate that the council is giving this hearing today to contemplate whether or not we can get this stimulus money. And the visitors bureau has not taken it lightly. We've had...tlie board has had discussion on this. The marketing committee has come up with some tentative plans if we do get this money. We've been in contact with the wholesalers. They've been our partners for many years, and they've really proven to be good partners. They usually co-op on a 50/50 basis, so whatever money we give to an individual partner, they're going to come up with the same amount of money. But I also want to talk a little bit about that we hope that if we get this money, it's just not a check that is written to the visitors bureau and to tell Sue good luck, you know, I hope it works, and we need accountability, and we know that, and we want to give you... But we need really more of a partnership. This recession is pretty severe, and if we don't take it on as a county, as a council and as an administration, Ithink it's going to go on a lot longer than it needs to. We can put marketing dollars into great programs, but the best thing we can do immediately is really take care of the visitors that are visiting us today. You know, they...their visiting us in a time where some people call it a depression, and it amazes me that they can afford the air fare and come here. So I think we need to show them that appreciation. Ithink we need to do it with not just the support of the people in the visitor industry, but the support of people on Kauai. And if we, the people that are watching today, can really go out of our way and show them what they do best, and it doesn't cost any 6 • • money, and that's that aloha that Kauai has, that real feeling of we want to maintain, ,and let them know that we appreciate them. We have thousands of people a day that leave the island and they go back all over the world. So our money, if we get this money from you, will be spent...hopefully it will start being spent in the next 90...120 days. And anyone that leaves and really captures the essence that we try to portray as what a visitor should take home with them, they can close sale. You know, if they come to somebody that's thinking...that might have seen our ad three or six months from now, and say oh I'm thinking about going to Kauai, you know, what's that like, is it like Cabo, or is it like Lahaina or Florida? No, it's Kauai, it's very special, and it's got great people, it's got interesting cultures, you can learn about it, and that's the kind of visitor we want here, you know. We can talk about sustainability and a lot of other things that are major issues, but right now we got to talk about unemployment and feeding .our families and getting the hotels back up to an occupancy that it can start bringing people back, and not having restaurants close. So I hope that it's not just passing this money to us that it's saying, hey we all want to help you invest in this, and I think that the county's done a marvelous job with the sunshine markets. You know, I've been on the islands since '72, and the normal visitor that came back then would come...I was at the Kauai Surf, and they'd either play golf, they would play tennis, they'd go on the beach, maybe take a canoe ride, they would go around the island either on the bus and go to the Fern Grotto or the Canyon, or they get in a car and maybe they would patronize some of the local restaurants. In the last 10 years, the visitors bureau has really focused on having the visitor dollar spread around the entire island, you know, and the county has helped in that. I don't know of a hotel or a bed and breakfast or whatever that doesn't let the visitor know where the sunshine markets are, and that's definitely helping, you know, our farmers. You know, the farmer never really thought he was part of the visitor industry, but he's been there, because he's kept the rural lifestyle, and that's what we sell to now. So now to be able to reach out and have them see the value of the visitor industry I think is very powerful and important. Some of the big land companies... Is it time? Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Atkins. Mr. Atkins: Okay, thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: You make some very good points, and I'm glad that you did express it, you know, over Ho`ike, and hopefully a lot of the residents get that message also. You did send out a really good message. Any questions for Mr. Atkins at this time? Councilmember Kawahara, go ahead. Ms. Kawahara: You are with Kauai Visitors Bureau...you are with? Mr. Atkins: I'm on the board, yes. 7 • i Ms. Kawahara: Okay. I'm not sure if you can answer the question then. What actually has the visitors bureau done on their own in this times to address the issue? Mr. Atkins: You mean right now what we're doing? Ms. Kawahara: Yes. Without county moneys, on your own. Mr. Atkins: Well, we get money from the State, and a lot of the program that we do are similar to what type of programs that we're going to be addressing. Sue Kanoho will give you more in-depth on that, but it's just that our budgets have been cut back also. So this gives us the potential to really penetrate some markets we know that are effective and have working for us and have, you know, the marketing dollars to go out and hopefully be successful. But the accountability I think is what we're all looking at in this program to bring back here in, you know, 6 months from now, and hopefully show you it is working, and you know, maybe the unemployment rates are going down. Ms. Kawahara: Can you tell me what the difference is between these dollars and the dollar...how you're going to affect incoming tourists. How these dollars are, if you get it from the county, are different from the dollars that are already being spent. Mr. Atkins: Yes, I think we can. I think today is more for testimony, and then...am I correct, Sue, that you're going to come and present an actual detailed plan...or she can answer it at this point, yeah, if that's better for Sue. Okay? Mr. Kaneshiro: You had a question Mr. Bynum? Mr. Bynum: Fred, thanks for your presentation and your comments that looked at the bigger picture, and I think we all know that the visitors go home and that they talk about the people of Kauai, and you know, that's one of the things that set us apart from Cabo, but also from the other islands. And the other... But this report, or this plan, it does have specifics, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to say this is public hearing, so we're taking testimony, and all we've had before is the first reading of the bill, which is kind of procedural. When we get to committee, I'm sure we will have those details, because as Glenn Mickens said, you know, this plan is specific to Kauai and leveraging other funds and a really opportunity to set us apart from the other islands. And so you know, to let the public know those details are coming, and those details is what sells the plan. Mr. Atkins: Well, I think Sue will be able to share those details today, or...not to the exact penny, but we have different allotments for different 8 • areas, and I know...maybe not to the exact dollar amount, but we're prepared to do that with the next...you know, either today...I don't know if she's finished it up yet, but we're very close, and it'll be very detailed, and it would be made public. Mr. Bynum: Right, and you know, if you're persuasive with Mr. Mickens... Mr. Atkins: We'll have to thank Sue and Dickie for that. Mr. Bynum: He doesn't easily change his opinions. Mr. Atkins: No, and I think he sees sincerity and the necessity of what we need to do here. Mr. Bynum: Absolutely. Thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Furfaro, go ahead. Mr. Furfaro: There are many of us that have seen the first draft of the plan. I just want to make sure that, you know, we're not at this first hearing and some of us haven't seen it. But I would like to just say this, because I'd like to hear from the visitors bureau when we come upon this item here. It's not just about, you know, the plan. It's also about touching base with us on the absorption of what used to be our money just going into the State general fund, and the State going forward may not be able to earmark any specific moneys. HTA will be preserved from what I understand, but other moneys that go to the convention center will be preserved, but those that go to certain market segments, I would like to hear if you folks have any idea what, you know, what we're looking at in the future when the money that used to market the destination actually goes in the general fund, and I just want to throw that out. That's something I'm interested in hearing when we get to committee meetings, what that impact might be. Mr. Atkins: Right, and you know, you talk about the TAT too, I mean that's a major thing, and I think we have to leave that to you, and we'll honor whatever you do-you know, whether you can... If it goes away, whether you can still put that in the budget... Either way, you know, we just want to know we have an effective marketing plan for if you chose to give it to us. Mr. Furfaro: Well, I appreciate your comment on that, and you know, the bill is about what's in the budget for the first year and what we are going to look at for the surplus now. But what I want to hear when you do make that presentation is going forward, what happens to those dollars that are typically marketed at the State level that we may not have because they're going into the general fund. 9 • Mr. Atkins: Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Kaneshiro: BARBARA BENNETT: for Kauai. This subject... Mr. Chang: Ms. Bennett: Mr. Kaneshiro: • Right. I think we can provide that. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Aloha, good afternoon, and my dear county council Can you state your name for the record. Oh I'm sorry. Barbara Bennett for the record. Thank you. Ms. Bennett: I am here because of my background, my business interest not only in Hawaii, but I came from the Florida tourist industry. They are so similar, because they're resort areas. I have no less than almost 40 years as a woman in business, and multi-faceted into the different industries in the visitor industry, as well as dealing with local market. It is imperative, and I think most of you are intelligent, as well as experienced enough, but I think the message is to important that we again remind ourselves of the domino effect that it has from the tourist industry down to the local market. When we had a depression in Florida in the tourist market, because I was dealing also with the local market, it impacted the local market by 25...and some businesses 50%. So this isn't just about the tourist industry, and same here in Hawaii. I think sometimes on a smaller island that some people lose perspective and they think the tourist industry, because it happens to be the number one industry that oh, we can do without it, or we don't need it. The people that work on this island in the tourist industry are the hardest working people supporting not only that industry, but again, these are the local people on this island, and I think not to also include the fact that what this affects in the economy is not just the tourist industry. So I'm just here to remind you of that, because there are public testimony that are much more astute about the facts and figures. I have the pleasure of serving on the board of directors for the Kauai visitors bureau for many years, as well as on the board for HVCB. So Sue will give her testimony, excellent testimony coming from the hotels, but again, not to remind ourselves that this is so important to the local industry. I think this is a huge part of this testimony, and because people in our communities will see this on television, to remind them how it impacts them personally, even though they're not in the tourist industry. It affects the hairdresser, the pet store, all of that, because those moneys that are not generated will certainly domino down into the very...you know, even the lei maker on this island. So that's what I'd like to impress. Thank you very much. Any questions? 10 • Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you very much. Any questions? CLAYTON DELA CRUZ: Good afternoon. Honorable Chairman Mr. Asing, budget chairman Mr. Kaneshiro, Councilmembers, my name is Clayton Dela Cruz, and I'm the division director of the ILWU here on Kauai. I'm here today to humbly ask that you give support to Kauai Visitors Bureau proposal on their economic stimulus plan. It's a plan that I looked at that will help greatly in putting our Kauai tourism workforce back on their feet again. As you know, the downturn of our economy has had a severe effect on our tourism industry, and subsequently, like the lady said, a domino effect on many of our businesses. The ILWU has over 1,300 members working directly in the tourism industry, working in hotels, on the golf courses, transportation. We are concerned about their continued efforts to maintain steady work. When there is no tourist to the islands, it affects the whole island as far as employment is concerned, it affects our families, it affects our lives, it affects our communities. Therefore, it is imperative that you give this plan all the kokua and the help that you can. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Dela Cruz. Any questions for Mr. Dela Cruz? Mr. Bynum go ahead. Mr. Bynum: Thanks for coming today, and I assume that you already have had some members who are in laid off status and... Mr. Dela Cruz: Yes we have. Mr. Bynum: And in addition to that, there are people who are employed that may have a reduction of hours from what they're used to. Mr. Dela Cruz: We do have. We do have people on call, we do have people that are, you know...right now, yeah, on call and waiting for the hotels to have a little more people come in. We do have other industries that are slow right now, not making their hours. Mr. Bynum: And you heard Mr. Atkins testimony that kind of our...the recession starts a little later here, but often continues after the mainland... Is that your experience as well? Mr. Dela Cruz: Yeah, it's sort of like, you know. It happens on Kauai that they do catch everything a little later. Mr. Bynum: So I kind of seeing these funds as trying to keep people employed and get us through the difficult time, and we'll get to the specifics, but it's, you know, targeted specifically for Kauai to bring...kind of keep up the numbers and make it...make the low point not as low as it might have been until we come back. Is that the way you see it? 11 • i Mr. Dela Cruz: Yeah, the bottom line for us is to see our guys get as much work as they can, and by having this type of advertisement and money put into the tourist industry, you know, it'll help us. Mr. Bynum: So thank you for being here and representing labor. Thank you very much. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Dela Cruz. DOUG SEARS: Aloha. Thank you for allowing me to be here. For the record, Doug Sears, and I'm representing a fairly large resort down on the south shore, the Grand Hyatt, and also the Kauai Visitors Bureau. It's hard not to say anything too redundant from what's already been said, and I did provide a written testimony as well. So just a few thoughts, I think, to underscore. One, I too believe this is all about jobs, and preempting loss of jobs. This plan has a great opportunity to do that. I think we're not at the precipice yet. I can tell you that after about the 15th of April, our business is going to drop off pretty seriously. Because of our large property, we rely on about 35% of our business mix to be group business. We have suffered the most from that, and all of you probably know what's called now the AIG effect, and people believing that incenting their employees to travel to nice places as a reward has fallen out of grace. I got to say that the State, the County, the governor has done a great job in representing us in Washington to do whatever we could to counteract the long term consequences of that, and I think we have done a good job with that. But in the short term, that will continue to hurt us. We see 2010 also as being very weak now. We lost a lot of business for o-ten...or for 10, and I think we might have a chance in 11. So looking at the crystal ball, it's going to be a tough couple years. The summer's going to be tough with a group base of business. A lot of our employees so far have been consuming sick pay...a lot of reasons, because they're sick, there's been a couple bugs going around, but it has distorted, I think, some of the lack of hours that really existed out there as people take sick pay. Those who would have been on-call have been working this first quarter, and I think what we're going to see here in the next 60 days is a real fall off in hours. So far this year, even without that fall off in hours, I think we're going to see further at this precipice. We're down about 20% in our fulltime equivalent employee count, so that's how we're looking for the first quarter. These efforts to book business do work if they're planned correctly. I got a chance to view the plan. I was really impressed with it. There as a large wholesaler who put a plan together in partnership with other partners the first quarter this year. It was a plan to bring more tourists to Hawaii, and it was proven. They can show the spike in business that occurred. So these plans do drive share. Our company, in all my previous down economic cycles, has spent more money in direct marketing, not less. We do less image advertising. The direct marketing is...some people quoted as saying it's heads and beds, and that's exactly what it is. I think this plan has great transparency, and I really appreciate your consideration in it, and it goes back to I 12 • • think my comment in the beginning, and Mr. Bynum had mentioned it, it really is all about the jobs, pre-empting the loss of jobs, and keeping employment numbers up. And this is a great way to do that. Thanks. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Sears. Any questions? Mr. Furfaro, go ahead. Mr. Furfaro: Just a comment, Doug. Thank you for being here, but did I hear you say that you anticipate by this summer you will be down 20% in your fulltime equivalent? Mr. Sears:. We're down 20% year-to-date. Mr. Furfaro: Now? Mr. Sears: Now, and I think...I know it'll be more within the next 60 days. The untold... We know May and June is very soft. The untold thing for the summer is...and I hope my theory is correct, that there is going to be pent up demand for individual travel to Hawaii that people have been saving money. They're going to say we got to get on with our lives, we need that vacation, we have to recharge our batteries, we can't live like this anymore, and that they're going to pick up the phone, find out...they already know that the airlines inside of 30 days have got great deals, we know that too, getting back to the mainland. So they're training them to wait till the last minute. But my hope is that we'll see July and August pick up. We've seen couple things happen the last couple of weeks that would indicate there's a little activity for July and the last part of June, so there's hopefully some hope... We typically will run 90% plus in the family season. Right now we have a lot less on the books. Mr. Furfaro: So I understand your comments about incentive and corporate travel. Would you say right now you are seeing a much shorter booking period for your FITS? Are they...were you typically booking, you know, 30, 45 days out, and now might be booking 14 and 21 days out, or... Mr. Sears: Yes, more or less. I'll give you an indication. One of my neighbors I was talking to down the street told me that last month 30% of their business for that month was booked inside the month. Mr. Furfaro: Inside of 30 days. Mr. Sears: Inside of 30 days. So yeah, it's shorter and shorter and shorter. It has never been this short. Mr. Furfaro: Well, thank you for sharing that information. 13 • Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Mr. Sears, thank you very much for your testimony, and some of the things you said, that your hope is on these people who are making these decisions later because we're tailing off in the more long term plan. As we went through the budget process here and watched our department heads come up, because we have to cut, right, saying well, you know, we cut travel by 50%...I thought, geez that's happening all over the country, that's part of our problem. And...but you know, so your hope is kind of pinned on people making more short term and you know, pent up demand I think was your term, and as I read this plan, it's specifically targeting exploiting that traveler, making it easier for people to make that decision. Is that the way you read it? Mr. Sears: Absolutely. And the way the plan's laid out, it's working on...working with partners that have proven abilities to drive business, and that's what we want to do, is spike it. We want to pull the market share aware. As much as we talk about business being down, and to some of Fred's comments, we're still when the year is over going to be half full and not half empty. And the reason why is because the folks that know us that have been coming back every year for 14 years, 15 years, those who refer Kauai know when they come here they're going to get the best experience possible, and that's why even with the economy being as depressed as it is. I mean if you think about a place that can still run the occupancies that we do, and we're better off than most still, with that. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Mr. Sears: Thanks. Mr. Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kawahara, go ahead. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. You actually touched on something I wanted to ask. Would you consider... The Grant Hyatt is considered a high end provider service, and you were...we were once talking about how we wanted to get the people directly that can still spend and can still come, right. So are you finding that...you are just saying that you are finding that you are a little bit better off because of those types of travelers? Mr. Sears: Those travelers are still spending money, and it's a matter...that's where we focus a lot of our marketing efforts, is towards them, because we know that they will travel. And I think some this plan that I saw, we're using partners that are known for targeting that type of business. It really is the market that you want to...that you want to go for in this time, as much as any...which is completely opposite the group... Well, the group market, right now we want to change our name to the little Hyatt, and not the Grand Hyatt Resort and Spa. Anything that sounds fancy, people aren't going to want to have the 14 • • perception, which is a whole another interesting thing, and sorry to divert real quick, but I just got to tell you. One of the biggest defeats for us so far this year after the Wells Fargo cancellation, which we would have in house right now and a full hotel for four nights, was the cancellation of a group called the Hawaii economic...the Hawaii economic council. Some of you may be aware, these are...it's a council of leaders of Hawaii, business owners, really the major players, and they were going to hold their 41St forum here for the first time, I believe, on Kauai at our resort, and they came to us and said, you know times are tough, we don't know if our attendance will be good enough, and we said, look we don't mind, we won't penalize you for that, and if there's a time that the leadership of Hawaii needs to be together discussing what's going on, it's now, so I applaud you folks for continuing to do this. Well, it was disappointing that about three...two weeks ago and for a weekend up coming up and a short period of time they did cancel, and they said that when they went out and talked to their advisory members, they were told that the reason why they said they would want to go is for their loyalty to the organization and to the chair, but when it had gotten down to it, they felt uneasy leaving to go do this. So in our very own State where we really want to stimulate and encourage ourselves that we have some issues. So my hope is that we get beyond that real, real quick, and I think we will, I think we're all going to get tired of it pretty soon. Thanks. Ms. Kawahara: It says in your testimony here that you have written, can I ask how much .you re-directed funds...how much of your funds you re-directed to target... Mr. Sears: I'd say at least 20%. Ms. Kawahara: And if you can help me, I don't know. How do besides letting people go, how else do hotels deals with ups and downs, normal ups and downs? What are your cost savings measures? Mr. Sears: Most of our cost is labor cost, almost entirely, and we, when we look at year that's going to be steadily slow consistently, we dig into fixed labor, and our fixed labor is down about 18%. So these are...these would be most often salary positions that we would have. Last August when we were still doing wonderful here, relatively speaking, on this island, we did foresee that that wouldn't always be the case. So we stopped filling positions, and thank goodness we did, because there was enough through attrition that by the time we got through the first of the year, there was really minimal consequence, a lot less pain. So that part of it went pretty smoothly. The variable cost is pretty specific. So if you only have 50 arrivals, you need two clerks and not four at the desk, and that type of thing. In some of our other fixed areas where we know we don't want to lose the folks because we never find them when we get busy again is some taking time that they have, so there is...there are some departments that are doing a combination of vacation, personal days, and then piggybacking a leave of absence on that too. 15 • Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. I appreciate that (inaudible). Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you very much Doug for your testimony, and I just wanted to make one small comment. That comment is, you know, in your testimony and even in your written testimony, you said that our first priority is to keep our residents employed and our small business thriving. So I just wanted to point that out how important it was the message that you're sending that the Hyatt's message trying to achieve that. So thank you. Mr. Sears: Thank you. Just one thought you raised, sorry, is that in times like this, people have a lot of needs. The community will have a lot of needs. And if you think about what...most all of us in this room always really want most.. We certainly have to eat and do all the things that we need to do there, but we want a job, we want to work, we want to feel like we're doing something. So this is an important point. Thanks for mentioning that. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you for that. STELLA BURGESS: Aloha. My name is Stella Burgess, and whether you know it or not, I'm shaking up here because I wanted to speak first on the kama`aina `aina, and that is who I want to represent first is myself and my community. In a cultural upbringing as we have come through, we have watched many industries come into Hawaii and leave. We've watched pineapple take root, and we've watched them go. We've watched sugarcane come in, and we've watched it go. We now have the visitor industry which is our main industry in this island, and in the islands of Hawaii, and through much of the world I have to say now. We have...in this time period we have ranching coming back. We have farming coming back, and our people have learned to sustain themselves and find alternative ways in order to survive. In our culture there is a saying that Kane feeds the water on the top of the mountain, and that water goes through to the ahupua`a, to everyone, to the ocean. I believe that this marketing plan will help succeed in the future of our people. We need to look at the future and to see how we can stimulate jobs and to make it still happen on this island. Personally, I've watched foreclosures within my own family, I've watched jobs lost, I've watched friends at the resort who are now on-call, who .are not working, and we need to ensure that our people can sustain themselves. We have gone through 9/11. We did a recession at that time and survived. We have gone through many hurricanes. Those added to recessions of this island and survived. We are survivors. I believe this marketing plan will help us survive on this island and keep us true to the future. I have read through it, seen its plans, and I believe that it will work for us. As an employee of the Grand Hyatt Resort & Spa, I would like to applaud the south shore resorts and many of the other resorts who have not let go of their cultural aspect to their properties, that have maintained it, because during our Prince Kuhio festival I had an opportunity to speak to many of our malihini that have come in. They are not coming here only 16 for the sunshine. They actually want to partake of the culture, and that's what brings them here. They can go to Cancun and enjoy that, but they want to learn about cultural upbringing and the true culture of this island, and many of us within this room present that to them every day on the basis. Our people that live on this island, in our small stores present it to them. Our activities that are at our resorts and other resorts presents that portion to them. They become family to us. They are `ohana. Many of our guests return every year to our resorts, not once, perhaps twice, perhaps three times. They live here with us. They work with us every day. And this is what we want to maintain. We want to give our people a future, with jobs, with sustainability, and not packing up again and leaving. We want to keep our young children and our young adults on this island. We want to watch our burglary rate go down, because in a stimulus package such as this, this will help that. We need to keep our community as one, and the `ohana of Kauai has sustained that, and I believe that this marketing plan will help us in the future. And that's all I basically have to say. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you very much. Ms. Burgess: You're very welcome. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any questions for Stella? Mr. Furfaro go ahead. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. Stella, I want to thank you for putting things in perspective, you know, doing the right thing for the right reason, for the right people, at the right time, which seems to be now, and also you're reminding us that, you know the visitor industry makes up 40% of the gross domestic product in the State and employs 65% of the people in the State. I think you expressed that very nicely. And also as a follow up to Mr. Atkins about treating guests the right way when they're here and extending that friendship that comes with our sense of place. Thank you very much for your commentary. Ms. Burgess: Oh, you're very welcome. It is a truthful commentary. It is from my puuwai, from my heart, and I hope that you will- take it into consideration, and Mahalo for your time. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Stella. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Ms. Burgess: Aloha. Mr. Chang: Yes I have a comment. First of all, Stella Burgess thank you for coming. I think I was very impressed and pretty much surprised when I saw you this afternoon, and I applaud you. You know, I know you well enough to know that you always don't want to get credit, you don't want to be 17 • ~ ., involved in a...pretty much low-key way is what I'm trying to say, but I also do know that you wouldn't be here if you didn't mean it, and Mahalo. Ms. Burgess: Oh no, you're very welcome, and I do mean it. I do mean it. I mean it terribly much for this island. Yes. Mr. Chang: Ms. Burgess: Mahalo for your time. Mr. Kaneshiro Thank you. You're very welcome. Thank you gentlemen. Mr. Asing had something. Council Chair Asing: I just have a comment. I guess being an...I was going to say old timer here on the council, I can fully understand what you're saying,~what you mean, and what you feel. You know, I can just remember when sugarcane was the number one industry on this island. Tourism was way behind. Then came pineapple, number one industry again, and you know... And then as years go by, tourism became the number one industry, and I appreciate all of your comments, and I think we need to do whatever we need to do to help the industry. Because when we help the industry, we help ourselves, and our community is so important, so I want to thank you for...as Councilmember Furfaro said, putting everything in perspective. Thank you very much. Ms. Burgess: Mahalo to all of you for your time. A hui hou. RANDALL FRANCISCO: Aloha and mabuhay. Randy Francisco for the record. First of all, Mahalo to Aunty Stella, because that was tremendous mana`o, because I think we all need to remind ourselves why we do what we do in our stewardship roles. I'd like to speak to the point of small business and the impact not only to Kauai chamber of commerce members, but to the community and to our island. And I've got five points I'm going to speak about. You all have my written testimony, and I will just gloss over other things that are not in there. Last fall we started a program called survive the economic storm series. The intent of that was to help our members get through this current climate, and my message here is our businesses are already doing what they can to survive. What businesses need now is an injection, an infusion, and while the macro effect of the funding is going to benefit visitor industry, the multiplier effect is going to echo throughout the industry sectors. And I spent the better part of the past 6 months in listening to our presenters who come from the industry sector, as well as small businesses, and trying to understand what they're doing to survive, and they're saying we need help, we're small businesses, we don't have the big dollars, but we're doing what we can to recommit ourselves to stay in business. And I think anything you do is going to help them. 18 ~ • I'd like to share a couple of comments from...our across the board membership that includes healthcare, retail, agriculture, and even custodial janitorial, as well as media. And I think if you put on your multiplier thinking hats, you're going to understand that the people that come off the airplane or the boats, sometimes they might need one of these services. And when we have less of them or they're not familiar with our Kauai and that we even exist that does have an impact. A number of our members are participating in our member to member discount, which generally provides a 10% discount, because their need is really tremendous, but they need all they can get to make themselves survive. And so we came up with this program to help them survive during this current climate. And a restaurateur I visited ,just after our super secretary event today had commented, we're down 18%; normally all the tables would be full, and if you're going to carry a message for me, it's we've done what we can-we've given the discounts, we do specials, we even use a little extra marketing money to support our sector, but we don't have the answers and all the money to make it happen. And I think if you can understand, whatever you invest to the visitors bureau who will steward these funds, I think the net effect is that we can look to sustaining businesses, because you all know about several restaurants that have already closed. Additionally, healthcare, I heard stories about Wilcox Hospital getting sometimes busloads of people coming for medical help, and the nice thing about that is it's a new revenue stream. Well, obviously the revenue stream has come down considerably, and all these I think contribute to quality of care. As you probably heard, Wilcox had some new imaging systems, and they were able to purchase that because they are seeing they need to invest, and I think down the road their investment helps our people in our community. Custodial. One company basically told me they're affected, because as you know, general growth properties declared bankruptcy. So the net effect is they're having to lay off 40% of their employees or cut back on their work schedules. And so once again, that financial global aspect is affecting our local markets. And I'm saying, let's not wait for the world to take care of itself. Let's take a look at what we can do, and I think you all know half a million is a tiny bit for what we can get for the long term, because I think it's a short investment, but one that we can count on. Having returned to Kauai, my conclusion in working with Sue and everyone else in this community is we're committed to Kauai. She's a tough gal; we all know that. Touche. And when she talks about measurements and metrics, you know you're going to get more like a database, more than you ask for. But that's Sue, and that's the kind of responsible people we have leading our community. So I ask you for your kokua in that. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you very much Mr... Anybody has any questions for Randall? Thank you. 19 • ELLIOT MILLS: Aloha kakou. My name is Elliot Mills, I'm representing the Kauai Marriott. Thank you for giving...allowing us the time to testify today. I'll. be as brief as possible. First of all, I want to say and echo Doug's sentiments in that it is all about the people, it's all about the job, it's all providing sustenance for their families and so forth, and that's the main concern that we have when we talk to our sources on the property and so forth. And I think it's tremendously important for us to get ahead of the curve and being proactive in supporting this bill and not being reactive and waiting for it to happen, and supporting the marketing effort out there. And I want to kind of cut to chase a little bit and giving you an example of what we have done to try to spur some thought into what is possible. Marriott, if you not have known, has gone out and done the bus tour out in the west coast, and continued it to the east coast, and we've seen a tremendous amount of pick up due to that marketing venture that we've had approximately 40% in the two months following that bus tour that we had and the marketing support that we gave into the traveling community, we touched wholesalers, we touched travel agents, and overall PR. What we've seen was so strong that we actually (I'm not sure if you folks watched last night), we'll be traveling to Japan and taking the bus to Japan and continuing to invest in the marketing dollars towards bringing people to Hawaii, and then further committing to a first quarter tour actually, now that it's on the books, to go to the southwest. And what I want to get...pass forth to everybody here is that it works. Putting money towards marketing in this timeframe when we are down and down in sales, down in revenue, with loss of over 25% in our revenues, as well as about 25% in our full time equivalents at the property, we want to make...be sure that we're taking proactive steps out there in the market to get ahead of it, to maintain our market share, if not gain a market share. I think that if we sit and not do anything through this period, we'll see continuing declines. If anything, in a declining market you want to maintain your share, if not on the island, if not on the State, in the world against our competitors, in the Caribbean, in Mexico, and so forth. So I think it's a very, very prudent idea to move forward on that. I also want to mention that, and Doug mentioned it as well, but it's very, very critical on a group's side to be out there. If we are not proactive in getting business on the books for 10 and 11, we're going to find ourselves back here looking down the same forecast, and so it's very important for us to be proactive, as we have seen also meetings canceled on our books. Even as recent as last week for the fall we've got a cancellation in. It's still continuing. So we need to make sure that we are being proactive, we're out there in the market, and we're trying to generate the business every day. Lastly and perhaps more importantly, as I thought about the plan and reviewed the plan with Sue, I think she did a great job putting it together, putting myself in your shoes to see what is really important to ensure that the funds that you folks are utilizing are put into its best work. When we are in our business at the hotel, you know, big questions that come up to us is return on investment, accountability, where is the money going, how can we know that it's being spent appropriately, in the right places, and it's generating work, it's generating hours 20 and it's generating revenue for the island. And I can tell you that through reviewing Sue's plan in detail with her, I can attest to the fact that it will be accountable, at least the majority of the percentage will be accountable, and we'll be willing to talk to anybody personally to run through the plan and to show how that accountability can come forth. I think it's a very important measure that we pass, and appreciate your support. Mahalo. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. Nice to have you here today. Mr. Mills: Nice to see you sir. Mr. Furfaro: I don't want any misgivings to leave, you know, whether it's federal or State stimulus money and so forth, you know, the buzz word is reporting measurables. Mr. Mills: Absolutely. Mr. Furfaro: I don't want to get that distracted from how the comments, you know, were centered. But you have to remember, this council is responsible to the taxpayers, and we are also kind of the board of directors that you would deal with in an owner's relation, same at the Hyatt and so forth. I just wanted to share that. I think Doug and yourself made a very clear to us, you know, it costs x amount of dollars to open the door, but the reality is longevity, reinvesting in the property, and so forth is tied to getting those additional room nights, those additional guests, the repeat visitor, you know, those are the things that add the extra shifts for the desk clerks, you know, help us reopen food and beverage service, and so on. So I just wanted to say, in today's world it's very important that we have an understanding about the measurables. Mr. Mills: Accountability, sure. Mr. Furfaro: I think, you know, this council really senses how important this is to the long term health and success of our island. I think Councilwoman Kawahara asked the question about each hotel, you know, might have bumped their own marketing dollars by 20%, but they're bumping those dollars when occupancy is down, therefore revenues are sometimes discounted, and those are, you know, total revenues. The revenues that you're getting from the concessions in the hotel, you know, the food and beverage sales... Well, as Angela pointed out, you know, the revenue per occupied room versus revenue per available room, and you got to stretch out those costs when those rooms are empty. It just costs x amount of dollars for them to do, but we open the door, but we are needing to hear upfront about, you know, the opportunities to actually report our successes in this fine marketing plan and be able to change gears next year if we find ourselves 21 not having the kind of spending at the State level because the TAT is going into the, you know, the overall general pot. So I just wanted to make sure we are all clear. Mr. Mills: Very good. Thank you sir. Mr. Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kawahara go ahead. Ms. Kawahara: Hi Elliot. I'm really happy to hear about all your initiatives that you've taken on your own. The bus tour thing is something that you have... Who's going on those? Mr. Mills: It's actually a combination of all islands participating, and we basically touch key launching points from the U.S. into Hawaii, and all of the general managers, as well as sales marketing directors, participate in the tour, and we meet with our key wholesalers or key travel partners, travel agencies, as well as consumers just to generate buzz for the islands, generate buzz for our properties, and for the general good of the State actually. Ms. Kawahara: I'm really happy to hear that. I'm glad that you guys have put some initiative in to that. My other question was you're very, very... I was so happy that you're going to be able to track most of what it is that the moneys are going to do. I was wondering, is it feasible for you guys to report the increase in hours and the number of workers you rehire during the point...during the period of this program? Mr. Mills: Sure. I don't think that will be a challenge whatsoever. If we can identify a start and stop point and give a report back on how many jobs are produced, how many hours are produced as it relate to improvement in revenues. Sure. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. Mr. Mills: You're welcome. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Mills. Mr. Mills: Thank you very much. Mr. Kaneshiro: With that, do we have any other speakers. Okay, there's no more registered speakers. Anyone else wanting to speak once more before I wrap this public hearing up? And again, we will have presentation in the committee with Sue Kanoho with the Kauai Visitors Bureau. So at that time she will make a presentation and address some of the questions that were brought up today. So she was generous enough to have others give testimony today, and she 22 + • will be here for committee meeting. With that, seeing no one else, this public is now adjourned... Mr. Chang: Sorry, I thought you were going... Were you going to bring it back to order to comment? Mr. Kaneshiro: No, this is a public hearing. So this public hearing is adjourned. You wanted to say something before? Okay, go ahead. Mr. Chang: Thank you Chair. What I wanted to say is I want to thank all of you for coming. I'm totally convinced. If we needed to keep somebody accountable and to be measured, I'll be able to measure it. But I did want to make a point, and I know we can talk about a lot of things, but in this state of the urgency, I wanted to applaud the visitor industry because in three short weeks, these guys are working very hard for the Charity Walk. That's the...you know, that's the biggest thing on our island. So as occupancies go down and everything else, they're still working. Mahalo. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay. With that, this public hearing is now adjourned. There being no further testimony on this matter, ,the public hearing adjourned at 2:56 p.m. Respectfully submitted, • PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 23 ,~ • PUBLIC HEARING APRIL 22, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, at 3:04 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2307 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($300,000 -Consultant Services-Special Counsel), BILL NO. 2308 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER . 19, ARTICLE 3, SUBSECTION 19-3.2(b) AND SUBSECTION 19-3.2(i) OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO INCREASING THE PLAYING AND DRIVING RANGE BALL TOKEN FEES AT THE WAILUA GOLF COURSE, BILL NO. 2309 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SUBSECTION (a) OF SECTION 21-9.2 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE, 1987 RELATING TO INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT, which were passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on March 25, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on April 2, 2009. The following communication was received for the record: Charles Kramer, dated 22 April 2009, regarding Bill No. 2308 1 ~' i The hearing proceeded as follows: Mr. Kaneshiro: I believe we have one written testimony for the record, and that would be concerning Bill 2308 from Mr. Charles Kramer. Any other written testimonies, Mr. Clerk? Mr. Nakamura: No written testimony Mr. Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Is there anyone here in the Chambers that wants to testify on this? Seeing no one, these public hearings are now adjourned. Thank you. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 3:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 2 *. • • PUBLIC HEARING MAY 6, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at 5:20 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: Bill No. 2310 - A BILL FOR THE OPERATING BUDGET AND FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO Operating Budget), AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE JUNE 30, 2010 (County of Kauai Bill No. 2311 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO JUNE 30, 2010 (County of Kauai Capital Improvement Projects Budget), Resolution No. 2009-32, RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO JUNE 30, 2010 FOR THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, which were passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on March 25, 2009, and published in The Garden Island . newspaper on April 8, 2009. Mr. Nakamura: Pursuant to Section 5A-6.3 of Kauai County Code 1987, as amended, the Council hereby announces that it will be adopting the real property tax rate resolution on May 27, 2009, at 8:45 a.m. or soon thereafter, in the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, Lihu`e, Kauai. 1 Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you for that Mr. Clerk. At this time, Committee members, I'm going to go ahead and take testimony from the public. Mr. Clerk, do we have any written testimonies? Mr. Nakamura: The written testimonies that we have received to date have been circulated to all Councilmembers, Mr. Chair. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Email from Cherie Grousset, dated May 4, 2009 2. Email from Sabra Kauka, dated May 4, 2009 3. Email from Diane Daniells, dated May 4, 2009 4. Email from Tony Allen, dated May 5, 2009 5. Email from Mark Hubbard, dated May 5, 2009 6. Email from Barbara Adair, dated May 5, 2009 7. Email from John Harder, dated May 5, 2009, with attachment 8. Email from Frank O. Hay, dated May 5, 2009, with attachment 9. Email from Elli Ward, dated May 5, 2009 10. Email from William J. Smith, dated May 5, 2009 11. Email from Judie Hilke Lundborg, dated May 6, 2009 12. Email from Emily Miller, dated May 6, 2009 13. Email from Colett, dated May 6, 2009 14. Email from Connie Clausen, Zero Waste Kauai, dated May 6, 2009 15. Bonnie Lake, dated May 7, 2009 16. Andrea Brower and Keone Kealoha, Malama Kauai, (undated) 17. Tek Nickerson, dated May 6, 2006 (sic) 18. JoAnn A. Yukimura, dated May 6, 2009 Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. We'll put that written testimonies as part of our record. Councilmembers, Iwould like to conduct this public hearing where if you do have a question, please address the question to the speaker, and would like your consideration in holding back from comments, rather, and any questions that you have for any of the speakers, you know, will be an appropriate manner where I'll have you address that. So...but I would like to hold comments back. This is a public opportunity to be able to speak and make comments, so we can take their input and, you know, somehow if we need to apply their input and comments, we'll be able to do that. So again, Councilmembers... Any questions before I start? Mr. Furfaro: Yes Mr. Chair. I do want to note, perhaps if some misinterpretation is made about spending that there is an opportunity to at least correct that. Mr. Kaneshiro: Absolutely. Mr. Furfaro: ~ Thank you. 2 • Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay. With that, Mr. Clerk can I have the first speaker? The speakers will have 3 minutes in the first go-round, and we'll see how many are in the audience, and if time permits, I will allow another 3 minutes for you to speak. The hearing proceeded as follows: CONNIE CLAUSEN: Hi, I'm Connie Clausen. Good evening to you all. I'm a member of Zero Waste Kauai, and I thank you for allowing me to come here and give you my comments. You have no idea how much I appreciate what you're doing, and feel for you in the position that you're in. So I did email my comments earlier. Do you have those? Okay, great. So it's brief, and basically what I want to say is _I know that this is not an integrated solid waste management plan meeting. However, what I'm seeing is some disconnect between that and the budget, and. so I wanted to bring those points to your attention, because from what I understand, this...the integrated solid waste management plan's main priority is to maximize source reduction, in other words, reduce waste. And what I'm seeing in the budget doesn't necessarily address that, so those are my concerns. The first one is the elimination of funds for the recycling coordinator's position. This position is essential for us to move towards max 3R, which is maximum reduce, reuse, and recycle, along with assisting in the proposed phase one curbside recycling program for Lihu`e. So I hope that you can find out why that is not included in the budget. Number two, creating funds for curbside cans, trucks, training, staffing, and not including funds for a place to take the anticipated collected recycling makes no sense and is irresponsible. A materials recovery facility is mandatory for this program to work. That it's not in the budget doesn't make any sense. Funding for household hazardous waste, electronic recycling, and hard to recycle events is not included in the budget. This oversight is an invitation for dumping around the island of dangerous materials that could contaminate our water and soil. Number four, inclusion of moneys for a pay as you throw system to cover some of the cost of the phase one curbside recycling program for Lihu`e is missing as a budget line item. This is approved in the integrated solid waste management plan, but missing from the budget. So in summary, the budget doesn't seem to be strategic. It does not seem to incorporate a workable long range plan for solid waste. It seems piecemeal and without a direction or a system to hold it together. So those are my concerns. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any questions? Mr. Furfaro. 3 • • Mr. Furfaro: Yes. First of all Connie, thank you very much for outlining your testimony as such. It really is helpful for us. We are in the middle of kind of going through the budget process. First of all, I want to make sure that we have an understanding. With our recycling coordinator last year, that position was actually elevated, and some reward for doing a very good job, I won't name the individual by name, to have a broader perspective of what needs to happen. And in addition that, the Council did unanimously agree to reinstate that position as the, you know, as the coordinator's position. This person was elevated and then broadened her expectations because there were some marketing things put in the budget, which do exist. You just... I'm going to give you a summary on. And this Council approved the potential of putting that position back. So I wanted to make sure that... Ms. Clausen: Excellent. Mr. Furfaro: Now when the first draft of the budget came over, and unknown to the administration of the fact at the time was what was going to happen with the $11.8million transient accommodation tax, so the administration had removed that position. You're correct in that assumption. But I want to make sure that you knew that this Council is prepared and had told the administration that we would definitely be reconsidering the reinstatement of that position. Ms. Clausen: I'm grateful. Mr. Furfaro: Along that line, I should also say that there was in the line item in solid waste, I think there's a line item for $375,000 for programs. Specifically as I recall, and I'll research it a little better, I think there's 50,000 put in for TV computer type items, and another 20 or 25,000 to let Allison do some marketing on those particular pieces, so those are items that are there and are still subject to discussion of this full council. But I don't want you to perceive it as not getting the attention of the council. Ms. Clausen: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any other questions? I have one question. What integrated solid waste management plan are you referring to? Ms. Clausen: That's an interesting question. I was going to save all this for next week when we talk about that, because I had fun pulling my copy of 2004 out...I'm sorry, not 2004, 1994, in which I actually find myself in a photo with 12 other people on the cover. Mr. Kaneshiro: So you're referring to the 1994... 4 4 ~ Ms. Clausen: Mr. Kaneshiro: Ms. Clausen: I'm talking about to y~ Mr. Kaneshiro: yet. • • I am. Okay. I'm referring to that one... No. I actually... What ~u is the current one, but I have both of them. Okay. But the current one has not been approved Ms. Clausen: Correct. Mr. Kaneshiro: It's still through the process. Ms. Clausen: Correct. Mr. Kaneshiro: I want to be clear on that. Ms. Clausen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mr. Kaneshiro; And this is why I asked the question, what integrated solid waste management plan were you referring to. Ms. Clausen: Certainly. Yeah, yeah. Mr. Kaneshiro: Because we still have public hearing coming up on this. I think it's. on May 12 or 14. Ms. Clausen: May 12+~ we'll be here to talk about that. Mr. Kaneshiro: Correct. Okay. Ms. Clausen: Or we'll be at the... Mr. Kaneshiro: I just wanted some clarification on that. Thank you for that. Ms. Clausen: Sure. And the one I have in 1994 has been sitting on my shelf and other peop le's shelves too. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you, Connie. Ms. Clausen: Sure. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for the testimony, Connie. 5 • Ms. Clausen: You're welcome. Mr. Kaneshiro: With that, next speaker please. CORDON LABEDZ: Hi everybody, and thanks for doing this. and looking at all these numbers and not getting bored. My name is Gordon LaBedz. I'm a physician. I live in Kekaha. Last year and the year before I was. the chair of Zero Waste Kauai, and you'll be hearing from a bunch of us from Zero Waste Kauai, and I hope we're not repetitive. The way we see this budget as it's proposed is that we're going to waste another year, and that's what's really troubling. There's a lot of money that's being spent as we see it that's wasteful. It's not going to accomplish anything. And there's money that is not being spent that should be spent. Some for instances. There's $387,000 of consultant fees for lots of stuff. There's 100 grand to find a new landfill. There's a pilot program to do recycling for 6 months. The pilot program is just silly. It's going to accomplish nothing. All the information on curbside recycling, we've been doing this in the United States for 25, 30 years; we don't need a pilot program. There's no place to send the waste. It's just a waste of money. If we got a recycling program up and running, we aren't going to need a new landfill right away. Sure population will increase and eventually we'll need a new one, but recycling, we can get 60% of our trash out of the landfill with a good recycling program. So there's a hundred grand there. There's 387 for a consultant. There's a curbside...then you're going to buy another 5600 trash cans that we don't need yet that are just going to take up space somewhere that's $560,000. There's lots of money being wasted that's just spinning wheels. Yet, as we just talked about that the person who can get a material recovery facility built, a greenwaste facility built, was eliminated from .the budget. If you hire the right person, they can...the technology for a MRF, a place where you sort all the recyclables, the technology is simple stuff. It's...you know, a prefab building and a few machines, and you got it. And we don't need to spend $365,000 for something like that. You hire one person who knows what he or she is doing and you got it. So that's kind of our message for today. If we're going to get recycling going and decrease the junk that's going in the landfill, we really need to hire a 'person who knows what they're doing to get them a MRF and a greenwaste facility moving, and stop throwing away money spinning wheels on consultants that are not really going to tell us much. So that's a take home message. You'll probably hear it again in a number of ways. Thanks. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Kawakami, you had a question? Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Mr. LaBedz for your testimony. And I agree, because when I first heard about a MRF, I went on You Tube and I was expecting to see some robot contraption, you know, separating it. But it's relatively simple. My question is, the 40% that's not diverted from our waste stream, what do you propose to do with the 40% that's left over? r 6 • • Mr. LaBedz: The 40% or whatever it may be, 30%, is going to have to go in the landfill, yeah. And we are going to need a new landfill some day. There's no question about that. So I'm just saying, maybe this year since money's tight maybe we could juggle the money around. That's all, yeah. Yeah, no, we'll need a landfill, yeah. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Question Mr. Furfaro? Mr. Furfaro: Yes. I want to clarify the statement on the consulting services. It was a question that we sent over to the administration. There are many of here on the Council that are big proponents of a MRF, whether it's a dirty MRF or a clean MRF. We talk about curbside recycling as a pilot program, well, it's real. We're spending real dollars to make that happen. But I also want to make sure, and it ties in to Mr. Kawakami, that you know, this study that we're using is also consulting services that help us also understand some of the parameters of what we might do with the other 40%, some of the particular parameters as it relates to a dirty MRF versus a sorted MRF, manpower analysis, site location, construction cost. You know, all of those particular pieces can be part of the document that we're asking the administration to have in the scope of work. Mr. LaBedz: ~ Our point is I think if you hire the right person, they can do that without so much money. That's a lot of money. Mr. Furfaro: And I think my point is, the law prevents us just to go out and hire somebody. There are procurement rules in the State of Hawaii that we must comply to. Mr. LaBedz: Okay. Mr. Furfaro:. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Anymore questions? If not, next speaker please. KELLY BUSKIRK: Hi. Thanks for having me. I'm Kelly Buskirk, and I live in Kalaheo, and I manage a business here in Lihu`e, and I'm also a member of Zero Waste Kauai. Again, some things may be repetitive, but, I think we...as a group, we want to express what our main goals are, and I hope that comes across in what we say. But I have your comments, so I'm going to try and take those in and address what I'm going to say in a little bit of a different way. What we feel is that as a whole, the budget's not addressing or supporting the max 3R philosophy that we stand behind, the reduce, reuse, recycle. We feel the public wants this, and we feel that, you know, from the eco roundtable show of hands that the council supports this as well. So we just want to make sure that the budget reflects this philosophy as well, since it seems to be that recycling is something that you all 7 • • support, and the reason is because we can divert the waste from the landfill. So what we feel as it pertains to the curbside pilot program, we feel the approach would have been better spent saying this is phase one of a long term recycling program. A pilot program just seems just a waste of energy, whereas, this should be phase one of a long term goal. And but before that can happen, we need to have the MRF in place. So without the concrete line item saying here's the money for the siting of the MRF, here's the money for the design of the MRF, why are we moving forward on a recycling pilot program when we first need the MRF, the materials recovery facility. So I think that's our number one goal...is that MRF, so we can move forward on a long term recycling program. Finally... Sorry, number two, I have three points, is you mentioned funding to hire the recycling coordinator. You did mention that you were reconsidering that, so I just want to bring this up again that we feel really strongly that there's experts on-island, and $50,000 for a full year's worth of hiring someone on island makes a lot more sense than having consultants that are coming from off island, spend a lot more money that aren't a full year position. So I think $50,000 is really well spent. And I know you mentioned reconsidering, but we really want to express our point that we feel that the recycling position and...positions need more staffing as a whole in the County. And then finally, funding for the CHRM, the computers and hard to recycling materials, I couldn't agree more with Connie when she said that these electronics in our landfill are so dangerous to our health, and I think this is really...it's just all in the news, and people are seeing this, that they don't want this in their landfill, they don't want this in their water source and their air. So we need a facility. So we need to site and design a CHRM, a computers and hard to recycling materials facility, and that's really important. Finally, I did just want to mention that as Zero Waste we are against an incinerator, and I think we want to mention this just because it's something that's been brought up in the past, and we feel it's very expensive. We feel like the Big Island's looked in to this, and we feel like this has been exhausted, and we just want to express that burning trash goes against the max 3R and against the zero waste philosophy, and it's terrible for global warming and pollution, and it's just going against the whole idea of reducing our waste rather than creating more waste. So that's where I wanted to end. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any questions? Mr. Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. I don't disagree with anything you said, but I want to make sure some points are here too. We had the coordinator in the budget, the council did. I just want to make sure. We're not reconsidering. We're asking the administration to reconsider it. They took it out, not the council, so that's the point I wanted to... But we are also all following senate bill 2833, which deals with the State basically looking at manufacturers of computer screens, flat screens, etc., that they may be mandated in the near future to actually provide the collection centers for their wastes, and so we're watching that as well-. And as I said earlier, I 8 • ~ • don't call the curbside recycling a pilot program. Spend $400,000, it's a program, it's not a pilot. So thank you very much for your testimony. Ms. Buskirk: Thank you very much. Mr. Kaneshiro: You had a question Tim? Tim had a question for you. Mr. Bynum: Just the pilot... I had a difficult time with that word, because...and I -agree with you that if this is an early rollout of phase one, then that may have been received differently in the community than calling it a pilot, because that says, well we're going to try it out to decide if we're going to do it. And I agree with Councilmember Furfaro, from my point of view, we decided that we're going to do it. And so, you know, I asked those questions at the budget hearing, you know, this is...we're going to continue this. If we roll it out early, we're going to continue yeah? And so I'm waiting to get the, you know, more clarity on those answers, because then it's not a pilot, it's a early rollout of phase one, and the specifics about how we address the...what we collect prior to that time. Ms. Buskirk: Right. We just want to make sure we don't put the cart before the horse, and we get the MRF in place before a recycling program can be successful, is our main point. Mr. Bynum: And you know, we did get information kind of late in the budget process that there is money...some money for a MRF for composting and further facilities that the plan we have yet to adopt, you know, envisions happening sooner rather than later. I just wanted to say I'm trying to get to the bottom of what phase..: Is it phase one of an early rollout of something we all want, or is it a pilot, and find out through the details whether it's a semantics problem or an actual problem. Ms. Buskirk: Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Kawakami: Mr. Kaneshiro: more question for you. Right. Thank you. Thank you for that. I got a quick question. Oh, one more question. Mr. Kawakami has one Mr. Kawakami: Sorry about that. You know, I'm just referring back to the budget, and thank you for your testimony, I agree. But in the budget there's 100,000 for the curbside pilot program materials processing contract with processor to receive, process, and recycling materials collected from the curbside program. So yeah, it's to... It's a contract to deal with the collection, the recycle phase. 9 :~ Ms. Buskirk: island (inaudible). Mr. Kawakami: you, Zero Waste Kauai, operates this MRF? n u Is that for here, or is that to...with Oahu or off I'm not sure, but my question is, does it matter to if the county operates the MRF or if a private entity Ms. Buskirk: From what I've understood that a partnership may be necessary, but I'm not the expert on that. So it might be someone else to best answer that question. Mr. Kawakami: Because as I read it, there is money. Now you raise a good question-whether it's contracted here or Oahu. But I'm just trying to feel out, you know... Ms. Buskirk: Well, we feel for a successful long term recycling program, we need a facility on our island to process this waste. So we feel like that should be done first. Site that and design that before you can start the recycling program, or else we're sending the recycling off the island is what we're guessing, which doesn't seem to be the most cost effective approach or realistic approach. Mr. Kawakami: If it's a curbside recycling program, it's already like separated to a point, you know. So if we're contracting out for somebody else to do it, would that be sufficient? Ms. Buskirk: If it's on island... We still feel very strongly we need a facility on the island to be doing this. Rather than feeling like we can send this all to another island to have our needs taken care of, we feel like that's the very first step is to have that materials recovery facility here. Mr. Kawakami: It doesn't matter it it's county-runned or somebody else, as long as it's on the island? Ms. Buskirk: I think there's other experts that can address that, but I don't think I'm the best to address that. Mr. Kawakami: Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, I'm going to turn the mike over to Finance Vice Chair at this point just for a few minutes. So at this time Mr. Asing will take over as being the chair of this committee. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. With that, can we have the next speaker please. 10 • LINDA HARMON: Hi. My name is Linda Harmon and I live in Hanapepe and I'm glad to be here. Mr. Furfaro: Welcome, Linda. Ms. Harmon: Thank you. Thank you Jay. I have here the testimony of John Harder who couldn't be here today, and so I'd like to read from it. And some of the points you have brought up to counter what he says are stated here, but I will read them nevertheless. Mr. Furfaro: Linda, please understand, they weren't to counter anything. It was more information to kind of say where we are with the planning, and I think a earlier speaker talked about having a financial plan that fit the strategic plan, so... Ms. Harmon: Okay. Number one, there are a number of elements in the proposed budget that concerns Zero Waste Kauai, most specifically, the 385,000 contract related to studying waste reduction facility ownership options primarily dealing with waste to energy. As the potential diversion impact of recycling and composting is still an issue of debate, spending limited funds on possible incineration option seems premature and wasteful. The recently completed Maui County...it's called ISWM for...yes thank you, integrated solid waste management plan update estimates that a 60% diversion rate is achievable. If Kauai can achieve a similar diversion rate, incineration becomes totally impractical. Number two, with both the administration's budget and the proposed ISWM plan update, that's the integrated waste management plan, emphasizing expanding recycling opportunities, the failure to include funding for the vacant recycling coordinator position is shortsighted. Number three, the proposed plan update, the ISWM update, emphasizes the need for expanding on-island processing capacity. Yet the proposed budget puts the cart before the horse in moving ahead with curbside recycling without first developing a MRF. Materials recovery facility, that is. While the proposed bond float does propose funding the facility design, it does not address the need to first make some of the basic decisions necessary to move into the design phase. Hiring a consultant to carry out a vaguely specified task will only waste time and money. The county should consider fast tracking the development of a MRF. The process could include the development of a conceptual design using local resources. Zero Waste Kauai would be more than willing to assist in the project, assessing and selecting a site, and again, using internal or local resources. Once a conceptual design, including the facilities spatial requirements and equipment .specifications is developed and a site has been selected, the design becomes much simpler. The vendors selected to provide the pre-engineered metal building and the necessary equipment will provide many necessary technical designs and specs, allowing the county to go out for build for a 11 • • straightforward design build contract to provide a true...a turnkey facility, including all equipment. And a fourth concern regards the proposed pilot curbside recycling project. We feel it is premature, but if it must proceed, it should be considered the first phase of a long term commitment to residential recycling, not some form of experiment. If possible, we feel that initiating curbside greenwaste collection in the neighborhoods targeted for automation makes much more sense. The county will have two freed up waste collectors and a free rear-end packer truck. The county won't have to train one of the laborers to operate the somewhat complicated automatic arm, and there is an already adequate existing greenwaste processing capacity. The last concern that John brings up is...well, all of Zero Waste of Kauai feels that cutting funding for household hazardous waste and electronic collections program and deleting the backyard composting effort at the same time the county is attempting to raise community consciousness relating to waste management issues is counterproductive. Thank you. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. Any questions Councilmembers? If not, thank you very much. With that, Councilmember Kaneshiro. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Chair for running the public hearings. With that, can I have the next speaker please? JOANN YUKIMURA: I have copies of my testimony. If I can give this to staff? Aloha Councilmembers, Budget & Finance Chair, Chair Asing. For the record I'm JoAnn Yukimura. Mahalo for this opportunity to testify. I'm happy to speak on the county's operating and capital budgets for fiscal year 2010, in particular, as regards to the solid waste budget. For 15 years this county has had a solid waste plan approved by the council in 1994 that makes maximum reduce, reuse, and recycle, also known as max 3R or zero waste, the predominant policy of this county. However, little has happened to turn this island into a recycling island as envisioned by the plan. Yes, our recycling and diversion rate has grown from 3% to 24% over the last 15 years, but we clearly failed to reach the State goal of 50% by the year 2000. That came and went. Why? Because we haven't changed our community's system to support, encourage, and reward recycling. Recycling on Kauai still takes a great effort. It's neither convenient, easy, or financially advantageous for Kauai residents to recycle. Visitors to our island from places where recycling is becoming a way of life have been seen walking around with the beverage container in their hand saying, where do I put this, where are your recycling bins, how come you folks don't recycle around here. Children in our schools are learning that recycling is the right thing to do, but in most of their homes and in their schools, recycling is not yet the main way. Why? How can we change this? We must understand that the main goal here is to change the system. We must change from a community where recycling is a secondary side system to a 12 • • community where reduce, reuse, and recycle is the main way of dealing with our solid waste. And for this to happen, our solid waste budget, staffing, and laws must be aligned with our plan. And if you look at the draft plan that is going to be discussed next week and the 1994 plan, the priorities haven't changed. It's still the top priority is reduce, reuse, recycle, and that is what has to be our budget priority. Yet, if you look at our budget, as John Harder's testimony said, it does not fund the recycling coordinator position, and thank you Councilmember Furfaro for the explanation and we'll count on all of you to put that recycling position back in, because who is going to do all the tasks and projects, and there are so many, that in our updated solid waste plan which says we have to do these things to become a recycling island, but if you don't have someone to do it, it's not going to happen. And not funding the recycling coordinator position is a perfect way to make sure that the recycling programs do not happen. Funding for the electronic waste and hazardous waste collection events is eliminated, and people... As we've seen, people on Kauai, whether business people or children or elderly, all want to recycle, but you have to make it easy, you have to give them the options. That's why we had such an overwhelming response to that last computer collection event, and we need to do that again, and hazardous waste collection is even more important, because they will dump it down the drains, or in the soil, or down the valley, and that's poisonous to our environment. Mr. Kaneshiro: Excuse me for a second JoAnn. I'm going to go ahead and allow you to speak for the other 3 minutes. I know I stated previously that I would limit it to 3 and then come back in 3, but because we've also had Linda Harmon do testimony for Mr. Harder that went over the 3 minutes, I'll go ahead and allow you to finish up within the 6 minutes. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you Mr. Chair. I appreciate that very much. So if I may continue... Funding for a materials recovery facility is an essential prerequisite to successful curbside recycling, yet the proposal is to put a MRF in the bond float, which will likely delay action on a MRF by a year or more. And the county is proposing to hire expensive consultants to do the job when the work of siting and designing a MRF could be started in July of this year if we had a recycling coordinator position funded, and if we hired someone qualified to fill that position, and if we gave them a budget to work with. The proposed curbside recycling pilot project sounds exciting and admirable, but to implement it before all the elements of successful curbside recycling are in place does not make sense. Studies by EPA and the experiences of other local governments show that curbside recycling is successful when the following elements are in place. Pay as you throw. Because until...unless you charge for garbage, you won't be saving anything by recycling. A materials recovery facility, we've already talked about that. A greenwaste curbside program, because greenwaste is really easy to recycle, and it will divert a big portion of our waste. And a public education and outreach program, and also was mentioned a CHRM or a way to handle hard to recycle 13 • • waste. Doing a pilot project before the prerequisites are in place is a perfect example of ready, fire, aim. Mr. Furfaro: I heard that before. Ms. Yukimura: You started it all. If you were building a house, it would be like putting the drywall in before you put in the plumbing and electrical. We would not be using our time, money, or resources wisely. For example, the pilot curbside project that's being proposed would spend $100,000 on shipping, and Councilmember Furfaro you were asking about that, I know in talking to the recycling staff that it would cover shipping and processing of recycled goods from the curbside pilot project to Oahu for 6 months. Whereas, you could instead, if you delayed the pilot project, you could use that $100,000 to set up a MRF that will enable and sustain curbside recycling and business recycling into the future indefinitely. So better to use our scarce resources to put a recycling system in place than to do a 6-months pilot project. Because then you can't sustain the pilot project, because you don't have the infrastructure in place. And I'm finally coming to the end. In summary, if the county of Kauai is to successfully achieve its solid waste priorities, it must align its budget, staffing, and laws to those goals. This means funding a recycling coordinator, MRF, and electronic and hazardous waste collection events, and greenwaste, and actually the home composting which is a really nice tie-in to home gardening. The county needs to be strategic in spending its money. Rather than a 10% across the board cut on every department, you should find the money for increases in spending that will bring real and needed changes for a sustainable Kauai, and then make cuts where there is waste, excess, or low priorities. And if you watch Obama, President Obama, that's what he's doing. He's not cutting back on everything. Where the priorities will make the changes that we need to make as a society, he is doing that. Thank you Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you JoAnn, you had your 6 minutes. With that, I'll open this up for questions. Mr. Kawakami. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you so much for your testimony. I agree with what you just testified on. My question is, you know the four elements that should be in place, a .pay as you throw fee, a materials recovery facility including a CHRM, a greenwaste curbside program, a public education and outreach program, with all of these in place, does it negate the need for us to ship the recycled materials off island? Ms. Yukimura: Exactly. Mr. Kawakami: Well, what happens to the recycled...the pallets of aluminum and the pallets of glass, what happens to it on the island? Do we have a facility to convert that into something else, or does that ultimately get shipped off island anyway? 14 • • Ms. Yukimura: You know, you're thinking very well in terms of all the thing that need to be done, and I'm just learning myself. This weekend I finally read that 200 page draft plan. In terms of glass, which is hard to ship because it's so heavy, it would be really good to develop local markets and uses for it, and there are uses. We can use it for fill and sewer lines, sandblasting is already being used, but what was said in the plan and we really need to have the recycling experts here, like Allison Fraley and others, but what I know of it is that somehow we have to get the grade of the glass to be finer than they're doing it now, than present facilities can do. And immediately when I read .that I said, okay how much...what kind of machinery do you need, how much does it cost, is it something a small business could get with a good small business loan, or is it a major facility that the county would need to fund and include in its MRF. And I don't know the answers to that question, but a business recycling coordinator, which is also suggested in the plan, is somebody who could research that and work with a business or with the county to develop that, so that's...and then work to create markets. And I'll tell you, if you begin to extrapolate these possibilities as you have asked, you could create so many businesses and jobs here, and that's another one of our goals, which is not what waste to energy will do. I mean really, we will then become a recycling community. Mr. Kawakami: Yeah, because like my main concern is, like I'm trying to follow the process. I mean the curbside recycling, going to a MRF, having it sorted, .and then eventually what we end up with are pallets of aluminum, and then we have the glass, and... I see guys using the glass. I mean...in just the way that you said they're using it...and pallets of cardboard. But eventually, the argument is oh we shouldn't be shipping it, but it ends up getting shipped. And so... Ms. Yukimura: Some things will have to be shipped, because like paper, we don't have a paper mill to create recycled paper products. If Honolulu... If we set the standard in the State for a real recycling island and Honolulu catches on, then their economies of scale and quantities might even make it feasible for a paper recycling plant, ultimately. And even like they were making plastic lumber in Maui, and we have plastic lumber benches and tables in some of our parks, but they didn't have enough recycled plastic to make the lumber. But if City & County and all the counties started recycling on a major level, we would have the quantities that could make some of these industries feasible. Mr. Kawakami: Just one more question. Do you have an opinion on, you know, the 40% that's left over. Can max 3R and waste to energy coexist? Ms. Yukimura: I don't think so, because I don't think that... I mean, you know, in the plan...the draft plan that's recommending waste to energy, they're saying that the plant's going to cost $52 million. The Big Island thought it was going to cost $25 million for a similar volume that we're talking about. Their RFP, this is a bottom line figure, because these guys had to produce if the county accepted that, was for $125 million plant. I don't know you can economically do it, 15 • • and, Councilmember Kawakami, the thing is there are some questions about the volume that is being projected, because they used very high gross figures, and we're all seeing that those growth projections between 2000 and 2005 was a huge growth spurt on our island. I don't know if that was...that's a right baseline to use. Mr. Kawakami: So it's better to landfill then. Ms. Yukimura: Well, first of all we might even reach 70%, but only if we really do a concerted, committed effort to develop recycling. And if we do, then the rest will be in our landfill, but it will probably extend the life of our landfill by several years and will give us more time to figure out what to do. There's an anaerobic process and some other processes, but I don't know the economics of them, but we might have more time to deal with it then. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you JoAnn. Thank you so much Mr. Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any other questions committee members? Mr. Furfaro, you have a question for JoAnn? Mr. Furfaro: - Yes. Thank you. JoAnn, thank you for being here this evening. Ms. Yukimura: You're welcome. It's my pleasure. Mr. Furfaro: I think your comments about, you know, the actual cost here and being asleep at the switch for so many years is correct. I do want to point out in defense of getting the first phase of curbside recycling, and you were on the council at the time, it was in my hopes a way to push us into doing some of the things that we said were in the strategic plan for reducing waste. And you know, at the same time we recognized that there were big dollars in doing the lateral expansion at the landfill. But it is very, very important. I think moving on this phase one, and yes, shipping off island for now, made testimony that the council was very committed to doing some things, and it's unfortunate, sometimes we do things that don't reflect the best business practices. But it raised the urgency of doing it. Ms. Yukimura: Well, I would like to suggest that you could still do this pilot project as a first phase, but you couldn't do it as fast as people are talking about doing it, and move it a year or so down, because then you could put all the true elements together and you would spend the money on really setting up the system, and then it can be a true first phase. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: But to try to do the first phase before you put the system in place is wasteful use of money, because you... 16 Mr. Furfaro: I'm acknowledging your comment, but I also want to... Of anyone, I served 4 years with you as vice chair of planning, and the other part of this is when we get to the MRF there is all the application process, the department of health, the siting, the construction bids, and so forth. And I know we're concerned in your testimony that we're 6 months away from the bond, but when you look at our real planning agenda, we got to get that started and I concur with you. But it's not something, without going through the procurement process, we're possibly going to get it done, and that's why I just wanted to point out this curbside recycling, first phase, and shipping the material off, I thought made a statement we've got to get really close to this, there's a great deal of urgency to do it, and yet at the same time there's some realistic time flows for doing what I just said, from permitting, to bidding, to construction, to equipment investment, and finding a partner on top of that. Ms. Yukimura: Well, I just want to say that when we did the recycling center, you know, which is right next to our Lihu`e transfer station, and we also did the Lihu`e transfer station when I was mayor, we didn't hire any fancy consultants; our recycling coordinator did the, planning for it, you know. Mr. Furfaro: Understood. Ms. Yukimura: And the negotiations for the land...the location. And I think we did on a much faster timetable than is right now sketched out, and I believe it could be done if you give the funding for the position, and if a good qualified person is hired you could do it in-house and faster. Mr. Furfaro: I just wanted to comment. I sense urgency equally as much as you. Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: I appreciate that. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Bynum, you had a question? Mr. Bynum: Yeah. Councilmember Furfaro as often gets there before I do, so I agree with your comments and I appreciate it, because you know... So what I do want to say about recycling, I've already said that I'm concerned about the language and whether it's a real commitment, but I share the sense that if we move in that direction it will give us a rea1...I mean every day we don't move rapidly towards a MRF we look sillier and sillier. So there is that aspect that it may lend a sense of urgency. But I want to say that, you know, I also heard speculation that, from individuals that, oh they want to do a pilot project so it will fail and they'll have a rationale to go somewhere else. And I just want to say on the record that I don't believe for one second that was the mayor's intent. The mayor wanted to say, hey let's even move quicker on this, and we may disagree about whether that was a good decision or not, but I think he feels a little stunned, like 17 • hey yeah, I moved quicker- and I'm getting criticized, you know. So...and I totally trust his intent is to move down this direction. And then...but I wanted to ask you about pay as you throw, because I said here on this council for 2 years ago that I thought we should institute trash collection fees now, and I meant 2 years ago. Ms. Yukimura: I agree. Mr. Bynum: Because my view is we know it's currently $46 per household per month is our cost, says the plan, and you know that's kind of hidden and our culture isn't paying these fees, and it's going to be difficult to institute them at any time. But you know, I've always assumed that we should have the fees in place, kind of get used to that so we have that structure, and then that gives us the mechanism that we need for instituting pay as you throw in terms of okay, you have this small container, this fee is what's being paid for it, if you need more, there's a cost involved. So I just want to know if you agree that it's a 2-phase process-first institute the fees islandwide and get the community cognizant that there's cost involved, and then go into the pay as you throw as we roll out automated collection. Ms. Yukimura: Well, if we had the time, you know, and if we had instituted the flat fee 10 years ago, it might make sense. But we're in such a corner right now. I mean we're in a corner because we haven't planned a new landfill or sited it and all of that. We're in a crisis. We're in an urgency, and the EPA studies, and I circulated a paper to the prior council, are very clear that you get high levels of recycling only when you have pay as you throw. And so if you want that...and it's...you know, we're in a terrible bind. If you had a lot of time I would say the two phases are good. But if you want to move quickly and if you want to really have the reality of curbside recycling, the full picture of curbside recycling, it needs to be a part of it, in my opinion. And there needs to be figuring out of it right now. Mr. Bynum: You know, I would like us to move on trash collection fees immediately if it were possible in order to get that as part of our expectation, and an acknowledgment that this is a huge cost for the county of Kauai and we need to do it better. So I appreciate that answer, and hopefully we can move forward. Ms. Yukimura: Well you know, your point about people paying for it through real property taxes and not having a match, it is paid for through real property taxes. Mr. Bynum: Oh right...oh now, correct. Ms. Yukimura: Yes, and it...not having a match between how much you throw away and how much you use of the service and how much you pay is like having unmetered water. I mean can you imagine how much people would waste if they didn't have to pay according to how much they used, and that's the solid waste system we have right now. So it has to change. And I want to just say 18 • • one last comment on the pilot project. I don't have any doubts that the mayor had the highest of intentions to do a pilot project, but as we all know, intentions are not enough. How you roll out the program is really critical as well. I don't know that it's designed to fail, but I think it will waste a lot of money at a time when we don't have time and money to waste, because for example, you spent a hundred thousand to...for the...sending it off island when you could...and for 6 months, when you could spend hundred thousand and begin to have a permanent system that will last forever. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any other questions for JoAnn? If not, I have a question for you JoAnn. Been on this budget for the last month I would say, going through the budget and looking at the tough times that we're facing, especially with the economic conditions on the island. You mentioned here that under the proposed county budget that who is going to do all the tasks and projects if we don't have a recycling coordinator position on the updated solid waste plan, that's the particular you mentioned. Wouldn't it be more prudent to, after we have an updated solid waste plan approved, then look at filling a recycling coordinator position? Ms. Yukimura: No, because we're behind the 8-ball. That's the problem you have when you don't do a plan in a timely way. We've taken 6 years to do a plan, and you know, we should have had the plan in place long ago. But the thing that makes me feel comfortable advocating the recycling coordinator now is technically we're under the 1994 plan, and the 1994 plan and the new draft plan both say recycling has to be the top priority, you know, reduce, reuse, recycle. So we're not...that's not going to change, I don't think. And so we'll waste a year, and it's really, proactive to look ahead a month or two and put that position in so it can start work. Mr. Kaneshiro: Well, I just want to be careful with that because it is a dollar funded position, so the position is still there. Ms. Yukimura: But it's of no use. Mr. Kaneshiro: Now with justification, with justification, that position can be opened back up, see. And I started... I'm not sure if you were here from the first budget hearing that we had when we first sat down... Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Mr. Kaneshiro: And I mentioned... Ms. Yukimura: I was. Mr. Kaneshiro: ...to all the departments that I know we see a lot of dollar funded positions, but when your department comes back to the council with 19 • • justification, we will all be looking at those justifications and make a decision at that point. So you know... Ms. Yukimura: Well, I would... Mr. Kaneshiro: I'm not saying that it's completely eliminated. There's a dollar funded position there now. Ms. Yukimura: I'm saying we don't have any time to waste, and that you know, if you do a separate appropriation bill or whatever, it's going to take 3 months, and then to fill the position, it'll be a year before you get somebody onboard. Mr. Kaneshiro: Well how long do you think it's going to take for this solid waste plan to be adopted? Ms. Yukimura: Well, it'll probably be adopted by August, hopefully. And so it'll be great timing if you fund the position and they start filling it, you know. And furthermore, you actually should have a recycling coordinator and a business coordinator, so you're already way behind. Mr. Kaneshiro: Well, I can't tell the administration. As you know, we're limited. All we can do is fund, and you know we can't tell them what to do. Ms. Yukimura: But the justification in my mind, there's no question about the justification. Mr. Kaneshiro: I appreciate your comments. Thank you JoAnn. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Can I have the next speaker please? JENNIFER SIFUENTES: Hi there. My name is Jennifer Sifuentes. I'm vice chair of Zero Waste Kauai, and small business owner of Aloha We Deliver. Thank you for hearing my comments today. I'm going to try not to sound too repetitive...definitely asynopsis of Zero Waste Kaua`i's comments. Including the current expansion for the landfill right now, it's estimated that we have 4 years left on the landfill. And Councilmember Kawakami, you had asked about the remaining 40% diversion rate if recycling can procure the 60% diversion rate. Well, you...the budget contains a line item of a hundred thousand to site a landfill. If we diverted those moneys to site the MRF, the materials recovery facility, then extending fora 50% diversion rate would actually extend the life of the landfill from 4 years to 8 years and therefore it wouldn't be necessary at this point in time to site a landfill, and allow a materials recovery facility the opportunity to show what we can achieve with that. The waste to energy or an incinerator in the 20 • (inaudible) plan only cites a 35% diversion. And in answer to your question of whether or not they could both exist...co-exist, a materials recovery facility and a waste to energy of an incinerator, there's even a quota for how much trash or waste they want to burn. So in essence, they're completely conflicting and contradictory. They're at arms with each other, because if they need to burn more garbage when we're trying to support recycling to reduce waste, they're not on the same page at all. It absolutely does not coordinate or coincide with the max 3R of reduce, reuse, recycling at all. I think that pretty much covered everything, and again, just want to reiterate the important key notes. We need an actual system in place and on the budget, not a consultant (And if you are going to hire a consultant, certainly not an off-island consultant.), not a study, not a pilot program or an experimentation, but a system. We need the position for the recycling coordinator to be funded and filled. Pay as you throw immediately implemented to, again, encourage recycling and reduce the amount of waste that's collected. And then the site design and construction of the materials recovery facility, and again to point out why use the moneys to site a landfill when we could use those moneys immediately to site the materials recovery facility. And of course our...the CHRM. So thank you very much for hearing me. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Jennifer. Any questions for Jennifer? Mr. Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. Jennifer, thank you for your testimony. I just wanted to point out that that is some of the thinking that's going on right now. And to get what's in the studies framed in everybody's mind what we've been told, at 90,000 tons a year, the current landfill has about 3.1 years of life. And this council has earmarked money for that lateral expansion, but after that phase, there is a second lateral expansion which could have the capacity of carrying us another 3.4 years. Based on the timetable that I shared with siting, application, design, and so forth I think one of the things we're conveying to the administration is we may have to live with that first 3.1 years, but rather taking it to 6.3 years in phase 2, which is the best estimate at this time, that other money could be re-looked at for an investment, and that will come up with us in the bond. So I just wanted to share good information as I asked the Chair earlier. The lateral expansion from last year will give us, at a rate of 90,000 tons, it'll give us three and a half years. A second expansion will give us another 3.3 years. But it's the second expansion money that we could possibly look at for the urgency, as I spoke to JoAnn, to look at creating a MRF. But I wanted to make sure we all had the numbers right. The life... Ms. Sifuentes: Maybe siting the MRF and not looking at creating it, not the idea of the concept or a consultant, but the actual implementation, design, and putting it on the map. Mr. Furfaro: Yeah, and that's a pretty long process with government, I just want to say. But it is one of those strategic alternatives, and so 21 • • much of our landfill is really related to greenwaste too that we have to look at those composting plants. Thank you, and I just wanted to get the numbers correct. Ms. Sifuentes: Okay, thank you. Mr. Furfaro: You're quite welcome. Mr. Kaneshiro: Next speaker please, Mr. Clerk. Thank you Jennifer. ROB ABREW: Aloha Council. Thank you for staying late tonight to hear us community members come out and express our thoughts and opinions. For the last year I've been involved in a group of what is called the young leaders, of training young leaders for the island of Kauai, and one of the things we have learned in this is we've had many members from government services and offices as long as...as well as business leaders and cultural leadership come and talk to us about our island of Kauai, and how we can participate and grow our island. And one of the things was, is learning how to bring ideas and new ideas and come forward and actually being responsible enough and presenting them and following through on ideas. One of the things I've learned is that leaders have to make hard choices and decisions and not pass the buck to someone down the road. And for the last 10 years I've lived on this island and been a business owner, I have seen the buck passed from administration to administration to administration. And what I have found is that no one wants to make the hard decision, no one wants to make the choices of what we need to do here in order to move forward, and I call that marching time. People are marching time in their jobs and nothing gets done. We don't make a decision and do a direction. We don't ask the community members what we want to see. We make a decision and we send it to a consultant and let them deal with it for a year, then the next year we send it to another consultant, let them deal with it for a year; no one's making a decision. One of the things I've looked at and it sort of sounds like a bunch of other people in this room have come forward to and have talked about that, and it's probably the biggest expansion we have on the island, and it's our solid waste industry. And I've heard it discussed here. I guess just sitting here, the way I summed it up is we have 3 choices: we can either bury it, burn it, or ship it. Those are our 3 choices. What. do we do? Do we bury it, do we burn it, or do we ship it? It's simple to me, but we have to ask the community what do we want to do, how do we proceed with that, what does the community want to do, where do we bury it, where do we burn it, how do we ship it, if it's private enterprise or if it's government. One of the things that's also come to my attention and I've known this for a long time is the county government controls every single pound of solid waste on this island. They control it. They can either make money for it, they can bury it, but they control it. You guys control every single pound, and that's court order by the supreme court of the United States. It's a local municipal owns the solid waste. 22 • • So it goes back into what does the county of Kauai want to do with their solid waste. Mr. Kaneshiro: Three minutes. You want to take your other 3 minutes at this point? Mr. Abrew: Sure if I'm allowed to. Mr. Kaneshiro: Go right ahead. Mr. Abrew: One of the things recently, we had the visitor industry come here and ask for some funding to improve our visitors coming to this island. One of the things I didn't hear from any members here or anything was what do our visitors think of their experience here. No one asks this. Is what do our visitors want when they come Here, what do they see, what do they respond to. We're asking them to come here. Is our hospitality good here? In one section of our visitor industry I know, their minds are very strongly-what are we doing with our solid waste and why aren't we recycling it. Those are the questions from...a section of the visitor, it's the top thing. Ask the chamber of commerce. The top thing they ask, why aren't we doing this. Why don't we address this? Why don't we addressing it? We're just keep passing it on down the road. Why do we keep asking off-island consultants to come here and tell us what to do, when we can ask our community members what to do. What does our community want to do with this stuff? And just to go... We need a clear direction from administration, from our leaders; we need a clear direction which to go and go that. If it fails, then that person has to fess up we failed. Beaman, stand up, and say we failed. But we've got to take a direction. We've got to do something. If we wait another year, it's just another marching time. I did have some numbers, but I'm not going to go to it. One thing that also came to my mind was, recently we had a member of this community do something that made national attention, did it without any government involvement, did it without anything, anyone. They went out and did it. Eight members of this community went out. They were told it would cost them $4million for the State of Hawaii to do this. They went out and did it themselves. From what I heard from the national media, if I was a government official I'd be ashamed, I'd be embarrassed that 8 members of this community was able to go out and do a project in a week and a half that our government said would take 4 years and $4million to do. That's the problem with our government, is they don't do anything. We have private individuals here on this island that would do anything to make this island better and not be embarrassed. When that happens on this island, and it's happening, it's going to happen, there are all segments of this community meeting in rooms to take this island the way they want to take it without involving you guys, and it's happening. And all I ask is stand up, be leaders, ask the administration to stand up, be a leader, own up to their responsibilities and take us 23 in the direction we want to ask us to do. That's all I have to say. Thank you very much. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Rob. Any questions for Rob? Mr. Kawakami go ahead. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Mr. Chair. You know, I may have missed it, but you give three options: you either bury ~it, burn it, and ship it, and it was clear to you which one, but... So which one of the three would be your choice? Mr. Abrew: I don't have an opinion. You ask a hundred people, thirty-three and a third percent are going to say one thing, thirty-three and a third are going to be another thing. My opinion is ship it, get rid of it, get it out of here. If we burn it, we have a health issues. If we bury it, we have land issues. If we get rid of it and sort it, get rid of it, get the contamination out of it, use what we can here on the island in our infrastructure, use the greenwaste, use anything we can...I've lost the word, recycle or compost, anything we can pull out of that, compost, give it to our farmers, give it to our growers, give it back to the island that can be used. But anything that cannot be used on this island, let's get it out of here and get it somewhere (inaudible). Mr. Kawakami: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Bynum, you had a question? Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I just want to add. I mean the other thing we do is not generate the waste to begin with, and reuse things. So for me, I've been focusing on washing the cup instead of using a plastic one, and washing the dishes instead of using paper plates. So that's just one other option. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you for your question Mr. Bynum. Anyone else has any questions for Rob? If not, thank you Rob for your testimony. Mr. Clerk, can I have the next speaker please. ANDREA BROWER: Hi, good evening Councilmembers. Thanks for being here late. My name is Andrea Brower, and I'm speaking on behalf of Malama Kauai. And I would like to comment on the general funding priorities during these economically challenging times. In regards to the visitor industry stimulus package, I realize that tourism is our primary revenue generating industry, and I am very confident in Sue Kanoho's ability to develop and implement an excellent marketing plan. We also need to accept, however, that now is the time to allot equal or greater resources to economic diversification and resilience. With tourism down 25% and global forecasts troublesome at the best, we no longer have the luxury to make statements like diversification just takes time. We're at a very critical juncture, and it's going to take partnerships between government, community, and the private sector to move us swiftly towards a more sustainable 24 • economy. Our greatest economic opportunities, I believe, lie in developing industries that provide for our local needs and our own locally, contributing to the economic multiplier effect and creating lasting green jobs. Some businesses, organizations, individuals, and academics have already begun the important work of identifying where our greatest dollar leakage is and possibilities for developing localized industries lie, and I would encourage Councilmembers to utilize these resources, especially since they know that your resources are very limited this year. Malama Kauai for one would be happy to act as a resource or partner in any projects. We're engaged in a number of projects that are identified in the Kauai economic development plan, especially in the target cluster food and agriculture, and we have worked with the office of economic development to develop the successful and financially sustainable green business program. Our recently released north shore food system study and the Kauai agricultural forum planning process, which you have information about in front of you and. some of you actually attended, is a collaborative effort by many agricultural groups, and is helping to identify what some of the greatest challenges and priority goals for increasing agricultural production on Kauai right now, and there are tangible and reachable solutions, and these need to be some of our priority steps, especially in this...with our suffering economy. We applaud the administration's focus to develop the cattle industry, and we hope that some of the $50,000 is going to be put towards the actual implementation or, or at least starting programs in the first phases of developing processing facilities and a local feed system in particular. On a related note, what we decide to do with our waste stream and in regards to our solid waste management is going to have a significant impact on our economy, agriculture, and the `aina, and it's undoubtedly going to impact many, many generations to come. And I believe that these decisions are some of the most important and lasting ones that you're going to make as Councilmembers. Malama Kauai opposes any spending this year related to waste to energy and believes that the fast tracked siting, design, and construction of a MRF and other recycling infrastructure should be a top funding priority. I'm not going to reiterate the many good points that have already been made by representatives from Zero Waste Kauai and JoAnn tonight. They're in my written testimony. But I do want to make the point again that even if we divert 50% of our...only 50% of our waste stream, and I think we can do much more, there's not going to be enough for waste to energy, or we're not going to know if there's enough for waste to energy. So we need to first invest in the recycling infrastructure: And as JoAnn brought up, the county will be required to deliver a minimum tonnage to any incinerator, which is going to discourage maximum diversion and use of our resources, and right now our waste stream is full of resources that are becoming more and more scarce and more valuable as global virgin material sources decline and the price of imports and oil rise. So these are resources that will assist in the diversification and localization of our economy. And in regards to agriculture, at the ag forum the first priority that was identified in the sector of waste and resource stream was compost all organic waste. Most of you are familiar with the fact that Kaua`i's agriculture industry is 25 highly dependent on vast amounts of fossil fuel based imported inputs, and that our volcanic soils are really in need of remediation. So we must begin to utilize this greenwaste by funding the appropriate programs and infrastructure that enable us to use our resources. To do-I'm going to skim over the rest of that, but in our solid waste management strategy, I'd just like to conclude by saying we have the opportunity to develop lasting green jobs, to invest in the infrastructure that's going to enable us to capture valuable resources to develop local products and micro industries from these resources to support agriculture and to do what is pono for the `aina. And if you have any questions or you're looking for further resources and clarification, feel free to contact me. One additional little comment on something else that's in the budget, the $1.5million that's being invested in PV to put on the convention hall is definitely a step in the right direction, but I do want to make the point that those solar panels aren't going to go very far until we start implementing conservation and efficiency measures, which are 50%, at least, of the puzzle in regards to energy sustainability. And I'd encourage you all to play a part in seeing through the implementation of turning down the A/C in the county and State buildings, and I think this room is actually pretty warm, so good job. But there's some that are still freezing. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you for that Andrea. Any questions for Andrea? Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Hi. Yeah, I appreciate you bringing up the composting of...because we talk a lot about the MRF, but one of the changes in the plan was an acceleration for a composting facility and, and I think really importantly, that concept that food waste eventually would be part of that because, and I'll turn this into a question... I mean I think the reason this was at the ag forum is because of the soil things that you mentioned that the dual...we focusing on the solid waste aspects of composting, but it also creates a viable commodity for farmers. Is that correct? Ms. Brower: Yes, a viable commodity and industry and jobs. Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much for your...a broader look. This is a budget...I mean there's a lot of stuff in the budget. Ms. Brower: Yeah, and I couldn't get through all 200 pages, and actually, I didn't really get it, because there were all these codes everywhere. I needed a legend. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: With that, Mr. Clerk, our next speaker. DAVID WARD: Good evening. My name is David Ward, and I really don't have much to add to all the previous speakers. So I think they did a 26 ~ ~ wonderful job of pointing out which direction we need to go. From the questions that you've asked the previous speakers, I think you definitely want to go for curbside recycling, and I applaud that. I think part of the problem is that the... I heard the mayor's closest advisor say that there was enough waste for incineration and curbside recycling, and I think that's definitely wrong. There's not enough, and until everybody's onboard, there really isn't enough to do both. We need to prioritize and go with just curbside recycling. And also incineration, I think is...it kind of turns our atmosphere into a garbage dump, and you know, we might not see it, but it's changing our climate, and I think we need to stop dumping into our atmosphere. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Ward. Any questions? Thank you very much. Can we have the next speaker please? WENDY RAEBECK: Aloha, it's Wendy Raebeck. I actually...I'm not going to say the things that I planned to say, because I'm happy to see that... Mr. Kaneshiro: Just for the record, did you mention your name? Ms. Raebeck: I'll say it again. It's Wendy Raebeck. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Wendy. Ms. Raebeck: It just seems that the people on the council are more in favor of the things that I wanted to talk about than I understood. I was off the island for quite a while. I want to completely concur with everything Zero Waste Kauai has said. I'm 100% with them. I'm a member, but haven't been active because I haven't been here. But I basically just feel really excited about what's happening, because I think when you start talking... When you start talking about garbage, it's...it really comes down to garbage. And so for all of us to be sitting around talking very seriously about garbage, it's really great. You know, money and garbage are kind of like down to the absolute bottom of where you want to go, but we're here. So I just feel that we're really in a good place right now. And I think that...I'm sorry that all the zero people left, because I wanted to say that I think they're just this tremendous resource, and I hope that there's a way as we move forward that council or the administration can really work hand in glove with them, and hire them, and use that facility as well as Malama Kauai and just everybody that's putting their time and energy into this with such dedication. They're doing all the work, you know. So that's fantastic. Then just a couple more things. I think that...I know that people want to recycle. I'm somebody that... I have no trash. I haven't had trash for most of my adult life. I know how to get rid of stuff and I know how not to get it to begin with. But it's taken a lifetime of learning, but it feels good, it feels great, it feels fantastic. And I think it's education. People need to know it and they need to practice it, but everybody feels good when they recycle. Even when you just go down to the place 27 and you're throwing your stuff out there and your hands are all dirty and your dog's in the car, you know, there you are with the moms, and...you just...you know it's the right thing. You're just glad to be there. And I think that it just takes a little time, but people want to do it. So the curbside recycling project, as it emerges in whatever the right order sequence is for doing it, I think the important thing is to make people feel great about it, not like okay everybody, now we have to all recycle, and you guys blew it, and you have too much trash. You know, more like let's go, you know, let's do it, and to show them the...how by recycling we will save our landfill problem. We can, I truly believe, that through recycling we can not have the landfill problem as urgent as it is right now. I think that we can really buy some time through recycling, and I also believe that as we recycle and as people learn, and you were talking about the glass and all that extra stuff, as you recycle, you start to precycle (sic), which is really the key to it all. And you were talking about this, Tim, about not...I mean Councilmember Bynum, about not...you know, just thinking ahead of time, like I'm not going to buy that, and after a while, you just think, I don't want to buy that glass jar, I want to get more stuff at the farmer's market, or I want to grow it, or I want to get it from my neighbor, or whatever. So I think people will learn as they do it. And then the... I got a million more comments, but the last one I think I'm going to mention is the pay as you throw I think is real important, really, really important, and a little fundraiser there too. Back to the money, right? But I'm a little hesitant here, because I think that if people feel like they have to pay, they're going to throw it in the woods, and I'm really worried about the woods and beaches and all that stuff. So I think that you want to give them a little bit of warning, and let them start to recycle and feel good about it, and let them have a process of...I would say to ease in to that, not like okay, now we're going to recycle and we're going to pay for trash, but more like let's start practice this, and by the way, eventually you're going to have to pay for garbage. Thank you for the opportunity of letting us all talk about this stuff. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Wendy. Mr. Chair has a question. Council Chair Asing: Yes I have a question. You appear to have a handle on recycling personally. So I'd like to have an idea as to what kinds of things you're doing that people are not doing that you feel they should be doing. Ms. Raebeck: Okay. Thank you. It's the best opportunity. I have longed for this opportunity. How long do I have? Number one, the plastic bags in the grocery store. Why does everybody need a handle for every -bottle of milk, the way they bag it, they put like 2 things in a bag, another bag. They double the bags as if we're all handicapped, as if we have to walk 10 miles with this stuff; we're walking to our cars. I mean like fill the bag. If... I would say ban the bag, okay. I£.okay... A, no plastic bags, zero, gone. Next, bring your own bag always, always. If you carry it...if you don't have a bag, carry it to the car. I was doing this juggling act today getting out to a car. It's embarrassing sometimes, but I don't care. I 28 ~ ~ would say also like don't worry about how you look. It's just really important. Carry a bag, buy a bag, that's number...probably number one. Think about it as you buy it, like you know, bring your own container. Water bottles, don't buy plastic water bottles. Filter your water at home. Filter it at home and you can put it in a reusable thing. If you buy coffee every day at Starbucks or somewhere, bring your own cup or buy one of their...you know, those ones they sell in all those places. Just... I have this thing I wrote called 101 global warming 101 solutions, something like that... Global cooling 101, that's what it is, and I'd be happy to send you a copy of it. Council Chair Asing: Please do. Ms. Raebeck: Okay. I will happily do that. Council Chair Asing: Appreciate that. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Wendy? If not, thank you very much, Wendy, for your testimony. Wendy's the last speaker in this chambers. Is there anyone else here in the chambers that hasn't had an opportunity to speak and make public testimony? Is there anyone that hasn't had the chance, this is the opportunity for you to do so. ` Please state your name for the record. MARY STONE: Mary Stone. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Ms. Stone: I just am reiterating because I read the emails from JoAnn Yukimura and John Harder of Zero. Waste. So their main points about the budgeting priority for a MRF and for a county coordinator. But I just wanted from my own point of view to add that the importance of the visitor industry is based on a beautiful, natural environment. And having...I mean we had the sugar industry which put a lot of nasty stuff into the air. We've had fires which put a lot of nasty stuff in the air. We have burning...days that you cannot burn. ,With the waste to energy, what would be the guidelines there? We are already trying to clean up our air, and that would be a step in the wrong direction...for that reason. And I think the point about the tourists and many of them who come who are concerned that we don't have a recycling program, I know now there are many more at the beaches, there are places to put your recyclable materials, and so there's... Also, I think at the shopping centers at Kuku`i Grove. I'm not really sure, because I don't go there very much, but I do know at the beaches there are now plastic bins to put your recyclable items, and I think that's great. That's a great movement on the part of the county. So those were I think just the two main points in terms of the tourist visitor industry and also reiterating what JoAnn Yukimura who read actually the budget, and Andrea Brower's point to think of this as a long term commitment to the well being of our island, not just a quick fix, but a long term commitment. And for that, I think the MRF program and zero waste, but I think also the point about 29 ~ ~ the pay as you go, you need to kind of break into it gradually. And I know I use the `Ele`ele...and a lot of people in my neighborhood or my community of Hale Kupuna at Kalaheo, we use that recycle. place at the `Ele`ele shopping center, and they've added the paper place...oh, and the cardboard frequently gets overwhelmed. So those are...expanding those, expanding the greenwaste program for composting. I think the Zero Waste has a lot of really great ideas. So that's...is my off the cuff points of view. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mary for your testimony. Anyone has questions? Any committee member has questions? Thank you. Is there anyone else that hasn't had the opportunity to give public testimony? Is there anyone else who wanted to speak for a second time that haven't had the opportunity to do so? Seeing none, this budget and finance public hearing is now adjourned. Thank you. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 6:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk 30 PUBLIC HEARING MAY 20, 2009 • A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, May 29, 2009, at 1:35 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2312 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 17A, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO BUS FARES FOR THE COUNTY BUS SYSTEM, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on April 22, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on May 1, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:36 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao • • PUBLIC HEARING MAY 20, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, May 29, 2009, at 1:36 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2313 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2008-672 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2009, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (Prosecuting Attorney), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on April 22, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on April 29, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:37 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao PUBLIC HEARING MAY 27, 2009 l~ J A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, May 27, 2009, at 8:34 a.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: C 2009-184 -COMMUNICATION (05/06/2009) FROM THE MAYOR, SUBMITTING HIS SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET COMMUNICATION FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009-2010 AND PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE BUDGET BILLS, which was ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on May 20, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on May 21, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 8:35 a.m. Respectfully submitted, ~. ~~ ~ _ __ - PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao • PUBLIC HEARING June 16, 2009 • The public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Tim Bynum, Chair, Public Works/Elderly Affairs Committee .on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at 1:38 p.m. at the Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2314 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 12 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE-1987 ENTITLED "BUILDING CODE", which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council~of the County of Kauai on May 20, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on May 28, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:38 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /lki PUBLIC HEARING June 16, 2009 • The public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Dickie Chang, Chair, Economic Development/Housing Committee on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at 1:39 p.m. at the Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2315 - AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ARTICLE 9 OF CHAPTER 6, KAUAI COUNTY CODE, 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE HOUSING REVOLVING FUND, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on May 20, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on June 1, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:39 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /lki • • PUBLIC HEARING June 16, 2009 The public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at 1:40 p.m. at the Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2316 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ZONING CONDITION IN ORDINANCE NO. PM-31-79, RELATING TO ZONING DESIGNATION IN PO`IPLT, KAUAI (Kiahuna Land Company, a Hawaii limited partnership; and Po`ipu Town Center, LLC, Applicants), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on May 20, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on June 1, 2009. Mr. Furfaro: For your information, Mr. Clerk, I want the record to show that my previous question asking the conflicts between Ordinance No. PM-31-79 and a later Ordinance No. PM-2001-354 have not been responded to and I would like to turn those over to the County Attorney after we go through this public hearing. Is there any written testimony on this Sir? PETER A. NAKAMURA, COUNTY CLERK: No written testimony Mr. Chair. Mr. Furfaro: Very good. Is there anyone in the public that wishes to speak on this item? The hearing proceeded as follows: AVERY YOUN: Good afternoon Chairman, my name is... and Councilmembers, my name is Avery Youn and I am the authorized agent for the applicant. The reason why I am here today... I just wanted to explain that the map that I gave to you earlier today (attached hereto)... because it wasn't included as part of your packet, and I wanted this map to show to you that... if you look at the... where Kiahuna Golf Village is, there is only three (3) existing accesses. One is ., PUBLIC HEARING • -2- • June 16, 2009 Po`ipu Beach Estates and that access was approved by the Planning Commission without coming through a zoning amendment. There is an existing Kiahuna Plantation Drive and the third one is a... what is now known as the Hapa Trail which has been reduced in its role as a... more like a driveway now rather than an intersection access. Our proposal is put the Po`ipu Town Center access indicating in green right between Kiahuna Plantation Drive and Hapa Trail. And the other reason for this map is to show you how many accesses are on the other side of the road. This condition applied only to the north side. On the other side, you can see there is about six (6) existing accesses and one also approved for the Starwood Project as indicated on the map. So if you have any questions, I am here to address questions that you may have. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Are there any members that have any questions of the applicant's representative? No. Mr. Youn, I appreciate very much the map you gave us and I would like to draw to your attention my concern. It is much appreciated that access for this would then reduce the scope of anything using Hapa Trail. But the reality is, it seems that we have a 2001 ordinance that, in my opinion, conflicts with the changes attempting to be made on the 1979 ordinance. That is the question that I raise with the County Attorney. That ordinance also says that there should be no access given off of Po`ipu Road. Mr. Youn: If I am allowed to comment on that, I know a little background about this project, and it goes back to its original conception where Kiahuna Golf Village was meant to be a private community whereby everything was supposed to come out there through Kiahuna Golf Village... Kiahuna Plantation Drive. When the Po`ipu Beach Estates came in, there was objection from the existing owners within Kiahuna Golf Village to allow access to come out through there and to... through their subdivision and onto Kiahuna Plantation Drive that is why the Planning Department elected to grant an access off Po`ipu Road even though, technically, they were supposed to come through here. Because it was originally a private design to be a private community, that condition was made on the first zoning amendment whereby no access shall be allowed any other location onto Po`ipu .Road, and this zoning change affected from Waikomo Stream all the way almost to Weliweli Track. I know there was a lot of discussion on Hapa Road and Knudsen's subdivisions.occurring around there, and they may have to come in later and ask for access off the Po`ipu Road also, but that is not the intent of this proposal here. I checked on your question relative to why would Public Works oppose any of the access and one reason was they were enforcing the original condition of the ordinance that was in 1979, and they reiterated that condition in the 2001 ordinance. However, in that same ordinance it does allow access off Po`ipu Road provided they come to the Council and ask for the money. That is what we are doing now. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, that is very helpful because, you know, I read it as... if they were going to change the ordinances, they should change both • PUBLIC HEARING -3- June 16, 2009 ordinances, but what you are saying that... if I read deeper into this bill, that would be permitted on 2001-354. Mr. Youn: Yes, I believe one of the conditions does allow, provided that we get your approval, access onto Po`ipu Road. Mr. Furfaro: Okay. Mr. Youn: And in the same ordinance or in the same comments from Public Works relative to the ordinance, they did state that no additional access be permitted onto Po`ipu Road. But the Planning Commission at the time inserted the other condition which allowed us temporary access and permanent access provided that we get Council approval. The temporary access went across Hapa Road and today is not a good alternative that is why we are asking for this one. Mr. Furfaro: (Inaudible) that alternative is something that the Council supports long term preservation of Hapa Road, but I am just wondering... I am reading two (2) different things and perhaps it is... since I went to hotel school, it is better that I have the County Attorney look at that question, but your explanation is very well received. Thank you. Mr. Youn: Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Bynum? Mr. Bynum: Mr. Youn, you have said some things that raised my curiosity, so... Po`ipu Beach Estates, at one time, there was a proposal that it connect to the Kiahuna Golf Village. Mr. Young: That is correct. That is how the original masterplan had it laid out. Mr. Bynum: And it also would have included a... off of Po`ipu Road as well? Mr. Youn: There was none at the time. Mr. Bynum: Because kind of a good strategy in terms of traffic flow is to have multiple connectors, right? So we are creating Po`ipu... if Po`ipu Beach Estates would have connected with Kiahuna Golf Village, it would have allowed people to have multiple choices when they exit their neighborhood as opposed to having only one route out. ;v PUBLIC HEARING -4- • June 16, 2009 Mr. Youn: I really (inaudible)... what you are referring to that Po`ipu Beach Estates access... that is probably a good decision to allow access onto Po`ipu Road. Mr. Bynum: And then same with Koloa Landing is allowed an access, but it could have come up off of Kapili Road. Mr. Youn: Koloa Landing has three (3) access points off Hoonani, Kapili, and Po`ipu Road. The Public Works condition was to minimize access on Kapili Road. No access off Hoonani and main access off Po`ipu Road. So the main access (inaudible) Po`ipu Road and the Kapili Road accesses is secondary. Mr. Bynum: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Bynum, those are very good questions, but this is the public hearing, so we will surface those questions again in Committee. Mr. Youn, do you have anything else to add? Mr. Youn: No. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Is there anyone that would like to testify on this item? Good afternoon. TESSIE KINNAMAN: Good afternoon, Tessie Kinnaman for the record. I wasn't planning on speaking today, but my question is the validity of all of these roads that were not supposed to be accessing a major thoroughfare, a major street, so who will... what agency or what department has the priority to allow these accesses onto a major thoroughfare? With all these roads coming onto Po`ipu Road as it is as busy as it is and with the people definitely will be parking down there at the Po`ipu Shopping Village on the main road, it will be like major congestion. So I just wanted to question the validity of these roads. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: ~ Thank you Tessie. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak? Just in general, I will send additional communication to both Engineering and Planning referencing those questions that were asked as I think this was an effort. to preserve to the best of our ability Hapa Trail. If there is no other oral testimony... I believe the Clerk did tell me that there was no written testimony, I will close this public hearing. Thank you very much. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:50 p.m. .~• PUBLIC HEARING -5- June 16, 2009 Respectfully submitted, ~~~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /lki PUBLIC HEARING JULY 8, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at 1:39 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2291 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 8-24.1, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on June 3, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on June 10, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao • • PUBLIC HEARING JULY 8, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at 1:40 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2317 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH A NEW ARTICLE 28, CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO SMALL WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on June 3, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on June 10, 2009. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Carl Imparato, dated July 8, 2009 2. Barbara Robeson, dated July 8, 2009 The hearing proceeded as follows: CARL IMPARATO: Aloha Councilmembers. My name is Carl Imparato and I live in Hanalei. I testified before the Council last October when this bill first emerged, and I stated at the time and it's still true that I'm not opposed to small wind energy conversion systems. But I also believe that the County has a duty to protect its residents' rights to peace and quiet on their property, and that wind turbine should not be allowed to unduly impose visual blight on neighbors and on environmentally sensitive areas. Unfortunately, I feel that the current draft of the bill does not meet those standards. One section of the bill states that regulation of the placement and installation of wind turbines is necessary to protect the health and safety of neighboring property owners, and the General Plan states that in...we 1 • • should be seeking opportunities in economic methods to render power generation facilities inconspicuous in order to preserve and enhance the park life appearance throughout the Garden Island. Those are from the bill and the General Plan. But instead of protecting public health and safety and rendering these power generation facilities inconspicuous, the bill would allow these facilities almost everywhere, regardless of how noisy they are and with little concern for visual impacts. So I ask that you consider four problems. First of all, the bill contains absolutely no noise standards. There's no requirement that swecs facilities be inaudible to neighbors, and if the county's going to allow round the clock electric power generators to operate in our neighborhoods and without public hearings or neighbor approvals, then there needs to be requirement that no audible noise would be heard on any neighbor's property. If these swecs facilities are indeed as quiet as the proponents advertise, there's no reason to not require that wind turbines meet a standard of completely imperceptible noise at the property line. Second issue is that this bill encourages visual blight by creating blanket exceptions to the existing height limits that have done a pretty good job to date from protecting our island from visual blight. Under the bill, tower-mounted swecs could exceed maximum building heights by 20 feet, and room-mounted swecs could exceed maximum building heights by 10 feet. One section of the bill specifically sets the precedent of overriding the 25 foot height limits in the north shore development plan ordinance, allowing swecs to exceed those height limits by 80 percent, and again, no public hearings would be required for something that tall. So given the important of protecting Kaua`i's number one economic asset-our rural and scenic environment, I think it's a little stunning that wind turbines would be allowed to exceed height limits without a zoning variance or public hearings. Third issue is that the bill would allow these facilities in virtually all residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial, and open districts on Kauai. Tower-mounted swecs would be allowed as a matter of right, with no public hearings, no neighbor input, on R-1 through R-20 parcels and neighborhood commercial parcels of at least one acre, and on general commercial parcels of just less than half an acre. Tower-mounted swecs would be allowed on all of these kinds of lots regardless of lot size with a use permit, apparently as simple over-the- counter use permit (from what I can read in the bill), and no public input, no special standards that would require to be met. And roof-mounted swecs would be allowed in all the above districts regardless of lot size, with no hearings or neighbor input required. The last concern is that one section of the bill would void existing covenants, deed restrictions, and other voluntary agreements that are in place to protect neighborhoods, and I don't think that the county should start down the slippery slope of overriding voluntary agreements in order to promote these kinds of interests. So in concluding, I'd ask that if you're going to allow this bill to move forward, you strike a more reasonable balance between encouraging these wind 2 • • energy facilities on the one hand and protecting neighbors and the environment. Two specific recommendations-first, that the minimum conditions for allowing swecs as a generally permitted uses should include full compliance with Kaua`i's existing height limits and the creation of no noise, no audible noise, on the neighbor's property. Mr. Furfaro: Could you hold on just for a minute, Mr. Imparato. Was that the 3-minutes? Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak on this bill or has been signed up? Barbara, would you have a problem if I let Mr. Imparato have his other 3 minutes now? [Response -from the gallery inaudible.] Okay Carl, I'll extend to you your other 3 minutes. Please go right ahead. Mr.Imparato: Thank you Councilperson. I have one more paragraph, actually, and that's the second recommendation-that any proposals that would exceed the standards, any proposals that would exceed existing height limits or create audible noise on a neighbor's property should require the approval of all the immediate neighbors, should go through a variance process with public hearings, and should require findings that such proposals wouldn't negatively impact through noise, safety, or visual issues any other neighbors or the public in general. If we do... I think if we put these two concepts into the revised bill, we can promote wind energy turbines and protect the environment and the neighbors fully. So thank you for considering these concerns, and I'll hand in this testimony as written testimony. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, so you will give us written copy of your testimony? Mr. Imparato: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, can you give it to the staff right there? Let me ask, Mr. Imparato, if I have any questions, and I want to again remind my members here, it looks like we have a lot of testimony this afternoon on the 3 bills. So if you can make sure if queries that can wait for the actual committee meeting in a week could be restrained, I would appreciate it.. But I will give you some parameters. Are there any questions of Mr. Imparato? Council Chair Asing: Mr. Imparato, aside from the two concerns that you've raised on the noise issue and the height limitation, is there anything else that you have some major concerns that you'd like to see addressed that you did not put down. Because you gave us a lot of reasons why you think the bill has some flaws or some things that you do not agree with. You only mentioned two at the very end that you'd want to have addressed. So my question to you, do you have any other areas, number one, and number two, if you have, could you hand in to us your recommendations on how we could address those concerns? 3 • • Mr. Imparato: I think that the two recommendations Invade at the end cover both the noise issues, the height issues, and the procedural issues, because by putting things in categories where you have to get a variance, that basically I think helps protect the neighbors, and so that kind of incorporates the procedural concerns I raised, and I think it also incorporates the issue of not overriding the existing covenants. There is one other concern that I think that maybe people should give consideration to and that's whether KIUC is ready for this kind of small wind energy system or self-generation. I think the council needs to consider seriously those kind of ramifications. For example, as residential customers, we all pay the same rates for our electricity, and that's...those rates assume that we all kind of behave more or less the same. So when our... kilowatt hour rates, we're paying for the fixed cost of the grid, we're paying for the transmission and distribution lines, we're paying for the people who work at HIUC facilities. And once .people start doing self-generation, they basically start using much less electricity, so the person who basically only then uses 10% as much electricity from the grid as the other customers is basically, unless KIUC is ready with a new rate structure on this, basically all of the other residential customers end up at subsidizing the parties that are doing self-generation. So I would say that as to the timing of encouraging wind energy facilities and all, maybe you want to also give consideration as to that other public policy question 'as to whether the electric rates are in place to ensure that the general public is protected. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. Appreciate that. Mr. Furfaro: Carl, I do...I'm hearing you say two, but I picked up three in your testimony. Number one, your concern dealing with the visual issue as it relates to protective covenants that might be in place. The second one being the audible noise standard. But I also heard something leaning towards over the counter permitting. Are you suggesting that there should be perhaps a class 4 permit process, rather than permit 1 or... Mr. Imparato: Well, the way the bill is setup right now, they talk about having a use permit, and they don't say whether it's class 1, which is over the counter, or class 3, 4 which has public hearings. What I'm proposing is that if a facility meets the current height requirements and if it doesn't create noise next door, then it doesn't need to go through a public hearing or a variance process. But if it's going to require a height exemption compared to the current limits, or if it's going to create audible noise, then we need to have a variance process or possibly a class 3, class 4 use permit process...for anyone that wants to exceed noise and height standards. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Any more questions? Thank you very much for your testimony. 4 • Mr. Imparato: Thank you for your time. Mr. Furfaro: I'll ask Barbara to come up. Thank you Carl. BARBARA ROBESON: You'd think after 30 years I wouldn't be nervous, but... Barbara Robeson for the record...and you have my testimony I think too. Aloha Councilmembers. Thank you very much for holding this public hearing today. My comments are focused primarily on the impacts of swecs on the Northshore special planning area, specifically in two areas. One is because the Northshore is a special treatment (slash) special planning area of the Northshore, and the second one, as Carl mentioned, the 25 foot height limit on the Northshore for structures in the Northshore area. So first the special planning areas. The Northshore is a special planning area, a subsection of special treatment districts according to section 8.9 of the county's CZO, and the relevant sections of that that would apply to these swecs on the Northshore. The purpose: to designate and guide development county areas because of unique or critical cultural, physical, or locational characteristics have particular significance or value to the general public. Next, special planning areas are any regional or subregional areas which are of particular county, state, or federal value because of unique physical, ecologic, or cultural characteristics. And finally, also within the CZO, after the council adopts a development plan for a special planning area, such as the Northshore, no development, use, or activity may be undertaken in the area that is contrary to the development plan. So for the past 45 years, planning documents support this special planning area designation and its purposes. And I have a few samples, and of course I've been very selective in what I'm going to tell you. The first one is general plans for Hanalei area. This is a 1962 document, and part of it says, the region is widely known for its many scenic vistas. Hanalei, with proper guidance, can effectively develop its potential, and at the same time, retain its tropical and old Hawaii charms-lush valleys, sparkling sandy beaches, wet mountain ridges, waterfalls cascading down the sheer cliffs. Number one. Number two. This is the Hanalei development plan, a socio-economic prelude. This is September 1972. The region has an abundance of beautiful coastline, mountains, natural scene beauty unexcelled anywhere in Hawaii. Fresh water streams are abundant, arising from the Alakai Swamp, and reaching the valleys via cascading waterfalls. My favorite. Well, except for the new one. Northshore planning area. This is September 72. The Northshore is a region of fantastic beauty, a dramatic and varied coastline, magnificent valleys against a backdrop of mountainous majesty and lush vegetation are complemented by the rural charm of open pastures and cultivated fields. Fresh water streams are abundant and cascading waterfalls. 5 • • Now this one is a copy, of course, so it's not so nicely presented. But this is the Northshore development plan. This was a baseline report, October 79. The Northshore planning area is indisputably rich in scenic natural resources. The region is categorized by steep sea cliffs, picturesque beaches and bays, streams and waterfalls, and deep valleys. Coastline areas are scenic and unparalleled in the State, and the verdant valleys are picturesque. Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me Barbara, your first three minutes expired a little while ago. Let me just check if there's anyone else that plans to speak on this. If not, I'll give you your second three minutes. Ms. Robeson: Thank you. This is the Northshore development plan update for the special planning area. This was 1980, and it says, the Northshore planning area is extremely rich in natural resources. Scenic resources consist of steep sea cliffs, picturesque beaches and bays, broad fringing reefs, streams, and waterfalls, and deep green valleys. Scenic views should not be adversely affected by manmade improvements. Scenic views should be protected and enhanced. And a couple of the relevant goals in this plan, which were adopted as part of the ordinance, the two are, preserve the unique natural beauty of the Northshore planning area, and preserve the special rural charm of the Northshore planning area. So my question is, how are swecs consistent with the above, and how will they affect the special planning area? With respect to the 25 foot height limit on the Northshore, it's my belief, and according to the ordinance too, structures on the Northshore that exceed the 25 foot height limit require a use permit and variance, which would be accompanied by a public hearing, or course, where the neighbors and the people that live in the area would have an opportunity to comment. So if this bill 2317 is adopted, it should require that use permit and a variance are required, at least in the special planning area of the Northshore. So in conclusion, I ask for your consideration of my concerns when you are deliberating this. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Barbara. Let me ask, are there any members that have any questions of Barbara and her testimony? Mr. Chair, go right ahead. Council Chair Asing: Yes. Barbara, I'm going to ask you basically the same question as I asked Mr. Imparato. Do you have any suggested changes to the ordinance as written now? Ms. Robeson: You want specific changes? Council Chair Asing: Yes. r, 6 Ms. Robeson: I don't have them handy, but I can submit those for the next time, yeah. Council Chair Asing: Okay. If you could, I would appreciate any ideas you may have on the changes that you want to see in the bill. Ms. Robeson: Okay. I can do that. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. Ms. Robeson: You said the 15th, right? Mr. Furfaro: Yes Barbara. We're going to have this...these three items on the 15th in the committee. And may I restate for the purposes of managing the packets for those committee members, if you can also send that to my attention as the chairman of the committee so that we can make sure it gets distributed as dialogue goes here. I would like to ask, are you familiar with the fact that on the previous council term, Councilwoman Yukimura and I funded a study for a overall Kauai sustainability plan for energy? Ms. Robeson: Yes, I am aware of that, and I... That's a little confusing, because I wonder about the...which one should come first. Mr. Furfaro: Yes, and I guess I bring that up because I wanted you to know that, and Mr. Imparato, that in my conversations with the office of economic development, we are going to see the draft of that in October. Now, it is also our desire, as we've said, that any recommended overall management of power for the county of ,Kaua`i, as well as transportation issues, be submitted to this council with some recommendations for ordinances. So I would be very interested in having a copy of your testimony so that we can that over to the office of economic development as well. Ms. Robeson: You mean my one on the 15th, or this one? Mr. Furfaro: You have this and... Ms. Robeson: Okay, I'll send it via email, is that what you mean? Mr. Furfaro: ~ That'll be fine. And I want to get it over to the office of economic development, so it's both I'm looking for. Ms. Robeson: Alright. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. 7 Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Chair. So Barbara, looking at section 8-28.4, I just need this for clarification. It doesn't address your part about getting a use permit, yours...if you look at that section. Because it does say that you would require a use permit in the following uses, you know, in different special district areas. So that does not meet the requirements of what you're requesting? Ms. Robeson: Well, I thought it was a little...because you had one version that included the specific, and then when it came back from the planning commission it was a little different. So I just wanted to put that out there that it is still my concern. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Furfaro: counter type of permit. Ms. Robeson: Mr. Furfaro: more parameters. Ms. Robeson: Okay, thank you. And that concern, again, is it's not an over the That's exactly correct. You're looking for something that has Right. Mr. Furfaro: Any other questions? Thank you very much. Anyone else in the audience that wants to speak on this particular bill? Seeing that there is no one else here... I will also be sending over a question for the 15th raising the KIUC question if in fact they are considering two different rate tiers: one- for general rate users that would be contributing to infrastructure and transmission versus those that only have certain demand uses, will there be two different rates. Is there anything else on this public hearing, Mr. Clerk? Thank you. If not, the public hearing on bi112317 is closed. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, `.. .~ , ~ - PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 8 \J PUBLIC HEARING JULY 8, 2009 • A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2318 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE (Farm Worker Housing), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on June 3, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on June 10, 2009. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Chris Kobayashi email, dated July 7, 2009 2. JoAnn A. Yukimura, dated July 8, 2009 3: Louisa Wooton, dated July 8, 2009 4. Robert Grinpas, dated July 8, 2009 5. Rebecca Miller, dated July 8, 2009 6. Marie Mauger, dated July 8, 2009 7. Keone Kealoha, Executive Director, Malama Kauai, dated July 8, 2009 8. Susan Liddle, dated July 8, 2009 9. "Petition for Support of the Farm Worker Housing Bill" (37 pages of signatures) 10. Alice Parker, dated July 8, 2009 11. John Wooten, Wooten's Produce of Kauai, dated March 8, 2009 12. Bill Robertson, Ahonui Farms, dated July 8, 2009 13. Roy Oyama, President, Kauai County Farm Bureau, dated July 8, 2009 1 • The hearing proceeded as follows: LOUISA WOOTON: Alright. Well, I'm from the south, and we talk slowly, but I'll try to get through this in three minutes, but I think I might go a little bit over. Our family began farming here on Kauai in 1979 on leased property, and from 79 through 1991 we continued to lease property until we were finally able to own our own farm in Waipake. From 1979 to 91 we watched the cost of ag land escalate from 20,000 to 100,000 per acre. In the 1980s, we began seeing ag condos with those funny little Sears shed dotting the landscape of Kauai. This insidious system chopped up some of the most productive land on the island and was a speculator's dream come true. So by 1991 when we could finally afford land, we were in the position of having to buy into a CPR. It would have been our real dream to have bought the entire 11-acre parcel, but the cost was out of our reach. Well, some of you may only know our family to have the last dairy farm on Kauai; we also produce an abundance of certified organic produce. I'd like to call to your attention the. realities that we faced in these two aspects of our farm: one is dairy, the other is certified organic. Dairy for us means milking goats two times a day, seven days a week, 365 days in a year. This is 28 hours a week milking the goats. We make cheese from our milk, which means we pasteurize four times a week. So you can add 12 hours for the pasteurizing. The cheese is then drained and packaged, and this requires another 16 hours per week. That's just 56 hours that it requires to make the cheese. If you want to add in another 12 (at least) hours for caring for the animals, cleaning their houses, mending fences, etc. Certified organic means that we do not use herbicides to kill weeds. This is done by ho`ohana, physical labor. We don't use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. In fact, we make most of our. own fertilizer by composting our manure, and the manure handling and composting takes at least 5 hours per week, sometimes more. Tending our orchards and gardens adds another 40 hours. In addition to this, we now farm a quarter acre on our daughter and son in-law's neighboring property, and that cost about another 20 hours per week. Add in the harvesting, selling at four farmers markets weekly, and delivering our products islandwide, and you would see another 40 hours. So if you guys aren't getting tired, I'm getting tired just talking about it. But we're not a 173 minimum man hours, although most of our workers are women. We have not yet mentioned that we also make value added products such as goats milk soap, baked goods, salsas, guacamoles, vinaigrettes, the list goes on, chocolate dipped frozen bananas, okay. So just for good measure, let's say another 20 hours; it's probably considerably more than that. Now when you listen to these hours that I mentioning to you, I want you to know that I'm 57 years old and my husband is 68 years old, okay. We couldn't do this business without farm .workers, and it wouldn't be possible. Our son and daughter in-law are our principles in our business now, and we also have two live-in workers that work around 19 hours per week each. Mr. Furfaro: How much more do you have? Ms. Wooton: Maybe a minute and a half? 2 • • Mr. Furfaro: Go ahead. Ms. Wooton: I'll go as fast as I can. In 2006, acting on a complaint, the county planning department required that we remove the small kitchenette that we had provided in our own house for Ryan and Sara. Without the option of maintaining a separate dwelling, they became discouraged and returned to Sara's home on the mainland. We were devastated by that, but we went ahead and relied on our interns who either lived in tents or in the two spare bedrooms in our house. However, Ryan and Sara and came back in 2007 and they are now 50% shareholders in our little farm corporation. Since their return in 2006, we have noticed the gross receipts in our farm to climb from 60,000 to $145,000. In review the draft bill that you have before you, there are three amendments that I would like to point out could cause undue hardship on bona fide farmers, and these are all found in section 2 on that draft bill: The first is how the farmer is defined, a farm worker, and we must include in that a farm owner, as the primary and most significant farm worker of all. Also, item a, and there's a $35,000 gross requirement per year to meet the farm worker housing definition, and I think that for start up years of farming when no sales occur and a farm still needs workers that this should be looked at very carefully. Item number "i" is of particular interest to me, and that's why I talked to you about farm condos. It's mandatory for the purpose of this bill, when you're describing the property, that each farm is looked at as its own entity. If that farm, like ours, is on a CPR property, we shouldn't have to wait for the other people within that CPR to build their dwelling before we would be able to build farm worker housing, because that lot that is perhaps not built yet could be for speculation and might be years down the road before they ever built, okay. That's very important. And I just hope that in whatever final version that we come up with here that it will be favorable to bona fide farmers like ourselves and many other people in this room, and we feel that the survival of sustainable farming here on Kauai is on the balance in this bill and that it be a workable and fair bill for farmers. And I thank you so much for hearing this. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. I do want to point out that the question about condo ownership, the fact that when the parcels were subdivided, I don't even want to use that word because that's the county's reply. When the parcels were divided by common elements, you are required by State law, and this is a State issue, CPRs, that deal with the fact that the density from the parcel, as it's divvied up, and this is a real dilemma for us, has to be managed by the association. In many terminologies, I do not think that the issue with the owner having the primary dwelling there will be an issue that an owner couldn't comply to, but it might turn out, like on Maui, that there is an amendment that deals with the 35,000 being one of the terms, but you might have something that shows your schedule F farm plan and how many staff you need to actually run the enterprise, and a water source, as well as perhaps having 75 percent of your -land actually in 3 • cultivation. Maybe the amendment we're thinking might deal with the things that you brought up, and maybe you only had to comply to 3 of the 4 or something. But they are on our radar screen. I just want to share that with you. Ms. Wooton: And just...I'm thinking I understood what you said about the condo part of it that for this purposes of this bill that it could be looked at as an individual entity, because the deed... Mr. Furfaro: I clearly heard you, but there's this overlapping law that says the lot, before it was subdivided, I don't want to use that term here, before it was divided by common areas, the fact of the matter is that parcel had density, and there may be a conflict in the rules that indicate what kind of jurisdiction we have over the real estate commission. I'm not saying we've come to a conclusion. I'm just saying it's something that we are aware of (inaudible). Ms. Wooton: But of course the county looks at us individually when collecting property taxes and in issuing us a water meter and providing ag rates for us. No every one of those parcels on that ag condo has ag rates. So I'm hoping for the purpose of this bill, the county can also look at it in that light, because they do for property tax. _ Mr. Furfaro: I don't want to pursue more dialogue than I shared with you, but I did want to make sure you knew we see that as a red flag item when we get to the workshop on the 15th. Ms. Wooton: Okay, we'll see you there. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Next speaker, Keone, followed by Lelan Nishek. KEONE KEALOHA: Aloha Councilmembers, Committee Chair Furfaro. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill. I'm going to keep my comments fairly short because there's lots of folks here who are bona fide farmers who can share with you their personal experiences in great detail on the details that are contained within the bill. I think what I'd like to do is to just speak to the need for a farm worker housing policy in general...and to encourage you to see this move forward...and to actually get what it is that we're looking for out of this, which is to help the farmers to continue farming. The question always comes up, why can't we feed ourselves? We have the Garden Island here, so where's the garden? One of the biggest issues that we have growing food is the labor cost, and one of the best ways that we can be competitive with that is to offer our farm labor adequate housing that's reasonable and equitable for the farmer and the worker. And this is our opportunity with this bill to do that-to solve a problem that is in our jurisdiction. If we look at our major industries, our tourism, our visitor industry, our development/construction, these are things that have huge variables that are well 4 • beyond our control. They greatly impact our economy and our communities. This is something that we have the ability to manage ourselves. There are existing laws in place right now, there are codes and regulations, but again, these things, many of them are within our control to massage or to upgrade or to enhance in a way that will allow for adequate farm housing to be implemented here. So my statements are really just around that to say let's move this into committee, let's work on the details at the workshop next week, there's going to be a lot of comments on the details, but again, I think that together we can figure out what those details are, and let's keep in mind who it is that we're trying to help here. We're really trying to keep our farmers farming. When there are situations where farms who have been here for 20 or 30 years are looking at potentially shutting down their farms because of just purely because of the housing issue, that's a failure on our part as a community to come together to solve that problem. So this is our opportunity as a community to come together and make sure those farms stay in production, make sure those farmers are feeding us, you know. It might take anything from as small as a dock strike, Matson, to light up our pocketbooks as far as what we're going to be paying for our food. We don't need to wait for that kind of stuff to happen for us to know that this is an urgent and important issue. So mahalo for your time. Lots of the information is going to come forth from our bona fide farmers. Please take it all in, and hope to see you again in a week. Mahalo. Mr. Furfaro: Keone, let me see if there's any questions for you. There are none, and I do want to take this moment just to say that we do recognize that labor and housing is a component of, you know, why we're not farming more. But some of the other issues that you brought up is marketing, the brand, product pricing, water source are all important issues too, and we will continue to be focusing in on housing for now. So thank you very much. We have Lelan Nishek, followed by Scott Pomeroy. LELAN NISHEK: Good afternoon. I'm Lelan Nishek. I own and operate Kauai Nursery and Landscaping, and right now we employ about 115 people, and the only reason we have been successful, we...in 1980s we built employee housing, and it's worked out great, and we've been able to keep a good workforce and good people in our organization. And when we relocated our nursery in the 90s, we were able to negotiate with Grove Farm at that time on the land that we were leasing to allow two employee housing units on the land, and we've only put up one so far, but it's worked out very well for security purposes. And I think that this is something the Council should look at too that farmers that are on leased land should be able to develop housing for security purposes. And I'm glad to see that the Council is taking this ag housing bill up, get the discussion with the community on it. It's something that I think that's really needed, and I'd support you in whatever you do in your deliberations. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Are there any question of Mr. Nishek? Did you have one Lani? 5 Ms. Kawahara: I just had one simple one. Mr. Furfaro: We have one question for you, Lelan. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. When you were talking about security, mostly you were talking about your equipment and all the items that are on your property? Mr. Nishek: Yes. Ms. Kawahara: Okay, thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Lelan. We're next is Scott Pomeroy, followed by Sun from One Song Farm. SCOTT POMEROY: .Hello, I'm Scott, and I'd just like to say I've been growing food as my sole source of income for the past 20 years here on Kauai. I just mention that so you know that you're not talking to just a philosopher. So the first thing I'd like to say, I'd like you to be careful in putting money in the definition of a. farm, because that's something that has led us down a kind of a slippery slope. There's no doubt that ag land needs to be protected; everyone kind of knows that. I'm in full support of that. It's just that the business of farming, now and in the past, has been basically to extract as much money or product out of an acre of land that's possible, okay. That's led to really severe depletion of the soils, so I'm making a point here. And it's directly related to more and more pressure for farmers, monetary pressure, okay. We need to move away from that, and we need to be more concerned with how well a farm is taken care of rather than how much money it makes. So an example is I bought my farm 10 years ago, and I talked to the previous farmers that were leasing that land, and I asked them, well why don't you want to buy it? They said, well we can't grow anything out there anymore. And you know, that's kind of...you kind of go, okay, well... I looked at the land and I thought maybe I could, you know, grow something there, so we ended up buying it. But okay, enough of the bad news. Let's go for the good news. There's a new mindset out of the necessity to remediate these depleted lands, and that's to grow food for yourself, your family, and your community while improving the quality of the soil, okay. To do this...well it requires a lot of devotion, but it also requires a lot of labor. That's what where the farm worker housing comes in for me, okay. I require a lot of labor to do most of the remediation on my farm. So... It's a whole new ballgame, but the good news also is that it can be done, and we're doing it. So I just want to make another point that this bill doesn't give farmers house sites; it gives them the opportunity to apply for use permits to have...to build affordable small structures to live in and so they can be close to the land and do the right thing with it. Because without that, we can't live in Princeville and pay rent and commute. It requires a...it's a very intense form of farming-food growing. So I'd just like to say that this bill is an opportunity for the county council to actually say yes, we want to support 6 • farming, and we're actually willing to risk making a few mistakes to get the ball rolling, because that's pretty much what we're asking, you know. Everybody's afraid of abuse of ag land, right? We all are; I especially. Mr. Furfaro: We have 3 minutes. I'm going to give you a little more time. Mr. Pomeroy: Yeah, I got one more minute at the most. So I'd just like to say that this bill isn't about just giving a roof to a few farmers. It's about creating a infrastructure, what I call a friendly...a farmer friendly environment for new farmers, for young farmers, and existing farmers. So you know, I'd just like to say, you know, we really need to support this bill to create a farm friendly environment so we can grow this food and it can be done. One more thing I'd like to do. I'd like to leave you with a visual image. Okay, if we have one productive 5-acre farm, it can easily produce most of the nutrition for a hundred families. Okay, you do the math, a hundred productive 5-acre farms, 10,000 families. Now that's a significant number, and we can do this, but we do need help. We need to take care of the soil, we need to kind of implement a different method of farming to do this, but it's easily done and it's being done right now. But we're having a little difficulty with the farm housing thing. Okay, so that's it. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Hold on Scott. Let me see if there's any questions. Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: I just wanted to appreciate your comments about being...needing to maybe take some risk that there may be some abuse in order to correct, you know, in order to provide the support that we need for the things you're talking about, and appreciate the opportunity to learn more about soil and farming and the potential. But the concern about abuse is real, because farm land has been abused on Kauai, and so we're going to work really hard to strike that balance. But I appreciate that comment about... I doubt we'll come up with the perfect formula. Mr. Pomeroy: I don't think that this bill is the perfect thing. We have some issues to work out even within this bill, but it's a great way to start. It's saying yes. Let's go from here. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Mr. Pomeroy: And I would personally invite anybody in this room if they want to know more about what I'm talking about in the farm specter to come out to my farm. I don't talk well here, but I do a lot better out there. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Scott, just hold on a second. I think many of us have been out to some of the farms there, but you know, I think Mr. Bynum said it, 7 • you know, I mean allow some abuse. The reality is law is law. That's why we have to tie these things down there, because clearly, you've made some good points here on some of the amendments I've mentioned. On the 15th, if you'd like to come back and tell us, you know, maybe 75 percent being part of the farm plan is too much because you got to rotate a third of the...you know, give us something for the workshop. And obviously, you know, the reality in your schedule F and when you're trying to come up with staffing guides to give you the density for your workforce plan, you know we have to have something to tie it to. And I say that as the co-introducer of the bill. So please... Mr. Pomeroy: I'm working on all that. Mr. Furfaro: Please come back on the 15th. Mr. Pomeroy: -Okay, thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Chang had a question. Mr. Chang: Yeah. Thanks Scott. I had a question. Where is your farm and what are you growing? Mr. Pomeroy: My farm is in Moloa`a. I have 15 acres, and I grow mixed vegetables for the farmers markets, for some of the health food stores. I have a thousand trees planted, hardwood trees primarily for windbreaks, and probably 3 to 400 trees...fruit trees that I harvest seasonally throughout the year. Mr. Chang: Thank you. Mr. Pomeroy: You're welcome. Mr. Furfaro: Anymore questions of Scott? Scott, thank you very much. Look forward to your other comments. We are calling on Sun from One Song Farm, followed by Susan Liddle. SUN: I'm glad to be here. Mr. Furfaro: You have to first sit down and introduce yourself, because we need to document your testimony. Go right ahead. Sun: Yeah, I'm glad here. I get to see these guys. We're busy farming. I've been here about 20 years on and off and created a lot of farms. I'm not used to talking here either, so much less words; we're farmers, so... I can't say anymore than what these people have said already, but what we do is viable, it's economically viable, it's sustainable, and it's what Kauai needs right now. So that's all I want to add. 8 • • Mr. Furfaro: , ~ Well thank you for that. Do we have any questions here? Sounds like we're good. Sun: Got to make it to the irrigation place. Mr. Furfaro: We have Susan Liddle, followed by John Stern. SUSAN LIDDLE: I'm not used to this either. Aloha Council. My name is Susan Liddle for the record. I own property in Moloa`a. I want to testify in favor of the farm worker housing, but first I want to thank the councilmembers who have taken the time to meet with us to discuss this issue and help us to understand the process that takes place when forming a bill like this. We all know how important growing food for our island is. Sustainable agriculture is one of the most important issues facing our island communities, but without the food that is grown on-island by the farmers and their workers, we would be required to obtain food from foreign sources, which may not always be there for us. Now is the time to facilitate sustainable agriculture. Farm worker housing is a key to that result. I also want to state that we are all quite aware and concerned about farm land being overbuilt with structures, but I want to stress how important it is for farmers to live on their land. Theft, vandalism, leaks in irrigation lines, feral pigs-all are everyday problems for farmers. There is a delay... If there is a delay in responding to these situations, severe damage and crop loss can take place. It is important for farmers to be there on the land day and night to resolve these problems in a timely manner. All that most farmers want is a place for their workers to comfortably live without fear of being thrown off their land for violating the law. We are addressing today a farm worker housing bill that has been in the development stages for some time. We the farmers would like to make a few more recommendations for changes to the bill. In referring to the bill in front of you, bill 2318, formerly bill 2293, under the qualifications for a farm, you will see the requirement of a filing of a schedule F form. We feel that there should be three additional designations: a farm plan approved by the natural resources conservation services or ag dedication by the county real property tax division, gross sales of agricultural products of not more than $12,000 annually, and 75 percent of the subject parcel used for farming, and that the applicant should qualify for at least three of the four designations. As you noticed the gross sales amount I suggest is $12,000. I'm quoting from a USDA newsletter that was forwarded to me this morning as a matter of fact by Louise Wooton. The title is "Exploring Alternative Farm Definitions." [See Attachment 1 hereto.] And I hope... I only have a couple copies of these, but I will submit this to you. Mr. Furfaro: If you give us one, the staff can make copies. 9 • • Ms. Liddle: Okay. One of the important...there's many important things in here, but one of the important ones is how various criteria would have affected federal aid eligibility for family farms in 2006. It says, if eligibility had been contingent on, and one of the items is annual farm sales of at least $10,000... Mr. Furfaro: Could you hold on just one second. That was your first three minutes, but I'm going to go ahead and give you your additional time. Ms. Liddle: Thank you. The share of family farms that would have been disqualified for the federal eligibility was 58 to 70 percent. Also, there's many more...much more.information in here, which I will submit to you. Under the definition of farm worker and the bill that you're addressing, it should read farm owner, employee, and contract worker or intern, and they should work 14 hours per week. It was rationalized that each worker should work at least 2 hours a day. Under farm worker housing, we feel that it should add that no rent should be charged. And finally, that if it is deemed that farming ceases to exist, the owner shall remove all farmer worker housing within 6 months, instead of the 4 that you have. There are a few other suggestions to discuss...for discussion that are too lengthy to incorporate here. We hope to continue the discussion when we go to committee. One of the other items that was a problem for the housing agency was the question regarding temporary housing, like the requirement of removing axles and wheels, and it was suggested that farm worker housing be exempt from that requirement. I have a copy of these suggested amendments [See Attachment 2 hereto.] and also my testimony, but I believe Mr. Furfaro already has a copy of the amendment. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. Ms. Liddle: Any questions? Mr. Furfaro: Let me go... First Mr. Kaneshiro. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Chair. Why even have a dollar amount when you mention requiring a schedule F, and also the (inaudible) will be dedicated to ag? Obviously those are two examples of a real farmer-schedule F, dedication of the land to either a 10 year or 20 year. So why was the $12,000 amount thrown in? Ms. Liddle: .The $12,000 amount was in response to the $35,000 that was required or requested by the planning commission. So as a reaction to that... It wouldn't hurt our feelings if we didn't have a dollar amount. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay. You clarified my question. Thank you. 10 Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Just...you referred to our feelings. Are you representing a group, or is this your testimony? Ms. Liddle: No, we've just worked on this bill for a long time, so I feel like it's all of ours. Mr. Bynum: Oh, so we meaning everybody in the room? Ms. Liddle: We meaning the people who have been working significantly on this bill: Malama Kauai and others...Louisa from the very beginning. Mr. Bynum: Okay. Thank you very much. Council Chair Asing: I have a question, Jay. Mr. Furfaro: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The Chairman had a question. Ms. Liddle: Oh I'm sorry. Council Chair Asing: Susan, how large is your farm? What size is it... Ms. Liddle: Our personal farm is eight and a half acres. Council Chair Asing: If you had your way, how many units would you like to see for your farm housing...I guess to take care of the farming activities on your 8-acre parcel? Ms. Liddle: If I had my... Council Chair Asing: Yeah. Ms. Liddle: ...dream, we would have two units. One for my husband and I, and one for my children. My daughter in-law is the one who really does most of the farming currently. If we lived there or were able to live there, we would do much more farming. My husband and I would do more farming. We have trees that are growing now, not producing yet. We would be able to take care of it a lot better if we lived on the land. Council Chair Asing: Okay, so what you're saying is on your 8 acres you would need one unit for your family and an additional unit. 11 u Ms. Liddle: In an ideal situation. Council Chair Asing: That would satisfy you. Ms. Liddle: Yes. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. ~J Mr. Furfaro: Anymore questions for Susan? Let me go to Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Are you going to be here next week? Ms. Liddle: I'm going to make an effort to be here next week. Mr. Bynum: Okay, I just... I'll hold my questions for then. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Chang. Mr. Chang: Hi Susan. I just wanted to ask you a question, and it probably pertains to all the farmers. Is it easy to get workers now, with the...or is it difficult to get workers in the farming? Ms. Liddle: It's hard to keep farmers, because if they don't have a place to live, or they're paying for...they have to make more money than most farmers can give them. If they were able to live on the land where they're doing the farming, they can more affordably live on what farmers can pay them. My understanding is that a lot of people have lost their workers because when construction or maintenance of landscapers...landscaping people can pay them more money and they go make more money with them. So it's hard to keep them without having some place to live. Mr. Chang: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Lani, go right ahead. Ms. Kawahara: Sue, thank you. When we're talking about the farm worker housing, we also have to consider that they're not going to be large units because it's expensive for the farmer owner to build right? Ms. Liddle: That's right. Ms. Kawahara: So I just wanted to be sure the public was aware. 12 • • Ms. Liddle: There are many farmers who would like to have quite small structures. Ms. Kawahara: Yes. Yes, I've seen very small structures that have just...you know, just the bare minimum space for people to sleep in, and the rest of the time they're working. So I wanted the public to be clear that when we're talking about farm worker housing, it's the farm owner or the farmer that's going to be paying for that, and technically, that is not something that they're going to expend enormous amounts of money on and take a lot of space on their very profitable land. So I wanted to say that in regards to your statement regarding how many you would want. Ms. Liddle: Yes, absolutely. Yes, and probably we would be able to do...you know, it depends on the kitchens and things like that. We'd probably do with one structure if we could have it split in a way that your family isn't on top of each other...or workers separate. Ms. Kawahara: Okay. Yeah, the ones that I've seen are 10 by 30... Ms. Liddle: The ones you've seen are quite smaller than that. Ms. Kawahara: Yeah, very small, very small. Okay thank you. Possible ones. Ms. Liddle: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: One moment Susan. Council Chair Asing: Yeah, just a kind of follow-up question. Do you currently live on the farm now? Ms. Liddle: No, I live in Kapa`a. Council Chair Asing: Okay, thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Sue, I just want to say this just for the general audience. You know, some of these things that are in the bill, you know there was some rationale put into it. For example, the 14 hours, because we're talking about giving density, the 14 hours for the workforce was really some of the recommendations that we have from federal HUD right now where no more than 30 percent of someone's, you know, income, gross income, should be earmarked for any of the HUD housing. And so when you add utilities on to there, because there was an assumption that the farm community would provide utilities for that unit, that's how they arrived at the 14 hours. Just so that we know there was some rationale there. But I do hope to see you on the 15tH. 13 Ms. Liddle: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: No more questions, Sue. Thank you. We have John Stern, followed by Scott Neuman. JOHN STERN: Good afternoon everybody. I'm John Stern. I've lived on the island for about 18 months. I represent today someone who is directly involved, although not an owner or manager, I actually am farm worker. So I would be directly affected by this. Since I've been on the island, I've lived in a condominium and I've been working several hours per week on a farm in Moloa`a, Sun's farm who testified earlier. I'm definitely for farm worker housing. I think other people can comment on the fine points of this issue much better than I can. I just want to say that as a farm worker, I want to do it, I want to help out, because I want to provide...help do my share in bringing high quality food to the people of Kauai, and I want to make it easier for myself to do that, I want to make it easier for the farmers, and I think this bill having some provision for farm housing would go a long way towards that. Right now I work several hours per week on farm that Sun is on, and I have to commute. That's no fun. I just want to put in my time and have a nice lifestyle at the same time. I also want to maybe make a couple points about these improvements in the bill. I'm seeing things about defining farm workers, which definitely the owner should be involved, should be included as a farm worker. The requirement of $35,000 gross proceeds, well I know that the farmers that I work for, Sun and Lisa back there, their focus is simply on providing high...very, very, very high quality good food, getting it out to people, and showing people the possibilities of what can be done what food is grown in a truly sustainable way. Their focus is not so much dollars and cents. We all of us live a very simple lifestyle. So I hope you pass this.. I hope some form of it passes. I think something is almost for sure better than nothing. Sometimes the cost of doing nothing, the risk of that far exceeds that of doing something even if it has a few holes in it. So thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, let me see if there's any questions for you, John. Are there any questions for John? Council Chair Asing: John, you say you work several hours a day on the farm? Mr. Stern: Several hours per week...two hours per day. Council Chair Asing: So you work... Mr. Stern: Most of the time pulling nut grass. Council Chair Asing: So you work two hours... 14 • Mr. Stern: Most of the time pulling nut grass. Never mind. It's a farming joke. Council Chair Asing: Okay. I just wanted to have an idea as to...I guess you consider yourself a farm worker and that you currently work two... Mr. Stern: I'm...basically I'm volunteering when I can. Little or not pay, I just want to help get the- food out. I like the environment. I like the work. I have other work I've been doing. I want to help this and create a sustainable Kauai and learn more about the process. Council Chair Asing: So you have a full time work somewhere else? Mr. Stern: I strive my best to do other things. I'm also a massage therapist and a body worker. That's what I've been doing in the past. Generally that's what I've been pursuing since I got here, yes. Council Chair Asing: Okay thank you. Appreciate that. Mr. Furfaro: John I had a couple questions. Would you say you work at least 14 hours over a 7-day period? Mr. Stern: I think in the last 7 days I have. I've been there more and more. Most of the time it's been just a few hours per week, because it takes a lot actually to manage people who are new to a farm, so I'm just learning and... Mr. Furfaro: Okay, well I just want to take an opportunity to talk to you as an actual farm worker. Have you involved yourself in any farm internships? Have you looked into any of the... Mr. Stern: Just what I've done so far. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, thank you very much. We're going to go to Scott Neuman, then Kim has decided not to testify. After that we're going to go to Linda Neuman. So Scott, and then Linda. SCOTT NEUMANN: Hi, good afternoon. My name is Scott Neumann, and I own a 10-acre farm in Moloa`a. And I'm here today to bring up some points about farming that I don't really have seen addressed in any of the meetings or committees. And that fundamentally, farmers are entrepreneurs, and they try to gain these small enterprises, which in turn feed a lot of people in the community. If you look at the economics of becoming a farmer and the prices' of land, people have a lot of options. Who would invest their money into a high dollar piece of farm when 15 the return on it, in the beginning especially, is minimal. You could take your money and you could put it in a savings account and it'll probably do better. So what you're really asking is of people who have committed their hearts and desires to this enterprise, and not everybody wants to do that, and God bless the people in this room who do, because they put their time, their effort, and their money where their mouths are, and that in turn is creating other enterprises on this island. The food that is distributed is so...feeds people, the farm workers, all these things are involving Kauai. The money isn't going off the island; it's revolving around the island. These small enterprises should be supported, because that is really what Kauai needs at this time-are people who are entrepreneurs who are willing to invest these large amounts of money into these enterprises that do not reap giant returns. And by that fact alone, they're demonstrating their desire to continue farming. The other issue I'd like to point out about this bill is that there are a lot of abuses on ag land for people who are farm dwellings and they're not farming. Well, if they were to implement these criteria for farming, they could also go to the farms or in these neighborhoods with large homes on acreage who do not have anything planted and give them the same criteria-you need to show your schedule Fs, you need to show what you're producing, and with the criteria of removing their house, maybe we would see more people start to farm on these fancy lots that have no farms really on them. But I'd really like to thank the council for supporting farms, and to be here today to bring this bill at least to this point. Farmers need to be on their land to be profitable, and that profit is minimal with back breaking work. Not many people will do that with money in the economy. I mean let's give them the opportunities. Thank you for your time. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Scott. Let me see if there's any questions from any of the members. Scott,. and I said this earlier, I appreciate your point, but that is one of the reasons. The bill we're hearing today is the bill that came over to us from the planning department, as recommended, as well as the fact that, you know, 7 volunteer members of the commission worked on it with the department. So you know, the verse we have here, I led up to the fact that it may not be driven by the dollar amount, but rather driven by 3, 4, maybe 5 standards. I think Sue Liddle touched on it a little bit; I did, where the farmers might choose a group of those conditions. Obviously people who are going to do avocados or orchards or so forth, you know they have a longer startup period, and that's why we're saying a portion of the land that's committed to farming, water source, a schedule F farm plan, they may do over the money. You know, we haven't gotten there yet. We hope to work on that on the 15~, but I wanted to give you some clarity. It's not only drive by the dollar. Mr. Neuman: Well, I'm familiar with all those things, and what I'd like to have you all understand is that there is that end of if for farmers to put in these huge investments on high dollar land to reap minimal amounts of money in the beginning. We need to be there. No one I know who can really...unless you're 16 • • rich, then you don't need the house. You need to be on your land. You need to live there to make it work. Mr. Furfaro: I think we understand .that. Thank you. I was just trying to clarify your question. Mr. Neuman: Any other questions? Mr. Furfaro: No. Okay, we'll go to Linda Neuman. LINDA NEUMAN: Aloha. Thank you for seeing me. I'm Linda Neuman, and that was my husband. Thank you for your time and energy in this matter. I've been waiting 7 years for this opportunity to speak. Excuse me for being choked up, but this is very emotional for me, and my family, and my husband, and we're all here today for you to listen and hear what we have to say. State law recognized the necessity for farmers to live on their land. I'm here to ask you to consider the amended version and pass the bill giving farmers the right to live on their-land and farm-here-on Kauai:-This-bill would-align the county with the State law. The right we thought we had when we started our farm. Farming is a way of life. I do not pack lunch and drive to the farm to work. Farming is not an easy life, but it is the life we chose. I get up before the sun, start the water, get my daughter ready for school, take her to school, come back, get worked on the farm, I do work, it gets hot, I take a break, I need shelter to eat my lunch, it's hot out there. My husband and I manage 10 acres ourselves. When the water pipe breaks, if we're not there to fix it or turn off the water, the water erodes the land, it damages the crops, and it costs money. I think after hearing, you kind of get the idea of what we live. We choose this life. We love to farm. The amended bill is a fair bill. It will support small family farm enterprises like ours. It will support...to use the mayor's term when he came to our farm euro dinner, the kaleidoscope of people that you have here today. We grow a variety of food items on our farm for a diversified cornucopia of food for this island. We do not export. This bill will increase the local production of food for this island. If this bill does not pass, we will be homeless. We cannot afford our farm and the cost of a new home, gas, and time driving back and forth. All of our money goes into this farm. Like some of you, I have a daughter. She's 14 years old. In 4 years she's going to be ready for college. Passing this bill truly shows the community your support for family farming. State law permits farmers living on their land. You have that ability to give my family hope for our life, our farm, and our future. Farm dwellings for farmers. Mahalo. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much, and let me see if there are any members that have questions. Mr. Chair did you have a question? Council Chair Asing: Yes. Linda, from your husband who said that you have a 10 acre farm? 17 • • Ms. Neuman: 10 acres. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. Do you currently live on the farm? Ms. Neuman: I had no alternative. When I purchased this land, I purchased land that...from everything that I read was agricultural land with the right to farm. It wasn't until I turned in my farm plan and did everything according to State law that I went to the county to apply for my permit and I was told there was no density. I came here with 2 suitcases. I am not a young woman. I lived in a tent. I brought my daughter to school and she showered at the beach park. My daughter is an A student, honor student. She is an excellent community member. We have raised our daughter illegally. This is very difficult. She cannot bring her friends to our house. She's shamed. This is very important for you to understand farming...farm families. Yes sir, I live illegally on my land. Council Chair Asing: Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. My reason really for asking is that, you know, when I hear a 10-acre piece, and then I now hear no density allowed, then I'm saying something is wrong someplace, something happened. So in my opinion, and I don't know your particular case on what happened and what the reasons were, but evidently something happened to cause your 10-acre piece to not receive any density. And I believe that density was taken out by somebody else who used up the density for that parcel. And it's not good, but I think you can see that, you know, there were things that was probably done that was not right, so to speak. So I have some concerns, only because I hear 10 acre, and you tell me no density, and I'm saying wow, something is wrong. So thank you. Ms. Neuman: With the farm worker housing, you know, it's very difficult for the two of us to maintain that, and we need help. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Thanks Scott as well. So thank you. next speaker is Elli Ward, as well as JoAnn Yukimura. But I want to make note that Elli is signed up for JoAnn. So Elli if you'd come up, I'll give you your own 3 minutes, and then I'll recognize the testimony you have from JoAnn Yukimura. Go ahead Elli. ELLI WARD: My name is Elli Ward. I was asked by JoAnn Yukimura, former councilmember and also who co-authored the original farm worker housing bill, to present her testimony. She is off island attending a family reunion, and she would like to share her thoughts with everyone here. Thank you. And if there's any time left, I also would like to offer my testimony. Chair Furfaro and members of the Planning Committee, Chair Asing, and Councilmembers. Mahalo for hearing this important bill, and for your interest and concern about the problem of farm worker housing. As co-introducer of the original farm worker 18 • • housing bill, which led to bill 2318 before you today, I want to thank Planning Committee Chair Furfaro for his support and guidance as a partner and co-introducer of bill 2293. -Chair Furfaro and I introduced bill 2293 at the request of farmers and supporters of farming. It is clear as stated in the purpose of the bill that agriculture cannot survive or thrive on Kauai without a solution to the farm worker housing problem. Indeed, former Mayor Baptiste's agriculture advisory committee identified this problem as one of the top issues that needed action. I believe there is a strong consensus on this island that we need to grow more of our food for our security, our health, and our economy. We will not be able to do this without addressing the need for farm worker housing. Bill 2293 was drafted with the help of a working committee that included individual farmers and representatives of the farm bureau and Malama Kauai. In the course of drafting the bill, we tried to do our homework and consulted a large corporate farmer, the county real property tax division, the planning department; the health department, and several other agencies. Bill 2318 before you today represents an improvement and strengthening of bill 2293 in several respects, and a weakening in several respects, which hopefully you will address with appropriate amendments. __ _ __ The planning department and planning commission improved the original bill by 1) disallowing use permits for farm worker housing where county zoning is open and lands designated agriculture by the State. Number 2) requiring that existing zoned density on any farm be first utilized before a use permit for farm worker housing can be granted. Number 3) requiring a farm plan, which is a mandate of State law. I want to note here a very important factor, how the two latter provisions are administered by the planning department will be critical in terms of whether these provisions will facilitate farm worker housing or not. There are three significant problems in bill 2318 that would thwart or hurt the purpose of bill 2318 to facilitate farm worker housing. 1) the definition of farm worker does not include a farm owner or contract workers. I believe everyone will agree that the first worker that needs to be housed on the land is the owner of the farm, fee owner, or long term lessee, without whom there would be no farm. Contract workers are another common form of farm labor. Contract workers are paid for performance within a certain amount of time, but not on hourly basis. Mr. Furfaro: Could you hold on just a second, Elli. The first three minutes has expired. I'm going to give you the other three minutes to continue, and then I'm going to give you your own three minutes. Ms. Ward: Thank you. Whether owner or contract worker, they will be bound to work certain hours per week, so we are not talking about non-workers. Number 2, the requirement of $35,000 gross proceeds in two preceding years per farm worker unit does not fit the economic realities of farming and will likely bar many genuine (quotes) just starting (closed quotes) or new farmers from qualifying for farm worker housing at a point in the development of their farm that farm workers are critically needed. This is especially true of organic 19 • farmers who use labor-intensive practices instead of herbicides and oil-based commercial fertilizers. It is true that Maui county uses the $35,000 gross proceeds requirement, but farmers are also allowed to meet alternative criteria in lieu of that $35,000. The bill before you makes the gross proceeds requirement an all or nothing proposition on Kauai. Farmers are given no alternative ways to qualify for farm worker housing. The working group would like to suggest the alternative of demonstrating that 75 percent of the farm's land is used for farming, which was in bill 2293. This criteria was included in the real property tax reform bill proposed by the Baptiste administration as a criteria for qualifying apiece of land for agricultural rates and assessments. The real property tax division felt it was a practical, enforceable distinction for real farming. Third and last, there is also a concern about the requirement of a farm plan to be approved by the planning department. The apprehension is that person's with no farming background will be passing judgment on farm plans. We have drafted an amendment that would require a plan approved by the appropriate soil and water conservation district committee or a plan approved by the real property tax division agriculture inspector as part of approving agricultural dedication. In conclusion, we are close to a workable bill that will truly facilitate farm worker housing; however, the devil is in the details. How the details are worked out by you, by amendments, will determine whether the bill that passes is truly a farm worker housing bill or not. If you have any questions of me, please email me at jyukimura@hotmail.com. Mahalo. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Elli, and we have copies of that testimony: Elli, I'm going to give you 3 minutes for yourself, but because you spoke for 6 minutes straight, we're going to take a caption break now, a 10 minute break. When we come back, you will be on the floor, followed by Robert Grinpas and Malia Reid. So we're on a 10-minute recess caption break. There being no objections, the Chair recessed the hearing at 3:00 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 3:15 p.m., and proceeded as follows: Mr. Furfaro: A couple housekeeping notice for everybody. I have one request from someone who's on the speaker's list that needs to leave to go to class. I have another one that needs to go to work. So I just want to announce, where I was being generous with giving your 6 minutes upfront, I'm going to give you your 3 minutes, and if you want to come back, you'll drop to the bottom of the list and you'll be given a chance to speak a second time. So Elli, I'm giving you 3 minutes. ELLI WARD: My name is Elli Ward and thank you very much for the additional 3 minutes. I have been so touched by the testimony that I've heard from the farmers here, and I just can't help but think that we just don't give them enough credit, enough help. You know, the past events that I'm sure everybody has noticed, with the death of Michael Jackson, all the tributes and the, you know, the spectacular events honoring him, I think we should do something about honoring 20 our farmers, and I would like to plant the seed (inaudible) for those who can do something about it that we should do more about honoring our farmers, consider them living treasures: Like once a -year we should have like dairy farmer of the year, or papaya farmer of the year, or lettuce grower of the year. You know, just recognize them and, you know, we actually need them very much. I'm one who believes in peak oil, global warming, sea level rise, collapse of the U.S. dollar, you know, all these bad things. We're going to be isolated more and more, and if we want to survive, we need our farmers. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: I'm going to go over the next 4 speakers. Robert Grinpas, Malia Reid, followed by John Parziale, and Trevor Bloom. Then I'm reinstating Nina Anderson. ROBERT GRINPAS: Good afternoon Councilmembers, and thank you for the opportunity to express my comments on this important bill. My name is Robert Grinpas. I'm a resident of Kapahi and I respectfully request your consideration of my testimony in support of proposed draft bill 2318. My wife Espy_ and_I haye_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ owned-a tropical flower farm iri Kapahi-for the past 18 years. Also, I had the honor of being the chairman of the Kauai agriculture advisory committee from 2004 through 2008. Members of the committee were appointed by the late Mayor Bryan Baptiste. The agriculture advisory committee was a very diverse group representing almost all aspects of Kaua`i's agriculture community, and included many of the knowledgeable voices in our agricultural community, including Mike Furukawa, Mike Howell, Bobby Ferreira, Wayne Katayama, Jerry Ornellas, Roy Oyama, Liz Ronaldson, Steve Smith, honorary member Rex Riggle, and advisor Bill Spitz. The Kauai agriculture advisory committee spent a significant period of our time on the issue of farm employee housing, and consistently and unanimously expressed that farm employee housing was one of the most important things we could do to help and ~ encourage diversified agriculture on Kauai. We did make written recommendations to Mayor Baptiste to this effect on two occasions. As a small farm owner, it has been my experience that it is not economically feasible to hire farm workers and pay them enough to afford off-site housing and reliable transportation. If a farm employee can live on the farm, then they can function without their own transportation and have no housing expense. They can live well in an expensively...a win-win situation for the farmer, the employee, and the community. It is my belief that farm worker housing is the cornerstone in promoting diversified agriculture at this moment in Kaua`i's history. Hawaii State law has recognized the need for farm worker housing. It also has classifications of agriculture districts, as expressed in the statutory scheme, including Hawaii Revised Statutes 205-2, 205 4.5 and 205-5. What we now need is an accepted protocol for implementation at the county level. It is respectfully submitted that for proposed draft bill 2318 is the key to establishing that accepted protocol. I have read JoAnn Yukimura's testimony on bill 2318, and I wholeheartedly endorse JoAnn's comments on the proposed changes to the bill. I would add the comment that although I am in agreement that existing density on any farm be first utilized 21 before a use permit for farm .worker housing can be granted. In the case of condominium units, the density utilization should be viewed only as to the condominium unit and not the entire lot or condominium project. Mr. Furfaro: Can you summarize? Mr. Grinpas: Yes. I'm almost done here. Just another 30 seconds I think I'll have it. If we view the density utilization of the entire lot, we will potentially deprive otherwise qualified farmers from the benefits of farm worker housing due to factors completely beyond their control. There are not enough farmers on Kauai, and I submit that in order to safeguard our future, we need to make it more feasible and more desirable to farm on Kauai. I respectfully ask that you give your favorable consideration to the proposed bill. Thank you for your consideration. Mr. Furfaro: Are there any questions for Robert? Mr. Kaneshiro: I have a question for Robert. Mr. Furfaro: Go ahead Mr. Kaneshiro. Mr. Kaneshiro: So Bob, you support the part where they say that first use all the density that's prescribed through the zoning ordinance? We have certain densities for parcels. Mr. Grinpas: No, I'm not suggesting we change any density, but in condominium property regimes... Mr. Kaneshiro: I understand the CPR process. But I'm talking about a land with let's say 300 acres, you can put 5 or 6 densities. So you're saying that you support that the densities be all used first before we provide worker housing? Mr. Grinpas: That's what the bill suggests, but I'm saying... Mr. Kaneshiro: But you agreed with that. Mr. Grinpas: I don't agree with it in the case of condominium units, because the owner of the unit has no control over... Mr. Kaneshiro: I'm not speaking about condominium units. I'm speaking about a whole big land as a whole. You have a 300 acre piece of property.. . Mr. Grinpas: Then you got 5 houses. 22 Mr. Kaneshiro: You got 5 houses. But before... Mr. Grinpas: So if you don't have your 5 houses yet, then your next house is not a farm worker housing unit; it's a house. And until you maxim the actual density for your lot or your condominium unit, is what I'm suggesting, then you don't get farm worker housing. I think that's what it reads. But it doesn't deal with the condominium property regime unit issue, and that doesn't work, because if I own a condominium property regime and my neighbors don't develop theirs, then I have to wait for them to do something, and I've done...I've already developed my unit out, but I can't get farm worker housing at no fault of my own. Mr. Kaneshiro: Well, it also applies to a land that if a person doesn't develop all the density for 5 housing, he can't get a farm worker housing. That's the way it's written right now. The bill reads exactly like that. So for a family, let's say your son and you have 200 acres, they can't afford to build a house another 20 years from now, and yet you have 5 densities on it, that means you_u_'re. _ __ _ _ _ __ not allowed to put a farm worker housing, the way the bill reads currently. Mr. Grinpas: Well, I think that's correct, and I would be happy to see that dispensed with. Mr. Ka.neshiro: Okay. It sounded .like you were supporting that concept first. It sounded like that. I understand the CPR, but I'm just talking about the parcel itself. Mr. Grinpas: I would be very happy to see it made available to any legitimate farmer. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. Mr. Furfaro: Robert, that is very easily said, but I'm going to point out what I said in the beginning. We can't be functioning in a vacuum. A parcel of land currently has so much density, and they condominiumize it. Mr. Grinpas: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: They formed an association. Mr. Grinpas: Correct. Mr. Furfaro: That association has rules that may require the person that ended up with a remnant piece who has no density to start some dialogue with that association, because we could be dragged in to an issue, and I'm 23 going to keep this very short, we could be dragged in to an issue that's dealing with the State CPR law. Mr. Grinpas: My point is that... Mr. Furfaro: I understood your point. I just want to say it's... Mr. Grinpas: The declaration of condominium property regime will assign whatever the density of that lot is to the separate units that are in the project.. . Mr. Furfaro: I understand. Mr. Grinpas: And so if you've already maximized out your density on your unit, you're done everything that's in your control and you should be able to get the benefit on your unit. Mr. Furfaro: I understand. On your unit, but not on your parcel, and your parcel... I'm only explaining, the parcel is governed by that association. The density of that parcel is governed by that association. You know, I just want to make sure we understand that it's easier said than done. We're going to do a CZO update very soon here too, which is another chance for us to visit this. But you know, we cannot be authorizing density to parcels that came with no densities just by simply passing the law. We still have to operate within that condominium regime that was set up, and how they manage their density, and that is one of those things where we have to be realistic that the buyer needed to be aware of that parcel maybe not having any density. But this bill is not the only way to fix that, that's what I'm saying. Mr. Grinpas: I would say that if a unit has been designated no density, then it has maximized its density. It didn't have any, so it's maximized its density, so we should be qualified to get it. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Robert, but there are people in here that have parcels that don't have any density, and I just want to make it clear that we had somebody just testify here. But there's maybe another way to address that in the comprehensive zoning ordinance. And I'm going to go to the next speaker, and we can save the rest of this dialogue for the committee meeting. Mr. Grinpas: Okay. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much for your testimony. So our next speaker. Malia? Okay, I'm going to go the next speaker, John Parziale. 24 • • JOHN PARZIALE: My name is John Parziale, and I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to speak on this bill. Mr. Furfaro: Please speak into the mike, John, and could I ask you to repeat your name one more time. Mr. Parziale: John Parziale. Thank you. I'd just start off by saying that it's not every day that I think like that decisions of this magnitude that has such far reaching implications are before you, and especially with the case of this farm worker housing bill. I think that the plight of farmers and agricultural producers is pretty historical, -and I think that it's generally sort of accepted that being a farmer is a pretty hard road to hoe. And it seems that the right to live on your farm and to have workers seasonally help you out on your farm and provide some basic accommodations for them seems inherent, and it also appears that that's written in the law of the State as well, recognized as a permitted use. The small diversified farmers are forbid or forsaken this right. We really run the risk of overburdening them to the point where their livelih_ oods become eco_ nomically_ impossible. Arid this is happening globally around the world right now, even with farmers who can live on their land. Despite the dangers and the physical dangers of farming, working with heavy machinery, working with large animals, chemicals, or whatnot, the number one cause of death of farmers in the world is suicide, and that happens when you become more...you become worth more to your family dead than alive. This is the plate of farmers around the world in today's global .economy. In our Costco/Wal-Mart reality, it's sort of hard to maybe understand what is the value of a strong local food system, but we may come to depend on that system to provide us with a greater percentage of our food in the future. And I think with the world economy the way it is teetering on the brink of collapse, lots of uncertainty in sectors such as energy, transportation, health, the environment, you can see that with these aspects and these things, this day of local food dependence is not so farfetched, especially for a small island economy so far away and so isolated. But I hope that you'll make these decisions regarding this bill and listen close to what the farmers really want, and these' decisions won't come from a place of fear of an uncertain future, but rather from a place of strength and resolve and a place of forward thinking that really that your children and your children's children will look back to you and say, wow you guys made a really good choice. And because really, you have a historic opportunity with this bill to make a direct impact on the sustainability of the island and the people who live here. It's not a small matter. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Mr. Parziale: I just need... And a couple of specifics on the bill itself by sort of not allowing any open zoned farm land to be qualified for farm worker housing, that it actually affects me directly. That pretty much puts my farm out of the available to have farm worker housing, and it seems that to also require you to fulfill your density before you can have farm worker housing that seems...you 25 • • know, if you're really trying to help out a farmer, I mean, you know if you're a starting farmer and you're working from the ground up, you might not have, you know, the resources or the money to build a house right away, but maybe you can build a little, you know, a small unit that you. can live in temporarily until you get your farm going and you know, why not make it a little bit easier for the farmers, yeah. It's hard enough already. That's all I have. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: There's no questions. Thank you very much. Our next speaker, Trevor Bloom. . TREVOR BLOOM: Aloha Councilmembers, and mahalo for all of your service to this county. It does not go unnoticed. I wrote you all an email last night, but I'd like to read it out loud with a few changes. Mr. Furfaro: It was a very good one as well. Mr. Bloom: Thank you. My name is Trevor Bloom. I'm 19 years old and live in Kapa`a. I graduated from Island School in 2008 and am currently. attending Lewis and Clark College as a biology major. I wish to express my concern regarding the current farm worker housing situation, which is kind of a neglected issue. I'm not completely against this current bill; I'm only in favor of revisions, and I wish to shed light on the current situation. I have 6 classmates who are living on an organic farm throughout the world, 3 of whom are living here on Kauai. Some of them are employed by the farms, whereas others are participating in a program called woofing with the British organization WWOOF. Members of this organization can volunteer at participating farms across the world, including farms here on Kauai. These people are future leaders in our communities, and many of them are college students looking for aneye-opening summer experience. They have great interest in education and in agriculture. In today's market of processed food and agribusiness, it is becoming more and more important to understand the roots of our food. My fellow students, among many other fulltime workers, are living and working on these farms to educate themselves about the farming industry. They are all happy to be living in so-called inadequate housing. They may live in tents, and yet they all have access to fresh water and sanitary bathroom and kitchen facilities; they are all very content with their housing. I'm aware of several local farms that as a direct result of the current situation, are asking their volunteers to leave, including 3 of my classmates from Lewis and Clark College. All of these farms are employing people in a time where job opportunities are slim, and this current situation may leave workers homeless. Furthermore, I have a good friend who is a produce manager at one of the largest health food stores on the island at Papaya's. He has brought to my attention that as a result of the current housing situation and county pressure which are kicking these people that are living in tents off of their land that a farm that .produces 60 percent of the produce that goes to Papaya's, around 60 percent, may close very soon. This is the same farm that employs my friends from college. I have been at the farmers 26 • i markets and reading the paper. There's more and more demand for fresh local produce. And not allowing workers to live in tents, you know, in conditions that many of us had to live in after Iniki hinders such demand. It is becoming increasing difficult for Kauai to be sustainable. The Hawaiian archipelago is the most isolated land mass in the world. It is frightening to think that if for some reasons our island's were cut off from food import, Kauai would have less than a week's worth of food for our citizens and visitors. Also, the import of our food is reliant on non-renewable resources. As a youth and a concerned citizen, this is worrisome. Our island is fertile and perfect for the production of food; yet the price of land and housing is high. We must support instead of restrict the local production of food. Kauai needs farms, and Kauai needs farm workers. This is the bottom line. Please protect this necessary and wonderful industry. I want to reiterate that I'm not against this bill, yet I am in favor of reform. Thank you again for your wonderful service to this island. Mr. Furfaro: Trevor. Does anybody have any questions of Trevor? Go right ahead Lani. Ms. Kawahara: Just a simple, and I guess the next time I have more information for the committee...ask for more information. How familiar are you with the WWOOFing organization? Mr. Bloom: I'm pretty familiar. Yeah, I've looked into it for myself. Ms. Kawahara: They have a... This is my understanding, I'm not sure. Do they have a minimum requirement for the quality of housing for farmer worker housing? Mr. Bloom: No, not at all. A lot of people are...they just live in tents. Ms. Kawahara: So the WWOOFing organization doesn't require a minimum amount of quality in the housing that's provided to the people that participating in WWOOFing? Mr. Bloom: I'm not particularly sure. Ms. Kawahara: Okay. Mr. Bloom: I'm sure they look into the farms themselves, but I do know that, you know, people are living in tents. Ms. Kawahara: Yes. I'm interested because I think it is a great program, and I'm wondering if we...the county could align itself in that way, and 27 • also as an imperative, if they have a way of qualifying the farm worker housing in that organization, how the county can meet those qualifications in order to have access to all of those WWOOFers. Mr. Bloom: That would be wonderful. Ms. Kawahara: Okay, thank you. Mr. Bloom: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Any other questions Mr. Bynum? Mr. Bynum: Yes. So your friends that work on the farm, they commit to a certain amount of work, or... Mr. Bloom: Yeah, they have to work I think it's something like 15 hours a week just to stay on the land, and then they get paid in excess of that if they work more. Mr. Bynum: And the pressure that these individuals are feeling are coming from where? Mr. Bloom: From the county. The county is coming...they've had like raids on the land, and they're telling the people that are living in tents that they are in inadequate housing that they have to leave, and these are people that are taking care of this farm. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: So that would... Mr. Furfaro: Go ahead, you have the floor Lani. Ms. Kawahara: So that agency isn't actually this council. It is the county department, right, or a office. Thank you. Mr. Bloom: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Trevor, thank you. Okay, we are going to go to Karen Tilley, Rebecca Miller... KAREN TILLEY: Hello, my name is Karen Tilley, and thank you for allowing me to speak. This is a wonderful opportunity and I'm very nervous. But I just wanted to say, no farmers, no food, and so we really, really need to have farm workers. I had the opportunity to be a farm worker a very short time, and I've...in 28 • Moloa`a, and I drove up from Princeville, and I loved being on the land and helping wash the lettuce. This is a really, really beautiful experience, and I wish that everyone could... It's just a wonderful experience to be on a farm and participate in that wonderful work. ~ And we have peak oil coming and looks like the long emergency enlightening as to potential peak oil; big trouble .coming around, we want to be able to and not have to rely on a vehicle to get to work. So being able to live on the land would be very, very critical, because it's hard to probably...you know, have a donkey or a horse along the highways; it's going to be trouble at this point. So I would like you to please listen to the farmers and support the farmers in any way that you can. That's my wish. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: I made an error in the order here. I missed Timoteo Heu Len, then Rebecca Miller. Are there any questions here for Karen Tilley? Karen, thank you very much. So Timoteo? TIMOTEO HEW LEN: Hello, my name is Timoteo Hew Len. I'm 14, Hawaiian, and I'm born and raised on Kauai. I have interned on two farms and worked at a farmers co-op. I graduated a permaculture workshop last year. In the time it took me to achieve all this, I learned many things. One of the first things I learned about farming was that it's hard work and it doesn't make a lot of money. And with the raising cost of housing and gas, it's hard to own a farm and rent elsewhere. To me, it seems almost impossible. Especially with all the vacation rental owners trying to raise the cost of rent every other (inaudible). It might be a little hard for the average farmer. Another thing you should take into consideration is that with no farm there are no food, and the boat stops coming, farms are going to be the only resource of food that we as an island will have. It seems to me that farmer working housing will make it easier for farms today and the ones to come in the future. This bill is one step closer to helping the farmers (inaudible). Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Are there any questions of Timoteo? Mr. Bynum: Is it Kimokeo? Mr. Furfaro: Timo... Any questions of Timoteo? Thank you very much for your testimony. The next speakers are Patti Valentine, followed by Nine Anderson, followed by Melissa McFerrin. And may I ask if there's anyone that still wants to speak, please come up and sign, because we're getting to the last...the end of the list. (Inaudible from the audience.) You know, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry. We have had 3 people that said they didn't want to testify, then reinstated themselves, and I've gotten lost. So I'm going to ask if you would like to come up first. Rebecca Miller. Rebecca, my apologies. Trying to keep track of the time, and then of course the list. REBECCA MILLER: Hi, my name is Rebecca Miller, and I've been living on Kauai for 16 years now, and can you hear me? Is that better? Okay. Yeah, 29 • • thank you all for hearing my testimony today. This is very brief. It's...hope it's not too redundant. I know that a number of amendments have been suggested for the farm worker housing bill at this time. I would just like to ask that you choose amendments and wording that would make this bill accessible to the small scale farmer and to those new to farming so that we can encourage a broader. base of our locally grown food. And also I'd just like to mention that, you know, bills and laws can be made, but you know, as far as protection from developers coming in and using this bill for their own devices and not for farming, I think really the bulk of the...how that happens or not is the enforcement of our laws that we already have. And so if we choose to enforce like the general plan, you know, then that will really help keep development where it's supposed to be, instead of having lots and lots of development and no farms. So it's really in the enforcement. I think it makes the difference there, and not so much in, you know, getting the laws so perfect. Because I think the laws are good. They just need to be enforced. And thank you for your time and thank you for your service to the community. Mr. Furfaro: And my apologies for getting mixed up there. Ms. Miller: That's no problem. Mr. Furfaro: Let me see if there's any questions for. you. Any questions? Thank you again. So I will go to Patti, then Nina, then Melissa. Thank you. PATTI VALENTINE: Hello councilmembers. Thank you. I'm Patti Valentine, and I'm a former farm worker in Moloa`a. My first experience of working the land started with my dad when I was 6 years old, so that goes way back, as you can imagine, but he taught me the value of organic farming back in the 60s, which I've carried through the rest of my life. Thirty years later I finally had a dream come true and was able to live and work on organic farms here on Kauai as a farm worker and as an apprentice with Scott Pomeroy, and also my partner Michael. There are many challenges of course living on the land, but there are incredible benefits as well. Some of them is just the experience of healing the land by using organic practices and seeing DDT levels go down after you do organic practices on the land for several years. Healing myself was another big part of it. The satisfaction of selling produce at the market and just seeing the happy smiles on your customers' faces when they know that it was raised without chemicals and GMO products added to it. Our garden became a laboratory. We were buying seeds from every kind of food plant and medicine plant that we could get our hands on, because we wanted to see what would grow here on Kauai. We also basically had our own cooperative extension service because all of those seeds we planted, we were sharing with other people who were interested in growing a lot of the plants that we had available, and that was also another pleasure of just giving the plants away. In the end, though, while our tarp house survived 9 windstorms one winter, I didn't, and we left the land. I'd still be there now if there was farm worker housing 30 • ~ available. And I would really like to ask for your support for bill 2318, along with the farmers' amendments that have been suggested. I'd also like to note that we have collected 554 signatures of residents of Kauai in just two weeks simply for a petition saying that they were in favor of farm worker housing on our island. So I would like to have that noted as well, and thank you for all your support. Mr. Furfaro: Would you have a copy of that for us? Ms. Valentine: Sure. Mr. Furfaro: We can make a copy of it and give you the original back if you'd like. Ms. Valentine: I'll give you a... I can provide you with a blank one. I don't think you want all...or do you want all 554? Mr. Furfaro: It would be nice if we get some. Ms. Valentine: Oh yeah, sure. No problem. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Someone from the staff will make a copy for you. Are there any questions? Thank you Patti. Okay, we're going to go to Nina Anderson, followed by Melissa, followed by Lalita. Excuse me before you start. If anybody wants to speak, this is the last time here; please fill out a ticket here if you can. Thank you. The floor is yours now. NINA ANDERSON: Thank you. Gosh, this has just been a wonderful, warm...probably one of the best council meetings I've ever, ever been to. There's just been so much response. Oh my god I did. Sorry. Anyway, I hope everybody can hear me, but this has been a wonderful council meeting. There's just the warmth, the feeling, just you guys being here is just...it's really awesome. Okay, I'm speaking for Marie Mauget who has had a farm here for the last...at Moloa`a, actually it's a biodynamic farm, which is beyond organic. We got rid of all the Agent Orange on our farm. It took 2 years, but when we got rid of the Agent Orange, there was worms, lots and lots of squirms, and we celebrated. Because you know, there isn't any worms when there's Agent Orange, or any of those heavy chemicals. But it was just one of the gateways to really working on a farm and, you know, trying to keep the soil well as much as yourself too. Marie says, greetings council chair and councilmembers. My name is Marie Mauget, and I have been farming in Moloa`a for 10 years. Last year my farm made $50,000 with the help of many precious farm workers. The current laws of Kauai county do not adequately address the basic human needs of the small family farmers. A farming lifestyle has many, many challenges. The current overall county policy is to be sustainable. Food independence is crucial toward that goal. As public servants, could you do everything within your power to encourage small family farms? And also the young 31 • ones that are interested and want to farm? The farm worker housing bill is one small yet very significant step toward true sustainability. Mahalo for your time. Marie Mauget...and Nina Anderson. Mr. Furfaro: Nina, thank you very much. Let me see if there's any questions. Are there any questions of the speaker or the testimony that was given? Thank you very much. We ,are now at Lalita Kauai, Melissa, Bill Robertson, Alice Parker. LALITA KAUAI: Mahalo Chair and councilmembers. My name is Lalita, and I have some experience with farming because I've been 4 years living in my car and going around and working on different farms. I've been kicked off from most of them because of the housing issue, and I know the way that the laws are enforced, the current code of enforcement where you have to have the neighbors who turn in your illegal housing, which is I think very sad form of enforcement. And I have a student friend, Trevor, that followed me around these farms. You just heard him speak. And he noticed the worm vermaculture in all this, and he made it his thesis at the Island School, and he was accepted into one of the most prestigious colleges in America and in the greening movement, and he became valedictorian, and he's just speaking to you. I'm really proud, and I wanted to say that the myth that goes around this island that people aren't interested in farming anymore is a myth. And that there...that this is quite a nutritional issue for many of us who rely on our organic farm food supply, and most of these farmers have welcomed us on their farms to teach us and share details of their farming practices. They have shared in full disclosure...this is a little tricky when your whole life is how you sell those and you're farming, teaching somebody else to garden, how they have regenerated their dead soils and are still in process of doing this, from toxic industrial farming over years and years of hard work. These classes and sharings have allowed the community the necessary knowledge to choose well where we buy our food. These farmers are researching and growing crops that are hardy sustainable foods, not just lettuce. Many people in the community no longer buy most of their food at the supermarket, the grocery stores, where the food is at least a week old and all industrially produced with nitrogen .and decay and a water heavy weight that equals dollars and cents on the scale, and look all foo-foo nice, as do the industrial food bottom lines. These organic farmers have taken great time and effort to learn and study and adopt farming practices that yield crops that will help our own and our children's body stay well. That's our vaccine, guys. Grow healthy. Make strong bone marrow and happy clear mental states. These farmers do not have time or money to come downtown and fight for the right to live on their farms. Mr. Furfaro: You're very close to your time being up, but I'll give you a moment to summarize it. Ms. Kauai: Thank you. So they're busy in the field, they're happier living outside where they work, and they definitely do not want to live in 32 • • toxic building materials. These farmers should be venerated, supported, and held up as models and instructors for our home gardens. These farmers should be celebrated, honored, and respected for their sheer hard work and devotion to growing the healthiest food they can for us. These people and their farm helpers love the land with their heart and soul and deserve to live on their farms so they can tend their plants. They know what is true prosperity. True prosperity is based on agriculture, and our ability as an island to feed ourselves. I learned this from Abdul Hussein, former Indian Ambassador of the U.S., and Sandra Gandhi's right- hand man, and her feed for the children effort. Right now we have 3 days of food supply on the island if anything goes wrong. I know where I can get my food if the store runs out. These farmers have food and they have seeds. They have soil that is richly regenerated, and knowledge of how to keep it like that with what is available locally. Mr. Furfaro: Is that the end of your testimony? Ms. Kauai: Thank you so much. Mr. Furfaro: Are ~ there any questions? Thank you very much. Our next speakers, we have Melissa, followed by Bill Robertson, Alice Parker, and then we have Mi-Key Boudreaux. MELISSA MCFERRIN: Mahalo. My name is Melissa McFerrin, and I'm the executive administrator for the Kauai County Farm Bureau. I'm testifying on behalf of that organization today. Over the past year or more, members of the Kauai County Farm Bureau board have been working with various groups and entities on this issue, and today we're testifying in support of the proposed worker housing draft bill, with amendments. Mr. Furfaro: ~ Melissa, I just want to make sure we're all clear. There have been no amendments introduced. Ms. McFerrin: Yet, okay. So we are testifying in support. Mr. Furfaro: Of potential amendments. Ms. McFerrin: Of potential amendments, yes. Creating a vehicle to provide for viable, legal, and safe farm worker housing is a demonstrated need to help reduce labor cost and improve viability of the agriculture sector on Kauai. Labor is a primary input cost of any agricultural operation, from the small scale farm to the agribusiness operation, yet agriculture work is strenuous and historically low paying, making it difficult not only for the farms themselves, but also for the farm workers to sustain their own cost of living. An effective farm worker housing bill would help provide relief to agriculture industry as a whole, making it easier to attract and retain farm labor, protect against ag theft, 33 • • encourage new farmers, and help keep current farmers in agriculture by helping to reduce input cost, and helping to support the economic viability and vitality of agriculture on Kauai. And you've heard a lot to this effect today in a lot of individual examples, so I won't go on too much on that direction, but we really have an opportunity here to consider what it takes to create a farm friendly environment on Kauai for agricultural businesses to operate of all sizes, from the small family farm on up. So the barriers and the financial challenges that agriculture is facing right now can't be underestimated, and we've been spending a lot of time and energy in various groups, economic development groups around the island, about what will make agricultural vital and vibrant on Kauai, and we see the worker housing as an important part of that. So the State law under Act 205 permit worker housing. It provides under State law that worker housing is important that it's actually a State policy for the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation to support ag worker housing as part of the agricultural economy, and really, the goal of the bill is to establish a county ordinance with clear criteria and a process in place which doesn't require a separate use permit and can be effectively enforced. And to that end, whatever we can do as a farm bureau to support that process, we look forward to be a partner in that process and supporting that however we can. Note that currently Maui has an ordinance in place that's been around for nearly a decade, and it has been viewed favorably by the ag industry, and now it's time, and we hope that with your support that we can create one here on Kauai. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Let me ask a question. I want you to go back and read something, because there seems to be this confusion. This bill will allow people under certain conditions and reviewed in some proposed amendments the ability to apply for a use permit to get additional density. Ms. McFerrin: That is correct. Mr. Furfaro: You just read something that said, without requiring.. . Ms. McFerrin: Excuse me. Currently there...and this was pointed out in the planning commission's assessment that there are ways which you could get worker housing, but it isn't...it's very onerous right now to do so, and a lot of the farmers, they testified this today, but you know, they can have a permit out there...use permit application out there for a few years. So the goal of this... Mr. Furfaro: Okay, you've answered... Ms. McFerrin: That was your answer to your question. Mr. Furfaro: That was the answer to my question. I want to make sure we all understand, this bill is about giving additional density. 34 • • Ms. McFerrin: Exactly. Mr. Furfaro: To get additional density, you will have to come up with a plan and this criteria, you might have to mention 3 or 4 of them. But you do have to apply for a use permit... Ms. McFerrin: Correct. Mr. Furfaro: ...in this bill. I just want to make sure, for the audience, we understand that. Ms. McFerrin: And to reinforce that the farm bureau recognizes that the effective enforcement to the bill is critical in order to prevent abuse and that permitting density beyond density for ag lands is a privilege that needs to be carefully managed. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, and thus I mentioned earlier that for those people that may have units that do not have density, there may be another way to approach this through the CZO. So I just want to make it very clear that you didn't read something that said they wouldn't need a use permit. Ms. McFerrin: Yes, thank you for that clarification. There was one proposed amendment. May I bring it up, because I'm finished. Mr. Furfaro: No you may not. I'll tell you why-because we have no amendments on the table here. We've talked only about conceptual amendments, and when we work in... So ~ your .group may have had a proposed amendment, but I would hope that you would hold back for the 15th. Ms. McFerrin: Until next week. Excellent. Okay thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: I appreciate you understanding that. Thank you. Any more questions? Thank you very much. Can we have copies of your testimony? Ms. McFerrin: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: Okay thank you. I have Bill Robertson, Alice Parker, and then Mi-Key...I believe it's Bordeaux, like the wine? Boudreaux. Okay, thank you. BILL ROBERTSON:' Good afternoon. Wooten also... Can I read that after mine? I have a testimony for John 35 • • Mr. Furfaro: I'm going to let you come back to do John Wooten, because I made a statement about trying to expedite the timing. So I'll let you come back to speak for John Wooten. Mr. Robertson: Alright. So my name Bill Robertson, and I'm not a farmer myself, but I'm a businessman and investor. And' three and a half years ago I purchased 36 acres in Moloa`a-two farms, one's a certified organic farm. We're in our second year of certification. The other is 18 acres of basically rambutans and longans. I am totally in support of allowing farm worker housing on working farms in Kauai. I've been impacted several different ways by not having farm worker housing to date. One of them is no one is watching my farm at night. I cannot keep equipment, that's tractors, tools on my farm safely without the. fear of theft. I have to trailer my tractors and heavy equipment from my home 25 minutes away. I estimate this costs me about $6,000 a year in fuel, trailer time, and truck expense. With no human presence on the farms at night, I have suffered from theft of my crops. I've reported this to the police several times. There's also been vandalism, which I've reported several times. Water leaks. go undiscovered for several days, costing hundreds of dollars. When I purchased the farm, I inherited 3 farm workers living on the farm, which were being paid $10 an hour. When they were forced to move off the farm, they had to pay rent of about $800 each. In order to pay the rent, they've had jobs with landscapers that paid them between 15 to $20 an hour. I cannot afford to pay my workers that amount of the wage and then expect them to, you know,'go out and buy housing. When I first bought the farm, I spent $5,000 on plans to draw up to build several different buildings on my farms: greenhouse, shade houses, solar shed, equipment for my...or a shed for my equipment. When I handed these to the planning department, they immediately returned them to me. They told me that there is a moratorium on building anything out in Moloa`a, and that was 3 years ago. Along this line, I made a sizable investment, you know, huge investment into the farm, and I really didn't expect to get a monetary return on that investment. In fact, some of my, you know, partners in California, they think I'm completely crazy at investing in farms and having the type of problems that I've been dealing with. I probably spend 90 percent of my time dealing with problems on my farm, and 10 percent of my time earning a living from my investments in California. And I would just be happy to promote farming for all the reasons that have been pre...you know, presented this afternoon, and to move this island into, you know, a real dynamic place to grow food. Let's .see. In farm worker housing bill, it states that there are certain number...level of incomes. With my organic farm, basically the trees have been...most of the trees have been in the ground for 6 years and I'm still not earning income on it. Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me Bill. Your 3 minutes has come up, but if you'd like to summarize? Mr. Robertson: Okay. Basically, small farmers cannot afford to have their farms if they cannot live on them and protect them. Housing is too 36 • • expensive on Kauai. If a farmer had to pay rent elsewhere, commute to his farm, and pay labor as a full wage without housing, the farms will close down and Kauai will not have a beautiful produce it is now accustomed to provide. Kauai is in danger of losing their small farmers. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. I will call you back for the testimony you have for Mr. Wooten. Mr. Robertson: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Are there any questions? Yes, Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: You said there were workers that were living on the land that were forced to leave? Mr. Robertson: Yes. Mr. Bynum: How did that occur? Mr: Robertson: Well, illegal housing. You know, they...it was old... They had been there for years and years, and it was just an old building that, you know, that was used for farm worker housing, and it wasn't recognized anymore as legal housing. Mr. Bynum: So who came and said you got to go? Mr. Robertson: The county planning. They did...probably I think it was about 3 years ago they did a raid, you know, and all the farmers... Some of the raids were unannounced. Without permission they just went on the land and took pictures. Mr. Furfaro: If they're announced, I don't think they were raids. Mr. Robertson: Right. You're right. Mr. Bynum: So it was people from the planning department? Mr. Robertson: Yes. Mr. Bynum: And you said something about a moratorium on building anything in Moloa`a? Mr. Robertson: Yes. I think it happened about 3 years ago. Because o£ .. You know, it's a CPR out there. Whenever you have a violation with a 37 • zoning issue, they make it a moratorium that nothing could be built until certain...all the violations are cleared. Mr. Bynum: So is that specific to your property? Mr. Robertson: No, it's specific .to, you know, probably 40 owners in Moloa`a, about 500 acres of land. Mr. Furfaro: Okay Mr. Bynum., I'm going to ask that if there's more to that particular piece dealing with violations that are on today's public hearing agenda, I think we understand what you're pointed out as far as some enforcement going on regarding the current codes, and that's what we're trying to fix here. Mr. Robertson: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Anybody else have any questions? I had Alice Parker next. I have some written testimony as she went out the door, with a contact number, basically suggesting that on the economic parts, perhaps some levels of figures can be pre-determined based on the size. I'll this to the staff to turn in. And so we'll go to Mi-Key. MI-KEY BOUDREAUX: Hi. Good afternoon Council Chair and councilmembers. I'm Mi-Key Boudreaux from Kalaheo, and I've been a resident here since 1986. And I'm tied to this because I've been a consumer for a long time of these organic foods that I've been buying at the farmers market for years and years and years, and the thought of them not being available because of something like this is...has just... It's like, no this is the one thing that I thought we had over some of the other islands, because I lived on Maui for a while and they didn't have as much as we had when I was there, and I was like really proud of our farmers in that way. So I want to lend my support to the farm workers housing bill, and I appreciate the dedication of the farmers to clean and nutritious food free of pesticides and GMOs. Much of that food is also available at our high-end restaurants, you know. I mean I think the chefs there really appreciate it. And I notice that when people are there, they come back because the food is fresh and delicious. And I believe as a community...well, there's one other thing I wanted to say about the depleted soil as Scott was talking about, and many other people. There's been studies done that the food that we have available to us now mostly is...only has 20 percent of the nutrition that was available in the 50s from that same food, and that's startling, and that's something that we really need to come to grips with. It's not something that we can just like kind of pretend it's not happening. That's a huge shift in nutrition. You normally wonder why people aren't healthy. Sorry. So I really think as a community we need to support sustainable practices, and by supporting and encouraging the production of our food here, we're also reducing our overall carbon footprint, because if we're producing 38 here and it's not coming across the ocean, that's also something to consider, and we're really here at a crossroads; and I really hope the council will have a wide and encompassing vision and take' into account the needs of these farmers. Thank you for this opportunity. Mr. Furfaro: Mi-Key, thank you very much, at pointing out the relationship between, you know, the various farmers markets that we have. They are certainly well supported with the efforts of this council and making that connection to our farm activities is much appreciated, especially pointing out to our relationship to some of our fine restaurants and so forth where they depend on fresh sage and rosemary and mint and so forth. Ms. Boudreaux: Well, and all the greens...all the lett...all the salad. Mr. Furfaro: And the restaurant head lettuce, and Manoa lettuce, and so forth...all those things, Mi-Key. Thank you for pointing that connection out between our existing industries. Let me see if there's any questions for you. And for someone who speaks French, I'm very sorry that I mispronounced your name, Boudreaux. [French apology inaudible] Ms. Boudreaux: I think I probably wrote it sloppily. It's a common mistake. Mr. Furfaro: I apologize for mispronouncing your name. Ms. Boudreaux: Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Now this is our last speaker, as I've made those requests, and that is Mr. Robertson. You're going to come back up and I'm going to give you time for speaking on behalf of Mr. Wooten. And I do want to point out, this is a decision of the chairman to let you speak again. This is not our normal practice to have people submit names to speak for others. So...but I've done it at one exception with [former] Councilwoman Yukimura's today, because she co-introduced the bill with me. So go right ahead. Mr. Robertson: Thank you very much. This is from John Wooten with Wooten's Produce of Kauai. They grow a tremendous amount of food for our markets on the east and north shores of Kauai. They've been farming since 1986. I support bill number 2293 which amends the CZO to allow farm worker housing under strict protections against abuse. Farmers. need farm worker housing if agriculture is to be successful on Kauai. I support the amendments proposed by the drafting group of farmers and farm worker housing supporters because the suggested changes further tightened the safeguards against abuse and wrongful use of such housing and make the bill more workable. Please pass bill number 2293 with the suggested amendments from the drafting crew. It has been proposed that 39 the dollar amounts either more or less be added to the criteria for allowing farm worker housing in effort to assure that only legitimate farms are allowed this benefit. The motive is certainly worth...worthy; however the fairness of this dollar amount proposed criteria is severely flawed. Some of those flaws are: this would favor wealthy hobby farmers with vast monetary resources to cover the dollar minimums. Large corporate farms will easily meet the dollar amounts. Small family farms and small diversified farms owned by working farmers will be at an unfair disadvantage, the very farmers most in need of the assistance this bill will provide. Forestry crops and orchards may require decades to produce income. Are these crops singled out for exclusion or is an exception for these and other long term crops to be made? Where would the exceptions stop? Many farmers grow crops to supply the needs of the community even though a higher value crop can be grown. An example could be lettuce as .opposed to orchids. Should all small lettuce farms be converted to orchid farms in order to meet the dollar minimums? Dollar amounts may become obsolete due to inflation. These are only a few of many examples and are not intended to deride or criticize wealthy hobby farms, large corporate farms, or orchid growers, all of whom are valued and important sectors of the agricultural community. The point I wish to make is that these dollar minimums are unfair and tend to penalize those farmers most in need of this bill to allow farm worker housing. Truly yours, John W. Wooten. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Is there .any question for Mr. Robertson on the testimony from Mr. Wooten? May we get a copy, of course. Thank you. Okay. We're going to come back in a few minutes as we change the tape, but we'll have no more public testimony. So we're on a short recess for a tape change. There being no objections, the Chair called a recess at 4:20 p.m. The hearing reconvened at 4:25 p.m. and proceeded as follows: Mr. Furfaro: I'm going to call the...to the end for the testimony today. Before I go any further, I'm going to kind of call this back to order with the councilmembers, and I have a few statements. about housekeeping items that relate to this bill on the 15th. Is there any other councilmember that might want to make a general comment? Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Just briefly. I just wanted to thank everybody for coming today. I learned a lot, and I'm going to be working hard to learn a lot more. I really appreciated the comments earlier about we won't come up with a perfect answer, and that we need to be able to take some risks to be supportive of farmers. You know, the way agricultural land has been, in my opinion, mishandled, some of the problems are related to CPRs and residential development occurring on ag land pretending to be farms, and it be a real shame if farmers were hurt by a history of us not providing the proper stewardship of agricultural land. So I just want to thank everybody for coming today and sharing their mana`o. 40 • Mr. Bynum: Thank you Mr. Bynum. Lani, did you want to say anything? Ms. Kawahara: I wanted to thank everybody for coming too. I know how difficult it is to get away from your farms and how much work you put into them. So the effort that you've taken to be here to testify, and all the people that weren't able to be here ~ to testify, I've gotten your emails, and very appreciative. I'm going to be going over all of those. But the recognition really deserves to be given to the farmers that have been able to make it here and to testify, and everybody else that had enough interest to put it in writing if they could not. So thank you very much for making that effort. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Kawakami? Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Mr. Chair. I just want to thank everybody for coming out and testifying today. My mother was a farmer, and her mother did everything she could so that she didn't have to farm, and my mother did everything she could so I wouldn't have to farm. And I think where we're at right now is to try and support the farmers, not only of today, but to rejuvenate the interest and to make it easier for the next generation also, so that when they're ready to farm, they have all the tools necessary. So thank you for coming out and testifying. I was really moved by a few of your testimony, and thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Kaneshiro, did you want to say anything? Mr. Kaneshiro: Real short. I know this is a public hearing, and I thank you Chair for giving me the opportunity to speak, and also allowing the participants to be able to speak. Basically, I look at it this way. If housing wasn't available, we would really, the plantation, the old cane plantations, any of the pineapple plantations, would have never happened in the State of Hawaii. So that's my outlook of this. That's my take, how important housing is to provide for that open space and for agriculture to continue. Mr. Furfaro: Did you want to say anything Mr. Chang? Mr. Chang: I too wanted to thank everybody for coming on over. It was a extremely enlightening, and I think we got a plan that I'm going to meet some of you on Tuesday morning. I'm looking forward to cruising around and checking out your farms and learning. So looking forward to getting my hands dirty and checking out, but thank you for everybody for come on out sincerely for you guys taking the time. Obviously this was a big, big issue for everyone at hearts. You could see basically standing room only. So again, thank you to everyone and I look forward to spending some time with everybody. Thank you. 41 • Mr. Furfaro: They got plenty of nut grass. Mr. Chang: Ho`ohana. I'm going to have to do some ho`ohana, as somebody said. Okay, we'll do that. We'll do that, Mr. Oyama, ho`ohana, okay. Council Chair Asing: Yes, I just also would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for coming out. I think there were many issues that were brought out, and I think the bottom line is we have a lot of work to do to try to help you in your farming endeavors. So thank you again for coming out and we'll do our part in trying to formulate a plan and get something that is workable to you. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Chair. I want to say that this is rather unusual during a public hearing that we would have comments from the councilmembers, but it's a very important item. I think what the Chair has said about we have lots of work to do, I just want to reassure you through some of the things that we have going on here within the county. We have an update to the comprehensive zoning ordinance on the horizon. We launched a study for Kilauea water activities and sources, which we might broaden to the whole Koolau district. We have funded an important ag lands study, and you know, as I mentioned earlier, there .are other parts to successful farming, from marketing to pricing to even changing buying habits here on the island. But I can assure you, through economic development, there is work happening there. I don't know if this bill can be everything to everyone that came today, but as I mentioned, a possible issue is looking at an update to the comprehensive zoning ordinance which might actually address some of those parcels that do not have any density or they're remnants of an old CPR. I knew it took people, you know, a lot of sincere testimony in saying, you know I'm actually living there illegally. But we want to get this through. its first intention, and what everybody has to remember is we're actually giving density in this version, and so it's going to take a lot of work. I'm asking my colleagues on the 15th to...after they call their committees together, to let me have the time early in the morning, because I know you farmers, you're busy with your schedule, that will be the working committee. And certainly from the public input we took today, it was very...very good for our upcoming committee meeting. The other thing I wanted to point out to you and I didn't want it to not go unsaid today, when we have an item on the agenda that's dealing with workforce housing and we drift to talk about citations, as was it Mr. Robertson had pointed out, so forth, the basic rules are you can give testimony as you see it connected. The basic rules is we cannot respond to you on that item because that was not posted on the agenda. And I want to make sure I made that distinction. So the persons that sit in that chair often have an opportunity to broaden the testimony. We can be good listeners, but in fact we cannot now start to discuss citations, because it was not specifically on the agenda. And the meeting is called back to order, and I cannot suspend the rules again, so we hope to see you on the 15th, and if I could have my colleagues' 42 willingness to suspend their committees to let us go first, I would appreciate that. Thank you Mr. Chair. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. ~ With that, you want to adjourn the meeting? Mr. Furfaro: This pubic hearing is adjourned. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public .hearing adjourned at 4:32 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~. PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 43 .. ct s..;~ rr :,:. ~ -- -- .~- ,:~;,. This is a summary of an ERS report. Find the fuU report ac www.ers.usda:govl pubficotionsleib49 for mare information on' the Agricultural Resource Management Surveysee: www.ers.usda.gov! datalarms IExplorin~ Alternative Farm Definitiolns Implications forAgri+cultural Statistics and Program Etigibi9ity Erik j. O'Donoghue, Robert A. Hoppe, David E. Banker, and Penni Korb Meeting agricultural policy slid statistical goals requires a definition of agriculture's basic unit, the famt. USDA defines `"farm" very broadly to comprehensively measure agriculrueal activity. Consera'uently, most establishments elassifted as t~nns in the United Stares pradtfcc little output, _ ,.. wliilc ittost pi•o~uctiori occirr-s oti a small number~uf much larger operations. What 1s the Issue? 1, The current farm definition, while desirable for obtaining extensive national coverage, can pro- f ti ide misleading characteriz_ations:of LT,S, farms and farnt structure. Additionally, concerns: have E. been raised that current,faml(and. farther} definitions are too,iitclusiue. making some producers with marginal invc~h3entent in agriculture eligible for Federal aid. Consequently, polieymakers have proposed several. criteria to restrict Federal assistance eligibility. What Ded the Study Find? The vast majority of U.S. fanny together contribute a small share of total agriculraral produc- tion; while relatively fetiv farms produce the bulk of crops and livestock. The ?OUb tAgricultural Resource Management Sut~re}° (AIZlY1S) showed that an estimated?? -percent of all fauns each sold less than 550.000 worth of agricultural praduets. These farms together; j • generated less than 6 percent. of total CI.S. grass agricultural sales i ~ operated over 25 percent of the acres used in fanning _ • incurred less than 15 percent of the fatal cash expenses used to operate fauns in the , United Stares. More than 4Ei0,000 fauns (more than !out of every 5 farms in the United Staten realized less them $ l,t100 in sales in X006. _ _ _ ~_ .._ ._ _._. v_ ~... _..__._. _. j "fay caiiirast,~feiaer than I () tiercenl cif L:.S. fauns generated. at least S2>d,000 in sales in 2Q06.1'zt these farms: • generated more than 7~ percent of all U.S. gross agricultural sales • operated more than 40 percent of all acres used in farming • incurred two-thirds.of all cash expenses.. ERS is a primary source of economic research and analysis from the U.S. Department ofAgricurcure, providing timely informs. cion on economic~nd policy issues related to agriculare. food. the environment. and ruralAmerica. Because USDA's broad definition includes such a cvide variety of farms, care. should be taken when interpreting aggregate agricultural statistics. Additionally, a broad farm definition does not help polieymakers target Federal assistance at farms and producers actively engaged in agriculnlral production. Narrower definitions increase the likelihood that polieymakers can achieve goats such as establishing price and farm income support. providing support to beginning fanners to ensure U.S. agriculture's future viability, and protecting and preserving natural resources. Accordingly, polieymakers have proposed three main screens to restrict Federal assistance to achieve these goals better. Noting that operators heavily engaged in farming usually generate high www.~rs.usda.gov Attachment 1 Page 1 of 2 44 Economic Research Service March 2009 US. Department ofAgriculture- . ~ ~. 4, ,. .. levels of sales a+td lo~~r levels of ol'F faun income, policymakers suggested grouping fauns by sales levels (a sale; screen}, shares of household income derived frpm fanning (a farm-.income screen}, and levels ofofF--farm i}come gen- crated (an off-farm income screen}. I-lowcvcr, potential drawbacks exist. Some farmers, while heavilyengaged in fanning activities, may only generate loty levels of output or sales. For examnie, establishing an apple orchard requires growing trees for several years be- fore licit harvesting can begin. Additionally, inclement ~veatl7er or livestock diseases can cause. substantial production losses. Fanners also inay choose to place products into inventory rather than sell them.. Calculating household incomes generates further concerns. Farmers with major reeenl capital im~estments can have positive cash flows but negative net farm incomes. f~dditionally, off farm income dons not ahvays indicate the house- hold's level of involvement in agriculture..For example, almost 22 percent of operators with households generatin at (east S 100.000 of off-farm income described their principal occupation as `'fans or ranch work." Ofl-fa+7n businesses also .may incur significant expenses and losses that can lo4ver total net off-farm incomes, reducing the household's ap- parent reliance ou off-faun income. In 2006, roi+glily 14 percent of farm operators with oil=farnt income lielo~v S1,00f1 described their principal rccupaton as "tvoi•k other than farmingJranching," while another I 1 percent considered themseh~es "not in the paid r+~orkforc~." Since the early 1980s, agricultural production has shifted dramatically to larger~tarms. As size increases, so-does farm. complexity, oRen leading to .greater reliance on hired labor, rented equipment and land, and .more intricate, ocvncrship an~angements. These trends have raised concerns among some that large, carporate,.farms are replacing. the family faun and that farnt program payments-are not doing enough to preserve the fa+nily-farnt structure oFU.S, agricul~ ture. Despite numerous organizations interpreting rho tens "family farm" differently, the majority oi'all U:S. fauns, including some ofthe very targest fauns, still qualify as family farms. Use of the screens discussed above could hgh- light potential conflicts between the goals of supporting family fauns and restricting assistance to actively engaged farnters. Restricting Federal assistance only tc~ those whose. farm provided most of their household income could disqualify large shares of family fauns from Federal aid (see table belnw): How various criteria would have affected federal aid etigibitity for family farms in 2006 If eligibility had been Share of family farms that Share of family farm-sales contingent on: would have been disqualified by the disqualified group Farm income provides at least, ~' 50% of household income 82-87% .. 30-40% Annual farm sales of - , at least X10,000 58=70°!0 <4°I° Annual off-farm income . does not exceed $100,000 18-20°l0 10-15% How VYa~ the Study Conducted? Each year, the ~fatiot~a Agricultural Statistics Service {NABS) and the Economic Research'Service (ERS) jointly . design and administer muleipie surveys khoi;~n collectively as liSbA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), which covers U.S, fanning operations in the X18 c©ntiguaus States. This report fc+cuses on the 2006 A.RN[S .Phase 1C[, which collected detailed•infonnation on farm operations and farm households from ?.1,700 respondents. Particularly relevant to this report are ARMS data on acres operated, cash expenses, consen~ation practices, govern- ment payments, gross sales; housetiafd income, off-farm incame, and characteristics ofthe farn~, .household, and op- orator. A[ZMS also sorts farms into sales categories, enabling the examination of i~arous data by sales class to provide I a clearer picutre of the structure of LI:S. agriculture. __ _._____, www.~rs.usda.gov Attachment 1 Page 2 of 2 45 ~. * • • June 29, 2009 6:42 p.m. FLOOR AMENDMENT (DRAFT) BII,L N0.2318 A BII,L FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE (FARM WORKER HOUSING} Introduced by: Amend Bill 2318 to read as follows: A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO ~ Cl3A~PTER 8 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987 RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII r SECTION L Findings and Purpose. The Council of the County of Kauai finds that agriculture, from small farms to agribusiness, is an essential industry and activity in the co~mty. It is key to the survival and wellbeing of the pceple of Kauai County. It is also an economic driver for the county and state, a means to diversify the economy, a desired lifestyle for some anti a way to preserve open space sad Waal character that ~ Kaua'i's natural beauty and attractiveness as a visitor destination and as a place to live. All-of this is armed in the Kauai General Plan (2000). The Co~mcd also finds that farm labor is an essential compane~rt of farming. Without farm workers, crops cannot be planted, tended, harvested, processed or transported to markets. Without farm workers, agriculture is not viable. I~Spite the numerous benefits bestowed on the community by the agriculture industry, however, agricultural work is strenuous and historically low paying. People who want to work in agricult~ue often must choose between the satisfaction ofworking the land and being paid low wages or working a less satisfying job often with wages that enable them to make a decent living for themsehres and their family. Fording and keeping labor is thus one of the biggest challenges for agriculUiral b. This can make the difference between sorvival and faihme, struggle and success in an agricultural enterprise. An important incentive to attracting and retaining farm workers is fi+ee or discounted faun worker housing. State law allows employee housing on lands in the Agricultural [district] ~~ but existing ordinances in Kauai County do not address this issue. This bill amends the current [CZO] Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance to allow farm worker [dwellings] through [u iJse [pmt p~+ovisions in the Agrccuhure [ate Open] District[s]- Safeguards are inchtded to ens~u+e that the housing is used for the purpose of housing farm workers and that the housing is properly integrated into the community and meets standards for health and sanitation. Attachment 2 Page 1 of 4 46 SECTION 2. Section 8-1.5, Kauai County Code 1987, as amended is hereby amended by adding the following definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows: "Farm" for the purposes of this ordinance means an operation or enterori_ce in operation for at least one year. the core function of which is the commercial cultivation of crops including but not limited to vegetables foliage fiuits_ forage and timber or the raising of livestock_ including but not limited to noultrv. bees_ fish. or other annul or aquatic. life that are nronaaated for commercial,purposes as evidenced or "Poem worker" ~s a farm ovvn~r, employee oot w+o or intern who works no less then 14 hours per week inform-related operations on the sub}ed farm "Farm worker housing" means housing over and above the residential density allowed in the Agriculdue District as established in Section 8-7 S which meets the following criteria• a. Is used exchisively for housing for farm workers and their immediate family b For a famdjr the living space does not exceed 1200 square feet in area. famity- (1) Ifthe farm worker housing is attached to a primary dwellingthat is >~ of the density allowed on the subject qty the additional kitchen only shall be removed. not the additi~ai structure itself At the trade the owner is allowed another kitchen to create a farad worker housing unit the owner shall siaa a uoilateisl agreement giving the Planning Departadeirt the right to make two unannounced inspectionsper year by the Planning_Ihpartmem for the purpose of ascertaining compliance in the case where the farm worker h must be removed. Said shall be recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances or the Land Court as the case may be Nothing in the a~eement shall urevent the Planning_t from making_as manv~rop~~ y executed announced inspections as may be necessary for the enfon~meirt of other ~~g laws. Attachment 2 Page 2 of 4 47 e. If the farm ceases operation or fails to meet the definition of a farm or the a the annual filing of a Schedule F form with federal income tax filings by the owner or lessee: e. Said housing shall be located on the subject-farm and the owner shall no subsequent to obtainin the rewired zoningpermits for the farm worker housing, subdivide said housing from the farm nor form any condominium property regime around with said housing_ f. Said housing maybe uortable and or temporary but in all cases shall meet all health. safety and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (O H S A.~requirements and g_ A property shall be eligible f~ faun worker housine only when all of the subject Droper~y's respective maximum permitted residential densities as established in Section 8-7.5. have been permitted and constructed. h. _ The owner of farm worker housing shall annually certify to the Director of Planning that the Farm Worker Housingmeets the conditions of subsection a through g above and shall give written consent to the Planning De ent for an annual apnounced inspection by the department i. Prior to the issuance of a buildingpermit for farm worker housing the applicant shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Planning.,Director that the ~licant has recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances or the Land Court. as the case maybe the above conditions. explicitly statine that the use permit does not run with the land but is personal to the specific applicant and that any subsequent owner must secure a separate use permit for farm worker housing_ SECTION:3 ' hereby.amented.to~;read.as i 4(f) of theKau~iCounty Cone' is built hog the; PAP tzon8-~ 4(f) N this Chapter SECTION 4. If any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Ordinance which can ~ given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Ordinance are severable. Attachment 2 Page 3 of 4 3 48 I- ~ SECTION 5. Ordinance material to be deleted is bracketed. New material is underscored. SECTION 6. This Ordinance shall take effect upon approval. Attachment 2 Page 4 of 4 4 49 s • PUBLIC HEARING JULY 22, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 1:34 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County. Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2319 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE (Amending Article 27, Chapter 8, Kauai County Code 1987, relating to Shoreline Setbacks and Coastal Protection), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on June 16, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on July 1, 2009. The following communications were received for the record: il. Caren Diamond, dated July 22, 2009 2. Carl Imparato, Kauai Group of the Hawaii Chapter of the Sierra ~~ Club, dated July 22, 2009 L3. Photos submitted by Waldeen Palmeira The hearing proceeded as follows: Mr. Furfaro: I'd like to remind the audience, in a public hearing, this is not a decision process, this is the period for the council to accept testimony. ANNA CHAVEZ: My name is Anna Chavez. I don't think that this is an easy issue, but I am very concerned .about making exemptions for projects countywide, statewide, or federally, whether stimulus, using philanthropic donated money, or the taxpayers' dollars that we should make exceptions on shoreline 1 • setbacks and coastal protection. I think we've all seen what has happened on this island when exceptions have been made when development occurred without good understanding of the negative, permanent, potential impact to the shoreline. I have concerns about the bike path. I am concerned that that county project, the aspect of it that is county responsible, if it is exempted from current coastal protections and environmental concerns, or if it's enveloped into previous plans that were exempted, or somehow given special expedited handling, we could create irreversible harm. We all know that harm once it occurs takes more time, money, and energy to try to fix. Environmentally, harm once it occurs as we see in many ways on the island of Kauai can't be fixed. So I ask with respect that you consider the precious resource on this island, the particular nature of its shores, in the area of Wailua particularly where it's quite sacred land, very important to many people, where FONSIes have been issued declaring that there is no significant impact to the environment, to the archaeology, or to the cultural heritage of the island. I hope you will look long and hard at the unintended, negative consequences that your actions may precipitate. Thank you very much for grappling with all aspects of this issue. I fully understand the pain and suffering that working families experience now because of the loss of jobs, but I don't think that the trade-offs need to be sacrificing the rare treasure of this island by making exemptions to good protections. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: I'll just ask if there's any questions. Council Chair Asing: Yeah, I have a question. What made you make the statement that the bike path is exempted? Ms. Chavez: My understanding from Councilman Bynum that the county path may be requesting or may be included in this that there would be a potential for the county to exempt the bike path from the normal considerations that are included in the County Code 1987 shoreline setback and coastal protection. Council Chair Asing: It would not be fair for me to just do an exchange with you, because I noticed that Councilmember Bynum did that, so I'm going to assume that the... Ms. Chavez: And also Mel Rapozo, the both of them. Council Chair Asing: Hang on. That the information that you got and between Bynum may not be his interpretation, and so on and on, on what I keep on telling. people that information that gets out there is so inaccurate at times, and I wish the correct information is out there so we can move on. Ms. Chavez: Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Council Chair Asing: It's nothing to do with you. Ms. Chavez: No, no, no. Thank you very much. 2 Council Chair Asing: Ms. Chavez: Council Chair Asing: I'm not saying anything... I'm so busy... ...against you. Ms. Chavez: Absolutely, and I appreciate it. I'm so busy, and I'm also very worried. And Councilman Bynum is an expert in many things that I don't know about, and I'm a layperson and a voter and a community participant. I don't know all these things, and I may have made a mistake and I'm sorry for that. Mel Rapozo also rushing was trying to give me information, and I... Council Chair Asing: Well, I don't think you should get other involved. Ms. Chavez: No, no. I'm just saying... I'm saying it's my fault... Mr. Furfaro: Okay, excuse me... Ms. Chavez: ~ ...for. misunderstanding. Mr. Furfaro: I'm the chairman of this committee. Ms. Chavez: Thank you. Sorry. Mr. Furfaro: So let's take it one at a time. First of all I want to make sure you understand, this bill is in front, it's only a public hearing. This is in front of us at the request of the planning department. There's no language in here that was started by the council, number one. Ms. Chavez: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: And sorry, Mr. Chair, but... Council Chair Asing: No, I'm fine. Thank you very much. Ms. Chavez: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: And did you have something Mr. Bynum? Mr. Bynum: Yeah, the Chair noted my startled expression. Ms. Chavez: I'm sorry, Tim. Mr. Bynum: You know, I just say thank you for your testimony, and I do understand the concerns. I'm not aware for the bike path where this bill 3 would impact it. I'm not aware of any connection here. So this bill is about... and it came from the planning department, about minor structures in the shoreline. What it does impact is, and I said this publicly before was, you know, one project is we have a shower at `Anini Beach, it's been there for a long time, ADA requires that we connect a path to it, you know, a sidewalk to it, and that sidewalk is near the shoreline, and that this bill is intended to say perhaps we can exempt that kind of thing from getting a shoreline... a full EA, and if the director said so and the planning commission, you know, had a hearing and agreed. But this bill's just coming to us now, and I think most of us here are proud of the shoreline setback bill that we passed last term., which was the best in the country I keep hearing from the coastal advocates, right, and I don't think there's any intent by me or any other councilmember to undermine the integrity of that bill. And that's the kind of due diligence we need to do to make sure that there aren't, as you eloquently said it today, unintended consequences that we're going in this direction and we end up going there. And you know, I just got testimony from the Sierra Club that says, hey you may be doing that. And so I know this council will be diligent to make sure we don't undermine the integrity of the bill that we're .proud of. Ms. Chavez: Thank you. The bill is so outstanding and such a model that we... and we are proud of it. And I'm sorry if I have misunderstood what elders who know more than I, but you can appreciate also with the docket you have, we are very concerned, very concerned... alarmed. Mr. Furfaro: I think Mr. Bynum explained what the planning commission has put in the bill, and again I want to say that it was generated from planning, and there's no verbiage in there that came from the council at this time. Ms. Chavez: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Do we have any other questions? If not, I'm going to ask for the next speaker and remind my colleagues that this is a public hearing; you can focus a question to those that are giving testimony, but I would like us to restrain from lengthy narrative. SANDY HERNDON: Good afternoon Council Chair and Councilmembers. I just want to clarify something so that I'm not confused about what it is that we're talking about here. Is this the part of the...or the issue surrounding the implementation of the bike path on the beach itself or is this in reference to the... a variation on the structures that are already in place, which is the bridge? Mr. Furfaro: I'll clarify that for you. Ms. Herndon: Yes. 4 • Mr. Furfaro: Typically, when there's zoning bills to be heard or planning bills to be heard, if they're initiated at the council, we in fact agree to forward them on to the planning commission, which would trigger a public hearing and so forth. Vice versa, the planning commissioners themselves can take a bill introduced by the planning department and introduce it for us to review. So this is the first public meeting related to this bill. This bill seeks to really amend a bill, a zoning ordinance, that the council, last year's council, approved, which have restricted areas which in this application the planning department is asking for other considerations to change that ordinance. It's not specifically focused at a bike path, a bridge, and so forth. It's focused on the ordinance that we previously passed. Ms. Herndon: Zoning? Mr. Furfaro: So if you asking is this about the bridge at Kealia, not it's not. Ms. Herndon: No, no. Not Kealia. Mr. Furfaro: It's about the ordinance and the guidelines that we set for shoreline setbacks last year. If Mr. Bynum would like to expand on that, you can. Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I'd... I believe and if I've got it wrong I'm sure I'll get corrected, but there are people here who want to discuss the siting of the bike path at Wailua Beach... Ms. Herndon: Right. Mr. Bynum: And although that's not directly on our agenda today, there is an item about receiving federal funds for the entire project, and that might be the most appropriate place to provide testimony. I would have to defer to the council chair, but this is... Mr. Furfaro: You wouldn't want to defer to the committee chair? Mr. Bynum: Or the committee... Well, because that's later on the council agenda. Mr. Furfaro: Well it's here. This is about the ordinance. Mr. Bynum: But I know there's people here who want to speak on that, and when .I read the agenda, there's an agenda item for the council to receive federal funding for that project. That might be the best place. 5 i ~ Ms. Herndon: That's where I would like to offer my testimony. So if I'm in the wrong pew, I will get up and move. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much for coming up. Mr. Chair? Council Chair Asing: I kind of want to let you know that actually there's three other items that deal with the bike path, and maybe that's why it's confusing. Because C 2009-258 is about the bike path, and then you have on legal documents C 2009-261 that is also about the bike path, and then you also have resolutions, Papaloa Road, that's bike path, so maybe that's why it's a little bit confusing. So it's not your fault. Ms. Herndon: Council Chair Asing: of inter-related. Thank you. Ms. Herndon: Thank you for the clarification. Sometimes we have lots of other items that are sort Thank you. Mahalo. Mr. Furfaro: ~ Just for the public again, this is a scheduled public hearing dealing -with the shoreline setback bill; it is not dealing with the agenda items on the horizon that deal specifically with Papalina(sic) Road funding and so forth. This is only the public hearing on the portion of Bill No. 2319 that came up to us from the planning commission. Do we have a next speaker? SHARON GOODWIN: I think that my comments would be inappropriate at this time because I wanted to address 258 and 261, which you are not ready for. Mr. Furfaro: That we're not ready for, and that will be handled by Mr. Asing. Thank you. Next. MEL RAPOZO: Thank you. Mel Rapozo for the record. I just want to clarify. I know my name was mentioned earlier and... some more... or move the mike? Yeah, I'm loud. And in fact that the relationship with the bike path to this bill really came out at the planning commission meeting when in fact the administration in testimony stated that this was a possible vehicle to exempt portions of the bike path from the State regulations. So with that, I'll start my testimony. It seems like deja vu. You know, I sat on this council when this bill was passed and we had many of the same discussions. I think if you look at the bill and if you start off with section number one where the findings and purpose it says, the purpose of this bill is to streamline permit procedures by removing unnecessary requirements for structure and activities permitted within the shoreline setback area. I think, you know, if you're going to remove unnecessary requirements that's one thing, but the shoreline setback is not an unnecessary requirement; it's a State law. It is the State law, and I know Mr. Bynum in his earlier presentation referenced the hierarchy of law where the State sunshine law would trump any 6 ~ ~ little county law. That standard needs to be applied in this issue as well that in fact the State law governing shoreline setbacks will trump any little county law that would .want to make an illegal activity legal. This county continuously tries to do that. I'll take you to pages 12 and 13 where every reference to shoreline setback determination as required by State law is removed, and all of a sudden it becomes a director's recommendation. In other words, the planning department can exempt an item from having a shoreline setback determination that's certified by the State, which violates the State law. I know I only have three minutes, and I'm going to respect that, Mr. Chair, but I just want to read from Earthjustice, and this is a letter [see Attachment 1 hereto] that was sent to the Kauai County Council. I'm assuming that you all have this, and I will read it for the public's benefit, and I'll only read two paragraphs. This bill's proposal to eliminate the shoreline certification requirement under section 8-27.8 (which is the little county law) is at odds with the CZMA (which is the coastal zone management act, which is the big law; that's the State law) with their shoreline setback scheme which mandates, number one, the determination of the shoreline under the board of land and natural resources rules, see Hawaii Revised Statutes 205A-42, as well as the Hawaii Administrative Rules chapters 13 through 22; and number two, establishment of setbacks by the counties at prescribed distances from the shoreline (see HRS 205A again). Nothing (and I will reinforce that word, nothing) in the CZMA allows the counties to make their own determinations of the shoreline or to determine the shoreline setback and the related shoreline area between the shoreline and the setback. That is the law. You cannot mess with that. You can...whatever you... however you want to perceive that law, it's clear that in fact this county doesn't have the authority to take away that right...or that obligation. The shoreline certification is a critical first step in the management of coastal resources, without which no one can be informed and assured of the current, accurate location of the shoreline and shoreline area in relation to any proposed activity...any proposed activity. Circumventing this step in the regulatory process is not only legally suspect, but also ill advised, given the important coastal resources these laws serve to protect. I'm assuming my three minutes are up. I will come up on the second go-round to talk about my opinion, and not the law. That was the law. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo, I'll share something with you. What is the date on your letter from Earthjustice? Mr. Rapozo: June 15, 2009. Mr. Furfaro: I...previous...last week, and I know you were not in attendance, but I raised the conflict between the application that came up on the SMA from the planning department and the correspondence from Earthjustice, and I sent both pieces to the county attorney's office because of the conflict in interpretations. But I want to let you know that we have...we have done exactly what you're suggesting. 7 Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Next speaker? CAREN DIAMOND: Good afternoon Councilmembers. Caren Diamond for the record. I sent in testimony this morning, and... Mr. Furfaro: We have it...with today's date on it? Ms. Diamond: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: We have it. Ms. Diamond: And basically was hoping that the picture, since you have the screen up, that that picture on the front page could be put up on the screen, and then I could talk from there. Mr. Furfaro: I would like you to pursue your testimony first, because we are needing to be equitable to everybody, and I can give you... Ms. Diamond: It's just one. That's fine. Mr. Furfaro: I can give you a second three minutes and we'll put the slide up. Ms. Diamond: Thank you. Basically what I want to say is this is the kind of beach planting that happens when you have...this is the result that we'll have on a regular basis that will be a legal thing to do if you pass this bill as it's written. And I• want to say that the shoreline setback bill that this county has right now is one of the best in the country; it's a really excellent bill. And what needed to happen with it really is the erosion rates that the county has paid for the three years of studies needs to be implemented into this bill. I'm not exactly sure why the planning director felt like there was these emergency changes that needed to happen, but the emergency changes really mess with the public trust, and they mess with our beach, because what minor permits are are planting a vegetation, it's fences, it's walls, it's pipes and flumes, which could be irrigation. It's all the things that are causing the problems on our beachfront. And if you look at this picture, you can see that there's not very much beach left, and if you look close, you can see the irrigation line there, and this was taken in 1999, and at this point there is virtually no beach left here. If you go to your favorite beaches no matter where it is, Chair Furfaro if you go to your favorite beach where your family comes from you'll see it too is all vegetated. It's walled off, not only the access to get to there, but the lateral access .along the beachfront is gone, gone. You cannot traverse that area anymore... all due to plantings. 8 • • Mr. Furfaro: First of all, Caren, I do want to say, can we take the slide off? I was going to give you... Ms. Diamond: Sure. Thank you, it's fine. Mr. Furfaro: And also, I point out that... Ms. Diamond: I'll stay within my, three minutes. Mr. Furfaro: Yeah, thank you. Ms. Diamond: I don't have a long testimony. What I'm trying to show you is a practical result of what happens, because this was a landowner who didn't bother to get a certified shoreline before he planted. And what he thought he was planting was...whether he thought he was planting within his property or whatever, when the property along the beachfront, you know, moves with the high water mark, this dual shared use area that public gets to use all the lands below the high water. Private property may encompass some of that area as well, but they don't have the use of it in the way that they have their other property. And when you skip the certified shoreline, you skip determining where the public use can be, where that private property can then site his improvements. And so if he wanted to put up a wall or somebody wants to plant, then the procedure is to get a certified shoreline, and then you go from there. And what this bill wants to do is skip that and just allow any landowner to go ahead and do that, and I really take issue with that. It is... as Earthjustice and Mel Rapozo just reminded you, it's not in conformity with State law. The State law on the coastal zone management is really predicated on having that shoreline then determining the setback and all structures from there. I want to just clear up a little confusion and talk about the things that planning asked for, asides getting rid of the certified shoreline, was to have structures and activities for public health, safety, and welfare, and I think that's really a very large, broad category. It could be a seawall. It could be a seawall to protect the bike path, and when... I think the reason that people thought this related to...or think that this relates to the bike path is because that was used just as an example. And so before... during the planning commission hearings, Imai used the bike path as an example of why they need this law go through, because there was improvements in the Lydgate portion that they needed to put the path for ADA improvements that they wanted to get through without doing a certified shoreline. And so I think that's where that has come from. The other category, scientific studies and surveys, including archaeological surveys, and I want to bring up the point of the burials. And what this could allow a landowner to do is tentatively see where...if burials are there, with only a minor permit, with no archaeologist on-site, with no oversight, and I don't really know why this was even put in here, because I don't know why anyone would want to do archaeological surveys seaward of the shoreline, and I don't know why the county 9 would consider allowing archaeological surveys to happen, which could happen in the dune areas and in really sensitive areas. Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me just a second, Caren. Was that Ms. Diamond's first three minutes? Okay, I'm going to go ahead and give you additional time... an additional three minutes. Go right ahead. Ms. Diamond: Okay, thank you. And then third thing they say is unmanned civil defense facilities installed for the primary purpose of protecting life and property. I again want to say, if you're going to site your civil defense things really too far seaward, that's not going to help when we have emergencies. And so I really feel like these were kind of bogus things to put in here, and I think the main goal that this .accomplishes is getting rid of the certified shoreline, which is all that stands between all the trouble on the beach, the private and public areas, and I'd ask you to please just reject this and ask planning to come back to you when the erosion rates are ready to be implemented into this bill, and not fall for this quick we have to amend this bill now. Truthfully, I don't understand why these amendments are in anybody's interests; they're certainly not in the public interest. .Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. I do want to thank you for your testimony. I also just want to make sure that we all. understand. When you reference my family's beach at Kepuhi, I think it's also fair that you know I did as much work as I could and got quite exhausted in the process. I just think it's fair and yes, it's unfortunate. So thank you. Let me see if there's any questions for you. Mr. Kawakami: I got one. Thank you Mr. Chair. You know, I've seen a few of your presentations on Ho`ike,-and you know, you draw reference to this kind of planting on the beach. What would -cause somebody to try to do something like that-to plant something on the beach. Can you explain that? Ms. Diamond: I can try. It's five letters, it's called greed. Basically what...you know, you have people...all these properties at the moment, and another big problem is a lot of these vacation rent, and they vacation rent to... one of the things they advertise if your own private beach, and a way to privatize your beach is to plant it and to plant it thickly. If you look there now, that...because that was just when the vegetation was planted, it's choke with vegetation now, and it gets replanted and irrigated on a pretty regular basis, and nobody can sit there anymore. And then you have the landowner who puts up his little umbrella and chairs and cabana for his vacation rental visitors in the only available space there is, and you've privatized your beach. Mr. Kawakami: That just seems like such an unlocal thing to do. You know, when we grew up, we go to the beach and we enjoy it because there's a lot of people around. We've never thought of it as, oh this is our beach. You know what I mean? And so when I hear about these kind of things happening, it 10 • just...man, it's just going against the grain of everything and everything that we stand for, yeah, I mean when it comes to our beaches. Ms. Diamond: Our beaches are really sad, and the respect that used to exist between the public and the private is no longer there, and the landowners have been exhibiting huge amounts of greed and planting and replanting, and as the vegetation grows in, they keep planting even more seaward. And so this problem is exasperated more and more and more, and one of the things this bill does is make that a legal thing to do, and that's really troublesome. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Caren. I have a question from Mr. Chang, then I have a question and I'll recognize Mr. Bynum. Mr. Chang? Mr. Chang: Hi Caren. The picture that you... Is it alright if you put the picture on the screen now? Mr. Furfaro: Yeah, I'm not just real good without lighting. Go ahead. Mr. Chang: Okay, no, I understand. I just wasn't sure if everybody had a copy of your testimony, but the picture that you have on the screen is the same picture we have on your testimony? Ms. Diamond: That's right. Mr. Chang: And did you say earlier that this picture [see Attachment 2 hereto] was taken by yourself in 1999? Ms. Diamond: Yes. Mr. Chang: So in 1999 there was a study somewhere in around that area, that Ha`ena State Park, the beach was approximately 200 feet wide. Is that accurate somewhere... Ms. Diamond: I think you're referring to the 1990 shoreline management study that was done that did measurements on many of the beaches in Ha`ena. Mr. Chang: And was it about 200 feet wide? Ms. Diamond: A lot of them were, so most of them went from 50 to 200 feet. That was... Mr. Chang: So this picture in 1999 probably started off with a whole bunch of ironwood trees that got cut back or the shade that maybe Derek was 11 making reference to, as kids you would use that as a shady area, play under the roots... Ms. Diamond: Exactly. Mr. Chang: Put on your picnic table, use it for shade, with wide beach. Ms. Diamond: This one had a huge kamani trees that were way far back, and then everybody did play under it, and the kamani trees were even behind the dune, but they were so large that they shaded everything and there was no vegetation out. And this vegetation was planted probably 30...40 feet seaward of the dune. Mr. Chang: So spider lilies, naupaka, beach heliotropes... So obviously this is 20 years ago...excuse me, 10 years ago, this picture. Ms. Diamond: Right. Mr. Chang: So the irrigation that you make reference to, you would... one would not even see the pipe, the irrigation, everything's probably thick, green, nice, and you're oblivious to what's on the bottom and it keeps going seaward. Ms. Diamond: The irrigation lines you can see go up. This property abuts the pathway, a public access pathway, and you can see the irrigation line going, and then at some point it goes underground. This irrigation line that was on the beach like this, I don't think is there anymore, but we're talking Wainiha, and so once you establish vegetation, the natural rainfall takes over from there. Generally, you see the landowners will put irrigation like this out just to establish the vegetation, and then they move it back, or at least bury it so that it's not visible. . Mr. Chang: So if in the event there's huge surf, which is going to happen during the big winter season, this just gets destroyed, then replanted somehow? Ms. Diamond: Actually, I... maybe will do a more extended visual for the next meeting. But yes, what happens, and even on this particular property, this had grown way... about 10 feet tall, so the naupaka was huge, and then last year some big waves came in and knocked it all out, but we have the landowners replant, and they're... and so we have this constant struggle of the replanting that happens. Mr. Chang: Okay, because from this picture, it seems as though the vegetation is probably a couple feet...just a few feet from the ocean. 12 • Ms. Diamond: It was really close to the ocean. They weren't leaving very much beach at all for... and this was. in the summer. I don't remember the exact date, but it was in the summer when this was taken. So when they planted this, it was...and you see not much beach left...that was not much of a summer beach left. Mr. Chang: Thank you Chair. Thank you Caren. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Bynum, you have the floor now. Mr. Bynum: I think you may have partially answered my question, but has this kind of behavior abated at all since 1999, or is it...? Ms. Diamond: It's gotten worse lately. Mr. Bynum: So people are still laying irrigation out into the active beach knoll and planting new... Ms. Diamond: People are hiding their activities better, so the planning occurs in the middle of the night, and~you can wake up and there'll be five or six new trees that had not existed somewhere before. You can go to a place week to week and there'll be half a dozen new trees. People have been sneakier about how they do it, so when this was done, it was daylight, and there's other pictures of the people actually planti-ng it. But nowadays they're way sneakier about how they plant the beach. Mr. Bynum: Thank you for your diligence, and I just wanted to repeat something I said earlier at a previous meeting. You know, the way...this has just come to us, we will look at it, and you know, I'm not aware that the intent was to facilitate or allow this kind of behavior at all, and I personally don't want to do anything to undermine the integrity of the bill that we pass. So we'll do our due diligence. Thank you. Ms. Diamond: Thank you. I just might recommend you read the supplement 2 of the planning director's responses. Mr. Furfaro: One more item. Caren, were you here when I directed the correspondence to the county attorney's office comparing the SMA request from planning and its conflict with Earthjustice? Ms. Diamond: Yes I was, and thank you. Mr. Furfaro: I just want to make sure, because I heard you say we needed reminding, and I just want to make sure you knew I did send that. 13 • • Ms. Kawahara: Caren, one more quick question, if it's okay? Mr. Furfaro: I'll be glad to recognize you. That's how we do it. The floor is yours. Ms. Kawahara: Chair, thank you. When you talk about the supplement from the planning director, which one is that? Ms. Diamond: Supplement 2. Ms. Kawahara: Is it dated 4/21/09? I want to be sure that I have that. 1VIs. Diamond: It's the one that says... Mine has a March 10 stamp. on it. Ms. Kawahara: Is that the one that you're referring to though? Ms. Diamond: ~ Yeah. Ms. Kawahara: May I get a copy of that, please? 1VIr. Furfaro: We can ask the staff to do that for you. Could we borrow your document so we can make a copy? Ms. Kawahara: Thank you, thank you. I just want to be sure. Mr. Diamond: Sure. Mr. Furfaro: Are there anymore questions of Ms. Diamond? Thank you Caren. Do we have another speaker on the public hearing? Okay. Mr. Rapozo, you indicated you wanted to come back for your second three minutes. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Mel Rapozo. Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me, Mel. I know you understand the rules, but it looks like I've missed a few people that wanted to speak first. Would you mind if I have you come back last? I'm sorry. I didn't see Jimmy in the background. Could I see a raise of hands of people that want to testify but didn't sign up? Okay, I got four more. Jimmy? JAMES TRUJILLO: James Gerard Trujillo for the record. I'd like to submit this, and I haven't a hard copy of it. This was testimony for a planning commission. Just for clarity, this is regarding chapter 8, section 27? Mr. Furfaro: Yep. 14 • • Mr. Trujillo: First of all I, like others, ask that you send this back to the planner. I'll start here.. Thank you for the opportunity to provide input and testimony on zoning amendment ZA-2009-7. This zoning amendment is unacceptable as drafted and should be returned to county planners for improvement. This proposed ordinance, while sincerely crafted to improve the process of determining the shoreline setback related. to activities of construction and development is an error-filled draft that does not take into consideration the current work of U.H. Professor Dr. Chip Fletcher, nor does the proposed amendment align itself with the State's CZMA shoreline setback scheme. In addition, the draft includes numerous editing and formatting issues that cannot go unnoticed, coupled with the possibilities of noncompliance with the Hawaii State Board of Land and Natural Resources, their rules and potential legal challenges from the environmental community and different interest groups, zoning amendment ZA2009-7 is an example of poor legislation and should not be supported by our local government. Numerous instances such as the proposal to eliminate under chapter 8, section 8 chapter 27, the requirement of a shoreline certification under the rules established by the State board of land and natural resources, as well as the proposed bill's circumvention of this shoreline certification requirement compels us to respectfully ask that you .return this proposal to its authors for changes and improvements. Eliminating or circumventing the shoreline certification process is in no way a supportable aspect of coastal resource management, yet. that is what this draft proposal would do. Please do not vote in favor of this amendment. Mahalo for your service. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Are there any questions? Thank you very much. We don't have anybody else signed up. I'm just going to go from Ken Taylor to Glenn Mickens to JoAnn Yukimura. Is there anyone else? Mr. Rosa. Anybody else that I missed? Okay. I hope you can remember the order in which I called your names. Thank you. Mr. Taylor, the floor is yours. KEN TAYLOR: Chair, members . of the council, my name is Ken Taylor.- I'm opposed to this. When rules and regulations are put in place, they're to be put in place for the betterment of the general public. What I see in this activity is that this would benefit a very few people along the shoreline that want to do something, and I don't think it's in the best interest of the general public. And so being gracious with your time, I would like to suggest that you oppose moving forward with this bill. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Taylor. No questions. Mr. Mickens? GLENN MICKENS: Thank you Jay. For the record, Glenn Mickens. I just want to compliment Caren for her diligence and hard work in protecting our shoreline. I mean, you know, she drives what? 60 miles, 70, 80 miles to come all the way in here, to the planning commission over here. Anyway, I just want to say how 15 • much I appreciate what she's doing. And I suppose the only question I have is where are the people that are supposed to be looking at what she's bringing up? I presume it's the administration, the planning department, or wherever, but shouldn't somebody be, you know... They've got eyes the same as Caren is. This didn't start yesterday. She's pointing out this is... she's got pictures up there from 10 years ago. So if this illegal activity and you know, as Caren pointed out, the word is probably greed, why would...Derek asked, why would somebody do it? If they're going to, you know, expand their property, it's going to keep people off the beach and everything. But again, I just have to ask that question as -to why the administration doesn't have somebody. They must have inspectors or whatever that go out and look at these same things that she's doing. But for her to, you know, drive all those miles and keep coming back and forth, I just have to salute her. So thank you Jay. Mr. Furfaro: .Thank you. I don't see any questions, Glenn. JoAnn, I'm going to recognize you. JOANN YUKIMURA: Planning Commission(sic) Chair, Council Chair, Members, thank you, and for the record my name is JoAnn Yukimura. I want to say at the outset that I'm glad I was here in the morning, because then I learned that the shoreline setback bill was on the agenda for public hearing. As you may know, the bill was...the law jointly introduced by myself and former Councilmember Mel Rapozo, and was approved by the majority of this council. And as some people have said, it is known as the strongest law in the country, the strongest shoreline setback law, and something we can all be proud of. I think it's okay to clarify the law. It's a complex law and there were things maybe we overlooked in how it's being applied that may be causing some problems for those who are trying to apply and administer it. But if there are amendments, they need to be very carefully crafted to avoid weakening or undermining the integrity of the law, and the very first amendment which is tampering with the applicability, it says this law shall be applicable to all lands that are adjacent to the shoreline is changed in this bill. And I think the Chair will remember, and perhaps other councilmembers, Thorne Abbott who was a very helpful resource from the Maui planning department came. He administers the Maui bill and he was very practical in his advice and helped and you know, I called him when the planning department first proposed tampering with this applicability section, and all of the people, the resource people, Dennis Huang who's a shoreline attorney, recommended against changing that section. So I would say be really careful about that. And then furthermore, we were before the planning commission, and I believe they heard our concerns, and they voted not to change the original language of the bill. But I see that this bill which supposedly embodies their action includes those amendments that I believe were not passed by the planning commission, and I'm looking at the minutes here, which Caren Diamond provided today, and I believe I'm reading the minutes accurately that they did not propose this amendment to the applicability section which was passed on to you as if the planning commission voted for it. So what I'm saying is you're not even getting an accurate bill from the planning department, and I don't know the 16 • • explanation for this; but I want you to know about that. And I would like to reserve the right, which I know you always acknowledge, to submit further comments before your next planning committee meeting. Mr. Furfaro: Yes, that has been my practice, and thank you for that, JoAnn. And I do plan to have members of the planning department help us with this because of the conflict on the amendments that maybe the commissioners themselves did not support. So we'll get clarification. Ms. Yukimura: Yeah, I am... It really needs clarification because the minutes don't reflect what this bill reflects. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Let me ask if there are any questions. Are there any questions? Thank you JoAnn. Ms. Yukimura: You're welcome. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: I will accept testimony (inaudible). I think we have Mr. Rosa, and then Mr. Rapozo, you will be last. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. After you, Mr. Rosa, we have some first time speakers in the back. Go ahead. That apology was directed at you, Mr. Rapozo. There is other speakers. Go ahead Mr. Rosa. JOE ROSA: Good afternoon members of the council. My name for the record, Joe Rosa. I'm speaking in behalf of that bike path. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, you know, Mr. Rosa, I want to tell you that, so that we're all very clear, we're. on the public hearing. This is a public hearing. We're dealing with the ordinance submitted by the planning department to make changes to the shoreline bill. If you want to speak specifically to the bike path... Mr. Rosa: No, it's going to be with...in connection with that there. I'm going to talk about this... Mr. Furfaro: Okay, I'm going to give you some leeway as the bill and how it might relate to your concerns to the bike path. But I just want to caution you, this is a public hearing on this. Go ahead. Mr. Rosa: The reason I'm here, Mr. Furfaro, also is to address everything to the council. Mr. Furfaro: I don't doubt that, Mr. Rosa. You can call me Jay. Mr. Rosa: The thing is, you know, when we were working there, with the State, they only have a 50 foot right-of--way, then I'm wondering how they're going to get their 10 foot wide bikeway inside there, because they going 17 • outside of the State right-of-way, because that CRM wall in front Coco Palms is right on the State right-of--way, and there's just about 4 feet enough for the people to walk right now. Now you going outside that State right-of--way, you going to take away all that foliage there, the naupaka, the ironwood pine trees, the lauhala, and to put in that 10 foot bike path, you're going to be hardening the shoreline, and that's a no-no like they a11...I've been hearing time and time again that there's a law about hardening up the shoreline. And JoAnn just mentioned we have one the toughest laws in the State...in the nation maybe. And yet we don't hear anything. At one of the meetings I went and talked to DLNR personnel and they said they don't have no set plans, they don't even know where it's going. They ask me, is it going down Kamoa Road? I said I don't know. But as I say, I'm here because I like to know where's the plan. And if you going to destroy all that foliage in front of Coco Palms you're going to create a big beach erosion problem. And I like to know if you people are working with DOT. I don't hear nothing about DOT. Mr. Furfaro: You know, I'm going to ask you to focus on the ordinance here. Mr. Rosa: Yeah, so that's why I say... Mr. Furfaro: We have bike path items that will be handled by Mr. Asing. Mr. Rosa: It has to do with the shoreline. I'm concerned about the vegetation, because it was a problem for DOT. So if you going to just put that bike path there and destroy all of the shoreline, to me it's a waste of time and money... and come up with a good set of plans that the public can be aware of it, and when they come to testify we know where. it's going, because like I say, DLNR don't even know where it is. So thank you. Mr. Furfaro: We'll let you come back when we get to the bike path portion. Are there any questions of Mr. Rosa? No. Thank you sir. Mr. Rosa: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: We'll go to the speaker in the back of the room. WALDEEN PALMEIRA: I apologize. Aloha. My name is Waldeen Palmeira, and I'm representing myself, as well as Hui namakaiwa o Wailua nui ahoano, and we are from Wailua nui ahoano, Wailua, Kauai. The reason I'm speaking on this item, of course I heard what you said earlier, not quite understanding whether the variance...whether the variance relates to the Wailua area bike path or not. Mr. Furfaro: Let me answer that question for your first, not to be going against your time. We're not sure either. 18 • Ms. Palmeira: Well let me read something which is from the... actually the planning department, which concerns shoreline setback variance permit SSV 2001, which... (This is in 2007; however, there was some recent actions as well) in where it says, shoreline setback variance is required since the portion of the shared path boardwalk on Wailua Beach will lie within the 40 foot shoreline setback zone in two places. Also, a portion of the project at the northern end of Moanakai in Kapa`a lies within the setback since this county road also lies within that setback. What I provided are (I don't know if you have it at this point, however) are photos...sets of photos. The first one since I started with Wailua are pictures, four pictures in which you see an intact shoreline which is in a natural state, which is Wailua, which has always been there from the beginning of time. At this point when you look at the other set... Well, let's stick with the first set. The first set of photos [see Attachment 3 hereto.] you'll see also has logs and debris on the ocean, which happens every storm...every time there's a storm. So one of the concerns with this shoreline is that with. the bike path there, which we will speak about at another time later today, is the concern that in its natural state we do have those types of things washing on the shore, and whether or not it will impact a proposed boardwalk there is something that really worries us. When you look at the second set of photos [see Attachment 4 hereto.] you'll see Po`ipu. Now Po`ipu is a beach that has always been well loved as well by our people and by our Ali`i, which is also a beach that Wailua is known for historically and culturally. But when you look at Po`ipu Beach today in these photos, which I took about a month ago, you'll see that you have, and as you know it has been up here on your agenda before; the problem with the loss of beach and sand at Po`ipu. And actually, there you did have a boardwalk. Is that correct, Mr. Bynum? Yes. And there is a boardwalk in this photo, and that was part of the problem in hastening the erosion there, and this is why we don't want a boardwalk on Wailua Beach, because we don't want to lose the beach. We actually want to save the beach for future generations. And let me just add one more thing is with the boardwalk, you have something like this. This is from the county's website... Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me just a second here. First three minutes went off, but I'm going to go ahead give you your second three minutes. Ms. Palmeira: Thank you very much. In order to have a plastic boardwalk placed on Wailua Beach you have these helio piles which go into the sand. Of course, we have a very culturally sensitive burial site which is well known called Mahunapuuone on the Coco Palms side, as well as known to extend to the sand portions. Forgive me for not having my written testimony at this point, but I will have it to you in the next few days. We have been very busy this week. In addition to meeting with the DOT head Ray McCormick concerning the possibility of moving the bike path to another location and maybe, you know, forgive me for not having my testimony in writing today. However, this I would like you to know is what is proposed to being placed in the sand, and as I...I'm not an expert on shoreline as Caren is, however, what I was told is that these types of structures is what causes erosion and beach hardening, as well as affecting the area of affect of 19 • the...you know, the cultural sensitivity of Wailua nui ahoano being high on the national register. Many, many places in Wailua, all of the heiau, are on the national register. So I hope that you can see just by these simple photos that our concern is to keep the integrity of Wailua intact. And later on when we address...I guess it was item one on today's agenda concerning the Papaloa side, that we can see whether... excuse me. We will address that at that time when that agenda item comes up. Oh, one more thing for this time is that I do have a shoreline certification map for Wailua in which unless someone can provide a new map within six months of construction, this one is dated 2007. So if they're planning to continue with the boardwalk and the path on Wailua Beach, you do not have a new certified shoreline certification at this point, unless somebody can... knows otherwise. Mr. Furfaro: Can you summarize here? Ms. Palmeira: Yeah, I think I'll return for the other items when the bike path is on the agenda. Thank you for your time. And just for the record, we are against the... any change to this motion. Mr. Furfaro: So you're speaking with no support for the request from the planning department? Ms. Palmeira: Pardon me? Mr. Furfaro: So you're testifying you do not support what the planning department has sent up to the council. Ms. Palmeira: Yes, I do not support that: Mr. Furfaro: Got it. Ms. Palmeira: And I do not support ,any variance concerning Wailua Beach. Mr. Furfaro: Let me just see if there's any questions. Are there any questions of the speaker? Thank you very much. Mr. Rapozo? Oh, Alice. I'm sorry Mel. Mel is familiar with the rules. He doesn't get to speak the second time until everybody spoke the first time. ALICE PARKER: Okay. Hi Council Chair, I'm Alice Parker, and I can't resist. SOS, save our shoreline. No variances, no exceptions, no incursions; it's the only one we got, we got to keep it. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Alice. Excuse me, there's a gentleman that raised his hand. Please come up. 20 • JAMES ALALEM: My name is James Alalem, caretaker for the Wailua area heiau. My question is real simple, what is the numbers we talking about of the high water mark and inland, because the last map that I read when we had that big wave couple years back and the water came all the way up into Kauai Sands and beyond Kauai Sands, so that's why it made me go look at the map. Because I wanted to know and I keep asking all these planning people, where is the high water mark and how much more feet, like a Hundred feet in, before they can building anything or what. Because we not talking about numbers. I riot hearing numbers today, all variances yeah. 1VIr. Furfaro: We'll direct that question to them, and there's two parts that we should be aware of is there are islandwide flood maps, not to be confused with what was just shown to us, the certified shoreline. But we'll ask that question next week in committee with the planning. Mr. Alalem: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for your testimony. Mel, the floor ~ is yours...I think. Mr. Rapozo: Are you sure? Mr. Furfaro: You got it now. Mr. Rapozo: Alrighty, thanks. Mel Rapozo. And I appreciate the testimony. You know, like Alice said, we only have one coastline, and you know, this is a relatively simple decision to make, because if you pass it, you violate State law. That's the bottom line. And however you want to interpret it, last week I testified at the planning commission because this county went and applied to amend an SMA permit. And I guess their...they looked at it as a minor because it wasn't substantial, the change to the development, and really, they added some tax map keys to the original permit application. They're going to demolish some sidewalks and reconstruct some sidewalks. Now I know if I try to do that at my house it would be substantial. If I wanted...Mel Rapozo, not the County of Kauai, wanted to go and volunteer and donate a volleyball in the SMA within the shoreline setback, I would be required to go get an SMA permit even if I donated that, because that beach is not my beach. That shoreline setback area is not mine. This county continuously tries to circumvent the law to make this project work. There should be no exemptions; none. I mean the law is clear. The State law is clear. This body... and I bring up the planning commission because last week the law was circumvented. The public will not have an opportunity to testify at an SMA hearing or a public hearing. They will not have the ability to question the certified shoreline because the commissioners felt that it wasn't substantial. With this bill they can pretty much do anything they want without the SMA...without the certified shoreline. That is a problem. I think somebody talked about the public health and safety. You know, nobody puts a warning device in an area that may get wiped out 21 • • by the warning itself or the event. That is bogus. This...the purpose of this is specifically, and I've heard it with my own ears, Mr. Chair, so... Mr. Council Chair, not committee chair, that in fact the purpose of this bill, this is what was portrayed to me, was to expedite the construction of the bike path. That's plain and simple. So to make it work, you put in these other things. I must tell you, we've had extensive discussion on this. We've had extensive presentations on this matter, whether it is planning commission or at this council, and the bottom line is that the people have not been heard. And let me just close with this final paragraph that... and you all have this, but I want the public to hear it. "As a final note, we're informed of several instances in recent years in which the planning department approved shoreline development proposals without any shoreline certifications." We know that's true because I brought it up here many times. We never got answers. "We sent a letter to the planning director back in December of 2005 regarding this issue, but never received any response." So I don't feel alone. "This bill may be an attempt to legitimize such a practice of (quote) waiving (unquote) shoreline certifications, which are done all the time here. For the same reasons stated above, such practice is unlawful and should cease." So let me just state on the record that if in fact this moves forward, and this is not a threat, but I think with Earthjustice's support that we will file an official complaint because it is against the law to waive shoreline certifications. It's against the law to exempt it from the law, from our own law. It is, and it's been stated many times, not just by us, but by the State as well. So with that, I thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Rapozo. Oh, excuse me. Mr. Bynum: Hi Mel. Mr. Rapozo: Hi. Mr. Bynum: Great to have you back. You just...you heard Mr. Rapozo say that he'd sent the questions to the county attorney... Mr. Rapozo: No, that was Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: No, I think that was Furfaro. Mr. Bynum: Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Rapozo: Yeah, I'm Rapozo, he's Furfaro. Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much for clearing that up. Mr. Furfaro: We were both on the council at the same time. Mr. Bynum: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just... I'm sorry, thanks. 22 • • Mr. Rapozo: That's a compliment, though. Mr. Bynum: Yes. Mr. Rapozo: I would hope so. For you... no, I'm just kidding. Mr. Bynum: I just, you know, we're going to get clarification about whether it's... and obviously this council's not going to approve anything that violates the law. So you know...and just your comment about the bike path. You know I reacted when Ms. Chavez said that because I never heard anything like that. You know, every component of the bike path I ever seen has gone through a full EA process, and I can't imagine a circumstance where the bike path would be germane to this proposal. So I really appreciate the testimony here today. I've read the stuff from Earthjustice, and you know, I'm sure that we're not going to allow giant loopholes to come into a law that you and I worked hard on. Mr. Rapozo: Well, I mean it...you know, it is an opportunity to protect the coast, and I tell you, once it's gone, it's gone, and it'll be too late... No amendment is going to bring back a shoreline. Mr. Bynum: Well, believe me Mel, the last term I loved it when you and I were on the same side, and on this one we were, as I recall. Mr. Rapozo: ~ You know, you got to do what you got to do. I just wish the planning department was on the- same side, because they are tasked with keeping our coastline protected; and they're the ones that are attempting to circumvent State law; they're the ones that are trying to expedite for their goals, and that's just not what we're here for. Mr. Furfaro: Well, thank you Mr. Rapozo. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: And we will get an answer for them on the conflict with the Earthjustice letter. Okay, I think we've... Oh. JoAnn, you can come back for your second testimony. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you Mr. Chair. JoAnn Yukimura for the record. I just want to give some perspective to this law. It's not that we don't allow anything within the shoreline setback area. You'll see that the existing law and Maui's law allows existing nonconforming structures, structures that get variances, aquaculture and agriculture activities, structure activity that consists of maintenance, repair, reconstruction or boating, maritime recreational facilities, repairs to lawfully existing structures. I mean, you now, there's a lot of activities that go one. It also includes beach nourishment or dune restoration projects. So there are need for some permitted uses within those areas, and I personally think 23 • unmanned civil defense facilities might be logical ones too, reasonable people might disagree, but you know, the planning department has had to deal with these applications. So we need to... and they, you know, they're needing to know how to move them forward if they are for public health and safety, or whatever. So it's not like nothing shall be allowed in the shoreline setback area, but it is what are those things. Are they minor enough or of public safety and high priority that you allow them. So just so you know these are...and there are several issues in this bill. One is the shoreline certification, one is what is permitted uses, one is the applicability, which is so elite...inaccurately reflected here; it's very upsetting to me, but you know, because it doesn't reflect the official planning commission's action. But anyway, I just want you to know it's not always black and white, and we have to get down to the level of details to figure out how to create the best law. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for that, JoAnn, and for also pointing out that, you know, there are some important functions within public safety and so forth that need to be considered. Thank you very much. Let me see if there are any questions. None. Thank you. And on that note, I'm going to close this public hearing and turn the meeting back over to Mr. Chair. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:41~p.m. Respectfully submitted, PET R A. NAKAMURA .~ County Clerk /ao 24 ~. ~ i ~EARTHJUSTICE VIA E-MAIL: CouncilTestimonyC~kauai.gov Kauai County Council 4396 Rice Street, Room 206 Lihue, Hawaii 96766 ALASKA CALIFORNIA FLORIDA MID-PACIFIC NORTHEAST NORTHERN ROCKIES NORTHWEST ROCKY MOUNTAIN WASHINGTON, DC INTERNATIONAL June 15, 2009 Re: C 2009-209, amending shoreline setback ordinance Aloha Chair Asing and Council Members: I am an attorney at Earthjustice, anon-profit, public interest environmental law firm. We have 'many years of experience in laws relating shoreline protection, including the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 205A, and have participated in legal actions relating to shoreline protection, including the landmark Diamond v. State case before the Hawai i Supreme Court. We are writing the Council to express our strong opposition to Draft Bill No. 2319, which proposes to amend Chapter 8, Article 27 of the Kauai County Code relatin~to shoreline setbacks. In particular, we have serious concerns regarding the proposal to eliminate under § 8- 27.8 the requirement of a shoreline certification under the rules established by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR). This proposal contravenes the letter and spirit of the shoreline setback statute, Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 205A, pt. III, and unjustifiably weakens the protections of precious coastal resources. This bill's proposal to eliminate the shoreline certification requirement under Section 8-27.8 is at odds with the CZMA's shoreline setback scheme, which mandates: (1) the determination of the shoreline under the BLNR rules, see Haw. Rev. Stat. ~ 205A-42; Haw. Admin. R. ch. 13-22; and (2) establishment of setbacks by the counties at prescribed distances from the shoreline, see Haw Rev. Stat. § 205A-43. Nothing in the CZMA allows the counties to make their own determinations of the shoreline, or to determine the shoreline setback, and the related "shoreline area" between the shoreline and the setback, see Haw. Rev. Stat. § 205A-41, without a proper shoreline certification under the BLNR rules. The shoreline certification is a critical first step in the management of coastal resources, without which no one can be informed and assured of the current, accurate location of the shoreline and shoreline area in relation to any proposed activity. Circumventing this step in the regulatory process is not only legally suspect, but also ill-advised given the important coastal resources these laws serve to protect. As a final note, we are informed of several instances in recent years in which the Planning Department approved shoreline development proposals without any shoreline certifications. We sent a letter to the Planning Director back in December 2005 regarding this issue, but never 223 SOUTH KING STREET, SUITE 400 HONOLULU, HI 96813-4501 T: 808.599.2436 F: 808.521.6841 E: eajushi~earthjustice.org W: www.earthjustice.or Attachment 1 • Kauai County Council 6/15/2009 Page 2 of 2 received any response. This bill maybe an attempt to legitimize such a practice of "waiving" shoreline certifications. For the same reasons stated above, such practice is unlawful and should cease. In sum, we respectfully request the Council to reject this bill's proposed circumvention of the shoreline certification requirement. Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information or assistance. Very truly yours, Isaac Moriwake Attorney Earthjustice Attachment 1 •' _ ~ • Caren Diamond P.O. Box 536 Hanalei, HI 96714 July 22, 2009 Kauai County Council, Testimony for July 23, 2009 Public Hearing Zoning Amendment to consider Proposed Draft Bill for an ordinance to amend Chapter 8, Section 27 of the Kauai County Code, as amended, to clarify the application procedures for a shoreline setback determination and activity determination and amend the list of activities permitted within the shoreline setback area. Aloha Chair Asing and Council members, The intent of this amendment may be to streamline permits, but appears to do so at the expense of the bill's strengths, and the expense of the Public Trust. I do not support these changes and urge you to reject the revisions proposed. Example provided, beach planting,irrigation, no certified shoreline, undermining Public Trust Resources, and pri. . , , , Page 1 of 3 Attachment 2 • ~ , The proposed changes attempt to separate the activities and setback determination, while failing to acknowledge that the siting of both the setback and any proposed structure or activity are dependent on the location of the certified shoreline as required by HRS205A. Coastal zone management is predicated on the location of the shoreline. This can only be determined once a shoreline is certified by DLNR. Lands below the shoreline belong to the state, in trust for the public. Lands landward of the certified shoreline are under county jurisdiction. The public has the use and ownership of all lands below the high wash of the waves, the shoreline, the county does not have jurisdiction to allow landowners to site improvements or structures below the shoreline. The proposed changes fail to comply with the objectives and policies of HRS 205A. Shoreline certifications are only valid for 1 year due to the dynamic and changing nature of the coastal zone. The proposed changes will increase the liabilities and risks associated with development too close to the ocean, jeopardizing people and structures. Planning should incorporate sea level rise into all planning decisions rather than undermining existing protections. Ordinance #863 Relating to Shoreline Setback and Coastal Protection, was well thought out to protect the structures, inhabitants and the beach, while avoiding unnecessary coastal hazards and protecting our important coastal zone. These substantial changes will allow walls, fences, plantings on the beach, pipes, and other amenities to serve the vacation rental resorts that use to be our community to be legally put on the beach without determining the shoreline first. Ordinance #863 is an "interim" measure until the public database of science-based erosion rates are formally established. After more than 3 years of studies by Dr. Chip Fletcher from the University of Hawaii, this erosion data is just about ready to be implemented by the county. Page 2 of 3 Attachment 2 Question- why would the proposed changes to include the erosion data which relieves the landowners of those studies? Three years of was used for Dr. Fletcher's erosion studies change the bill now, and not include implem~ erosion data? this bill not private county funding and data, why ~ntation of the The proposal fails to adhere to state law, HRS 205A. Please reject this revision, and instead ask planners to propose implementing the coastal erosion rates that are now available into this ordinance. Incorporate sea level rise into all planning decisions. Respectfully, Caren Diamond Page 3 of 3 Attachment 2 i:C. ~j '.~ I. ~h r:.e„a.. ~:. m`. 6. -y~`' 'v -~ ~ t ,h~ry~ -~ - 5 ~4 m. ~~`~ 'S tom, ~I ~ _r~~+ II ~ .j~ ;: .;~ '~ .. iF ~"~ 5 tm "!~-.`'- '- - ..~ - ;ter. _ -I ` i n µ ~ +'~``~ ,~ .. ~ ~,, ., ~ ~~+ - 't;. .. .3,a fF i15~ `.J ~ G'i' M~ .ie x~~1' F~q ~ i~ R ./.'~''y. /rt'e' W1~w .~ ~`~ ~l ~~ f ~~ ~ `R ` y t ~ N '4 l ~° ;`~.~ ~J" `- ~ <~ ~~~yyy4 4 n. a ~.. W} ~ + ~ 1 '` ,a. .. w. \~f ~.~. ~ ` ~ -. `~ a.. ,i /'lil:vi lr. ~~~ ~' ~ .~ s~'~ ~~ Y ~ 5 '~ 1 ~T ~: ~f" iw 4 * .. ... }~ .. - ~ - z +f«, .;`~!'9fwsw3t-~dr., ,yam i., - ~, '4+N""'"au1Q ,,....:: r:: ~ . t I ~ • • PUBLIC HEARING AUGUST 19, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Lani Kawahara, Chair, Parks/Transportation Committee, on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, at 1:32 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2320 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PUBLIC PARKS AND RECREATION, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on July 22, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on July 30, 2009. The following communication was received for the record: • Carl Imparato email, dated 08/18/2009 The hearing proceeded as follows: BRUCE PLEAS: Bruce Pleas for the record, testifying as a Kauai resident. I'm a member of the Kekaha Host Community Benefit community action committee. I am not a member of any organization, profit or nonprofit, and I'm also not a representative for any lobbying organization registered or unregistered in the State of Hawaii. On this bill before public hearing, I really have some questions whether this is needed or not. We presently have drunken disorderly at a park...means that you can be picked up by the police. Drunk and driving means you can be picked up by the police. I think we're covered already if there's a problem at the parks. What I see this as is if you're not going to be able to drink at the park between 11 and 6 a.m., which can be monitored now by the policemen because you're there, where are you going to drink? Well, maybe you'll drink in front of your friend's house, make a lot of noise, or you'll spread out and go 1 • ~ • somewhere where the police don't know where you're at. So you know, generally...I mean it's a good idea, but it's also an infringement upon your rights again for our parks. And then also, the other one is, shall not apply to campers with valid camping permits. Well, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. that means park rangers are going to have to be out there and see if who's what and what's who. So I have some...you know, those are comments on it. I mean for or against it, either way; it's just another law that's going to be there that has to be enforced. So thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. Anybody else wanted to speak on this bill? Mr. Mickens? GLENN MICKENS: For the record, Glenn Mickens. Thank you Lani. Just have a short comment. If fully support this bill with the amendment to Chapter 19 prohibiting use of alcoholic beverages in all parks and recreational areas between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. However, I would go one step further and prohibit the use of all alcoholic beverages in any of our parks and recreational facilities at any time. All these prohibitions, as written, they're fine. But without proper enforcement, they are no better than the paper they are written on. I do not believe that our police need the added responsibility of enforcing these rules, but we do need more park rangers, in my estimation, if we want real enforcement. Because no matter what laws we pass, we don't have anybody to, you know, go out and see that they're taken care of. I don't think it'll happen. I'm not sure, but doesn't Honolulu prohibit the- use of alcohol beverages in their parks and recreation? I think you brought it up one time, Kaipo. So I just think alcoholic beverages create a lot of problems, and I think they should be banned from those particular areas. Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. Derek...I mean Councilmember Kawakami, you had something? Mr. Kawakami: No, just a quick point for clarification. But the reason why this bill was introduced was at the request of the police department. So you know, just to clarify the issues on enforcement and, you know, it was by request from the chief of police. Mr. Mickens: So the police do feel that they will have the manpower to be able to enforce this ordinance? Mr. Kawakami: Apparently so. Mr. Mickens: I doubt that, but... that's their call. Thank you. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you. 2 r ~,~ ~ • Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. I see JoAnn Yukimura wants to... come up. JOANN YUKIMURA: Good afternoon Council Chair, Committee Chair, Members. Boy, I'm beginning to feel like one of those regulars. JoAnn Yukimura for the record. I have not been tracking this bill, and I came to speak on the plastic bags reduction bill, but I do want to share with you the discussions that have occurred in our drug prevention groups. And we had discussions which included police officers where they talked about the beginning.of a rave party happening at Po`ipu Beach Park, you know, at 10 o'clock, and these happen fairly instantaneously within this cell phone age, and they're not being able to enforce because there's no law prohibiting alcohol. And so my understanding matches Councilmember Kawakami's input that the police department would like to have this bill, and it might be good to have, if you don't already have on record, a written statement from them, and you may with to ask the drug prevention groups for some official opinion. I'm not speaking officially, because there hasn't been a decision on this particular bill that I know of, and as I said, I didn't plan to speak. But I do want to share that we have had discussions, and that this kind of bill has been talked about in a very positive way, and I personally would support it based on what I know of the needs of law enforcement and those of us who want to help prevent alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. Any questions or discussion on... Okay, anybody else in the public want to come up and speak on this bill? Seeing none, I adjourn this portion of the meeting. Thank you. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~~ ~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 3 ,: • • PUBLIC HEARING AUGUST 19, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Tim Bynum, Chair, Public Works/Elderly Affairs Committee, on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, at 1:40 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair RECUSED: Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2321 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A NEW ARTICLE 19, CHAPTER 22, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on July 22, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on July 30, 2009. Mr. Kawakami: Excuse me Committee Chair. Due to a possible conflict of interest, I'll be recusing myself from this public hearing. Mr. Bynum: Thank you Councilmember. (Mr. Kawakami was noted recused from the meeting at 1:42 p.m.) Mr. Bynum: You've received considerable written testimony on this matter. That's very much appreciated. I wanted to particularly .note written testimony from Kalaheo School, many of the students at Kalaheo School who wrote really thoughtful and engaging testimony on this bill. Do we have registered speakers? The following communication was received for the record: 1) Camellia Ditch-Crosby, dated 8/18/2009 2) Roger Walraven email with attachments, dated 8/16/2009 1 • • 3) Kathleen Luiten email, dated 8/16/2009 4) David Dinner email, dated 8/16/2009 5) Bob Courtney email, dated 8/16/2009 6) Diana LaBedz email, dated 8/16/2009 7) Rita Peeters email, dated 8/16/2009 8) Sylvia Partridge email, dated 8/16/2009 9) Sharon Verity email, dated 8/16/2009 10) Cheryl Hotta email, dated 8/16/2009 11) Judy Dalton and Brad Parsons, Kauai Group Sierra Club Executive Committee members, dated 8/18/2009 12) Andrea Brower and Keone Kealoha, Malama Kauai, dated 8/18/2009 13) Pam Lightfoot Burrell email, dated 8/18/2009 14) JoAnn A. Yukimura testimony, dated 8/18/2009 15) Sharon Len Goodwin email, dated 8/19/2009 16) John Harder, Chair, Zero Waste Kauai, email dated 8/19/2009 17) Gary Hoover email, dated 8/19/2009 18) Faith Harding email, dated 8/19/2009 19) Robert Zelkovsky email, dated 8/19/2009 20) Hawaii Food Industry Association testimony, dated 8/19/2009 21) Michael Kip Goodwin email, dated 8/18/2009 22) Chizuru "J" Yoshida email, dated 8/18/2009 23) Brad Parsons email, dated 8/17/2009 24) Fred Dente email, dated 8/17/2009 25) Pam Lightfoot Burrell email, dated 8/17/2009 26) Chad Deal email, dated 8/17/2009 27) Laurel Brier testimony, dated 8/19/2009 28) Kalaheo Elementary School students' testimonies (46), dated 8/17/2009 29) Documents submitted by Robert Sinclair, President & CEO, ~ ECM BioFilms, Inc. The hearing proceeded as follows: CAMELLIA DITCH-CROSBY: Good afternoon. Aloha County Council Chair and County Council embers. This is regarding bi112321 relating to the plastic bag... Mr. Bynum: Excuse me. Hello? Can you please state your name? Ms. Ditch-Crosby: My name is Camellia Ditch-Crosby. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Ms. Ditch-Crosby: I personally feel it is my kuleana to my `ohana, the past, the present, and future to speak out and take a stand on this issue. For those of us who come from the plantation days era, we may be saying, is this the unintended consequences of progress, a need to introduce a bill relating to plastic bag reduction. Like everything else in one's lifetime, choices need to be made when 2 • • one is faced with negative unintended consequences-in this case, persistently overburdened landfills. Many of us can look back and realize we were raised and practiced the Hawaiian culture of malama the `aina. Nothing was wasted. Everything was recycled back then. We ate everything on our plate; no wasting was allowed. Leftover food were fed to the pigs, dogs, and chickens. Grandma burned trash and mixed it in the earth to help her organic vegetable garden. Seeds from fruits and vegetables were replanted. Their skins and leaves were dried and mixed into the earth too; we had compost even then. Here I am today 63 years of old... age still continuing to live that way and teaching our next generations to do the same. This is nothing new. It saddens me to think that our next generations will inherit this horrific burden problems because we're not only talking about paper and glass, but toxics, plastics, metals, and including earth-friendly light bulbs mercury, etc. We suggest replacing non-biodegradable plastic bags with biodegradable plastic bags, following the example of Sueoka Store in Koloa, Kauai, (inaudible). In closing, I ask you to support and pass this bill without hesitation for the betterment of the community and our future generations, and recommend our Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. to support and sign the bill that would ban stores from distributing non-biodegradable plastic bags. In quoting the mayor, together we can. Mahalo. Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much. Ms. Ditch-Crosby: Any questions? Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Ms. Ditch-Crosby: I'm very experienced. Mr. Bynum: Yes. LAUREN ZIRBEL: Good afternoon Chair and Councilmembers. My name is Lauren Zirbel. I work for Hawaii Food Industry Association. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify. We actually support the concept of this measure, but we want to be assured that the council is aware of some new technologies that have recently come out that allow products that are manufactured here in Hawaii to also be biodegradable and cost effective, and we want to make sure those are encompassed in the definition of biodegradable in this bill. We're not saying that they aren't, but it's somewhat unclear the way that it's written now. We agree that like all issues green, recycling and reducing waste from plastic bags requires personal responsibility. While we would prefer a recycling program, we would also be willing to sponsor a government shift to biodegradable plastic bags. Thanks to the advent of this new technology, which was first utilized by our green-minded member Don Tarith Markets, stores can now use biodegradable plastic bags which can even decompose in the landfill. This fact alone makes these biodegradable alternatives the most environmentally favorable, keeping in mind the other eco-friendly bags such as paper and plant-derived compostable PLA bags take more water and energy to produce than plastic biodegradable bags and can now 3 • • break down in landfills even in the absence of sunlight and water, which is very unusual. Also, compostable bags can't... don't compost in the natural environment if. they're littered; they have to be in a commercial composting facility permitted for a post-consumer food waste, and there are none of those facilities permitted in Hawaii. The biodegration process for biodegradable plastic bags can take place anaerobically, so even if they're placed in a landfill that solves some of the problems with an over-burdened landfill, as well as bags being placed in the ocean. The amount of time it takes for these bags to biodegrade depends on how much additive is placed in them, and it depends on how much sunlight and other factors. We believe this technology represents a win for the economy and the environment, and we hope that the council keeps it in mind. Thank you so much for your time. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Chang: I do. Mr. Bynum: Councilmember Chang. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Can you... If there is a difference, can you tell us the difference maybe between a regular plastic bag and a biodegradable bag as far as cost is concerned. That's number one. And number two, you mention about the breakdown with the biodegradable bag. If you can explain a little bit about that, if it's buried, or in the sunlight, or what makes it... Ms. Zirbel: Cost-wise for the biodegradable bag that has the additive in it, the...they're called oxo-biodegradable bags. The cost difference is negligible. The cost difference for a compostable PLA bag, which is a bag made of say corn, is about 3 to 4 times higher. The difference between the two bags as far as composting, the PLA bag is made for composting. The oxo-biodegradable bag, which people who manufacture plastic bags on Hawaii can still manufacture these oxo-biodegradable bags, all they have to do is put an additive in the solution. They don't have to retrofit their machinery to produce these oxo-biodegradable bags. These bags, if they're littered in the natural environment, take...it depends on how much additive is placed in them...a year to two years to biodegrade, whereas...I mean some natural things that are, you know, fruits or banana peels or paper can take just that long as well. It depends on what type of organic material you're talking about, which is why the definition in this bill, I'm not sure is clear enough for bio...what is a biodegradable bag. It says at the same rate compared to other biodegradable materials, such as paper, leaves, and food waste. I'm not sure exactly if that's...if that encompasses this new technology or not. So that would be our...really, our only concern on this bill. Mr. Chang: Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Any other questions? Councilmember Furfaro. 4 • • Mr. Furfaro: I'm sorry... You referenced it as a PLA? Ms. Zirbel: Those are bags that are basically made out of plant material. Mr. Furfaro: Okay. Is that an acronym for bags? Ms. Zirbel: Those are compostable bags, yeah. Mr. Furfaro: Okay. You have a definition of a PLA bag? Ms. Zirbel: I can't remember off the top of my head what PLA stands for, but that's basically, you know, bio-bags? They're a pretty big brand. They're made out of corn. That's a PLA bag. Mr. Furfaro: These are the same as the bottles I've seen made out of corn products and so forth? Ms. Zirbel: Yeah. Mr. Furfaro: Okay. So we'll look it up on the website. Ms. Zirbel: oxo-biodegradable... Mr. Furfaro: Ms. Zirbel: Mr. Furfaro: those definitions. Yeah, or actually I have a lot of information on this If you could leave some of that with the clerk? Yeah. It would help us in case we need to look at some of Ms. Zirbel: Okay, absolutely. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Bynum: Any other questions? If not, I have a couple. 'Okay, so I know what the PLA bag is. You're talking about...what's the name? Ms. Zirbel:. Oxo-biodegradable. Mr. Bynum: - And those are plastic products. Ms. Zirbel: Those are plastic. 5 • • Mr. Bynum: And they have an additive that causes them to break up. Ms. Zirbel: Right. Mr. Bynum: Do they leave plastic compounds in the environment? Ms. Zirbel: No, these particular ones actually, which is what's so exciting about. this technology which is relative new, it breaks down 100% into organic matter. They actually...they...like Ihave awhole spreadsheet I can give you, but the microbes will eat them down to the smallest particles. Mr. Bynum: I'd appreciate if you'd leave that information with our staff. Any other questions? Okay, thank you very much. Ms. Zirbel: Thanks. BILL WALKER: Aloha. My name's Bill Walker, and I really don't see how anybody could oppose this project. It seems like common sense, really, and no big deal. If there's any kind of big deal at all, it's floating out there in the ocean between here and San Francisco. Supposedly there's something like a thousand mile diameter blob of plastic floating in the ocean...I don't know, zillions of tons of useless plastic that people have thrown away. And if that doesn't tell everybody that it's time to change the way we're doing business, I just don't know what would carry the message. And that's all I have to say. If anybody has any questions, I'd be happy to answer. Mr. Bynum: Councilmember Furfaro? Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for your testimony and a reminder there. This mass that is out there, I understand it's now... NOAA is now tracking it. Is that... Mr. Walker: Yeah. They're having a hard time to track it, because they can't track it with satellites. Apparently it floats like 10 inches to a foot below the surface of the water, and so the only way to really track it is to send a boat in -there and see what's going on. And as I understand it, they have sent people out there to study it and to try to figure out what's going on. But there's also another just like it between here and Japan, so there's plenty of plastic on, you know, floating around (inaudible). Mr. Furfaro: Thank you for reminding us of this mass being out there on our radar screen. Mr. Walker: It's sending us a message. 6 • . Mr. Furfaro: Yep. Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Nice to see you Bill. Mr. Walker: _ Thank you. KEN TAYLOR: Chair, members of the Council, my name is Ken Taylor. I'm in.support of this bill. The taxpayers have subsidized the manufacture of plastic bags way too long. We need to start looking at charging manufacturers that put the burden of the end product onto us to dispose of and I think one of the best ways of disposing of any of these products is to eliminate them from the upfront-activities. So I hoping...I'm hoping that after we get this bill in place that we will look at bottles...plastic bottles and then styrofoam. But these are all products that are all extremely difficult to deal with, and the best way to deal with them is to not have to deal with them, and that starts with bills such as this. So thank you very much. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. ELLI WARD: Good afternoon, my name is Elli Ward, and I'm testified in the past supporting this bill, and I just wanted to a little bit more data. ~We are a small island, but we are part of the global community, and I wanted to just bring up some of the efforts the other countries have been doing regarding this. Some countries have taxed plastic bags, some of have gone outright and banned them, and let me just mention some of these countries. Plastic bags are taxed in Italy and Belgium, in Switzerland... In Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, grocery shoppers must pay for the bags. Taiwan taxes them, while the cities of Dakar, Bangladesh, and Bombay ban them. In Ireland, plastic bags are taxed at 22 euro cents, or 34 U.S. cents each, resulting in a drop of 95 percent usage. This surcharge has been in effect since 2003. So that's 95 percent drop is quite amazing. In the U.S., San Francisco and Oakland banned the bags and promote reusable and compostable bags. Supermarkets are required to take back and recycle the bags. A similar take-back and recycle initiatives are on the books, and they may be enforced in some of the cities, like in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. Washington, D.C. approved the bag tax. In China, they have...China has deployed 600,000 regulators to inspect retail stores in its push to ban...this will be the super-thin plastic bags. World Watch reports that usage has been reduced by 66 percent in China, and they saved 1.6 million tons of oil because of this. Unfortunately, although awareness and steps are being taken in various communities in the U.S., an estimated 90 billion thin bags a year, most of these are used to handle produce and groceries, 90 billion thin bags go unrecycled. These bags were the second most common form of litter after cigarette butts, reported by the ocean conservancy group. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association report that one million seabirds and a hundred thousand mammals are killed each year by these bags. We still have a long way to go, but I think just based on the prior testimonies 7 • • and some of this data that's happening worldwide, I sure would like to see this bill go seven zero. Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. GLENN MICKENS: For the record again, Glenn Mickens. Thank you. I would say upfront that I completely support this bill. This one paragraph confused me a little bit. The council county of Kauai finds it and declares that to preserve the health, safety, welfare and scenic beauty of Kauai, the distribution of plastic- bags should be regulated and prohibited. Shouldn't it be regulated or prohibited? I'm not sure how you would regulate it and prohibit it. For me, it would be one or the other. Anyway, it's just a technical thing. But to get back to the rest of the bill, my wife does all the shopping in our family and recycles everything-cans, bottles, plastics. She even carefully removes the daily newspaper from its plastic bag and gives it back to the carrier. She also uses the plastic bags from the market to line our waste basket. She fills that and ties it up and puts it in a can that they're going to...that the county picks up so that the debris doesn't fly all over when the guys dump the trash can, which I think is a good idea. So I really commend Tim, you and Lani, for introducing this bill, as it's highly needed. But in deference to my wife and others who are using these other methods for the same purpose, I would suggest that all markets use only disposable and degradable bags, and thus solve the problem of plastic bags create. And from what the young lady just said, there doesn't seem to be any added expense to... going to these biodegradable things, so as the gentleman pointed out, I think it's awin-win proposition. It's a no-brainer actually, if you can use bags that won't take thousand years to degrade, why, then, I don't know any reason you shouldn't pass this. Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Wait just a second. Any questions for Glenn? I just want to say briefly that this bill both regulates and prohibits. It prohibits plastic bags from being distributed from the point of sale, but it does allow them to be used for bulk food items in the meat and produce departments. Mr. Mickens: Oh I see. That's where the prohibitive and use comes in. Mr. Bynum: That was my understanding. Mr. Mickens: Okay. Thank you Tim. BRUCE PLEAS: Bruce Pleas for the record. Well another law we're going to have. I'd rather see this as a resolution and have the...everybody do it nicely and, you know, the stores aren't going to quit having them there, so I guess the law has to be done. In your definitions, what you're...you are missing is the type of bag prohibited. I think you need to have a definition of your non-biodegradable bag. You have everything else, but you don't have this, so you have no definition of what you're prohibiting. Section 22-19.3, which is enforcement 8 • and penalties, section a, it says any person who violates this article, through this entire bill it is a retail establishment. There is no person in this bill. I would suggest changing person to retail establishment. Section b is the enforcement is the county engineer or somebody who they designate...person in position. Do we have a person available in county... the county engineering that can do this? Do we have a position? You may have to add a position or do something in the budget and see what's going on for that to have a person to go out and be a plastic bag policeman. And c, the county attorney may seek legal injunctive or other equitable relief to enforce this article. Consider that changing to shall. If you want to do this, put teeth in it. Have it so that if you get fined, you're going to have a county attorney on you, not well maybe, or maybe not, or so. So if you want to have teeth, change may to shall. You know, I'm always the one that likes to have teeth in like that. Besides that, as long as the biodegradable bags hold up long enough for me to go pick my mangoes, because that's my preferred .mango, is because the mango sap gets into your recyclable...I mean your reusable bags, and you can't use them for anything else, and that's' my main use of the plastic bag during mango season. I take the up to my roof in the tree and put the mangoes in them, and then I get rid of them, because they're... anything you pick mangoes with is pretty unusable after that. Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. JOANN YUKIMURA: Mr. Chairman, Chairman of the Committee, and members, JoAnn Yukimura for the record. I speak in favor of bill 2321. This bill would meet the first solid waste priority in State law and in our draft integrated solid waste management plan. It's at the top of the hierarchy-reduce, reuse, recycle. We're supposed to use these strategies before we go to any other strategies. To reduce solid waste is to not create it in the first place, and when we use cloth or biodegradable bags, that is what we'll be doing-not creating solid waste in the first place. To recycle is to create solid waste, but then instead of burying or burning it, to find other uses for it, which means turning it into reusable recycled paper or compost. So cloth bags, recyclable -bags, and biodegradable bags would be allowed under this bill, which is good that there are alternatives, and the non-biodegradable plastic bag is rightfully prohibited. If we assume that most of the grocery bags used on Kauai today are non-biodegradable plastic, at a conservative estimate of two per person per week, with a resident population of 65,000, and a daily visitor population of 10,000, which I believe Councilmember Furfaro will testify is a low estimate. Mr. Furfaro: Actually, it's 18,000 (inaudible). Ms. Yukimura: Right, so I'm being very conservative. But we are causing over seven point eight million bags a year to enter the waste stream. That's a huge amount for a small little island, and as you heard from previous testimony, there's a island of plastic bags in the middle of the Pacific that's larger than the island of Kaua`i...thousand miles in diameter...I mean... Yeah, it's basically equivalent to two Kaua`is, which is a horrendous idea. And other speakers I know 9 • • will share with you the cost to wildlife and environmental degradation. I just want to conclude by saying that passing bill number 2321 is a specific way that the council can show its environmental commitment, and it will be one step that Kauai will be taking towards sustainability. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you JoAnn. GORDEN LABEDZ: Hi, thanks. My name's Gordon LaBedz. I'm a retired physician. I live in Kekaha, and I'm the chair of the Kauai chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. I'm also the vice chair of .the National Surfrider Foundation committee...campaign committee called Rise Above Plastics. And we...the Surfrider Foundation has 65 chapters in the United States, and all of us are working on this. Styrofoams, single use plastics, bottles, and plastic bags, and the reason is because we're going really for the worse part of this problem. The worse part, people have said to you that plastic takes a thousand years to degrade. That's just a guess. All the plastic that's ever been made is still on the planet. Right now there are no bacteria that degrade plastic. One may develop, but for now we're not going to say it takes a thousand years to degrade. It's all still here, and that's why we're going to this tip of the iceberg. But it's important for us to understand that this is a long term campaign to change habits. We're looking for people not to use any bags when they go to the store, except the ones they take in their car. Our chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has given out, with Zero Waste Kauai, six thousand reusable canvas bags; hopefully they're in your car now. But we're really looking to get rid of the worst-the plastic, because it doesn't degrade. We're really...we understand that all bags have environmental impacts; all human activity has environmental impacts. And these degradable bags take resources, they take a long time, some of them, to degrade in a landfill, some of them if they're piled on in a landfill don't degrade, and right now we don't have a greenwaste facility on Kauai to compost them yet. So there's lots of pros and cons, but we're really very grateful and thankful that you're voting on this, and we very much support you moving forward on getting people to think about their consumer choices and getting rid of the most evil components of those choices as we speak. So thank you. Mr. Bynum: Thank you Gordon. Any questions? Thank you very much. CONNIE CLAUSEN: Good afternoon. I know you all, isn't that great? What a wonderful island we live on. My name is Connie Clausen. I'm a former solid waste manager, after Hurricane Iniki, and also the former program manager for Green Star, which I'm very proud to have been associated with. So I have a long time interest in this issue. I support this bill. I'm so proud of you all for even introducing it and making a stand out in the world as one of those farsighted illuminated cities and counties and islands. So I don't have a prepared speech, but I have a show and tell. You can see my Cost-U-Less... These are the bags that were in my car. Okay, National Tropical Botanical Garden, No Farms No Food, Ace 10 • Hardware, this is a real (inaudible) for this one. Let's see, National Wildlife Federation, hey Costco, Recycle Hi-5, oh, any my favorite Longs, don't you love it? Tropical Tantrum, so cool. Oh, even better, Longs to put your bottles in, holds 6 bottles, they don't have to wrap the bottle in paper, just put it right in there. You can also take it to Safeway or any of the other stores too. Alright, what is this? Choose to reuse, another recycling bag. Keep going here... Credit Union Executive Society, canvas bag. Alright, hold on, paper or plastic, neither, Wal-Mart, who would have thought? Okay, another black one, Safeway. No wonder I can't put anything in my car. The Westin Princeville, classy huh? Oh, the grandfather of them all, I've had this for 15 years, you can tell, it's pretty worn and used, World Wildlife Foundation. My whole family has these, they're holo hana. What else do we have here? Oh, United Way, nice big one, okay, you can really take... So I guess what I'm trying to say is we already the bags, they're already here. We already have. Any store you go into you can buy a bag. In fact, I talked to the mayor on his walk yesterday and I was telling him that I loved his article, I don't need a bag. I have met so many people who have said, if I walk into a store and I don't have my reusable bag, I buy one. That's how I got the NTBG one, I bought it at a yard sale. So I recommend we do that. Everybody can do it. It's a buck for a bag. It's real easy. We've got the bags. I say no more. These are Kauai stores all providing these; it's incredible. Mr. Bynum: Councilmember Chang? Mr. Chang: Yes, one of our council staff, Lianne, just got back from the Big Island. So this is a KTA bag, so I'm going to give you the KTA bag... Ms. Clausen: Oh, I love it. Mr. Chang: And also, I got a note from Councilmember Kawakami back there, if you want a Big Save bag, he's got one back there for you too? Ms. Clausen: He does? Mr. Chang: No, I'm only kidding. Ms. Clausen: Where is he? Oh, that's right, he can't... Mr. Chang: And we want to... We councilmembers want to thank you also, because I know it's all spinning on our heads right now. Now what...we know what we're going to do when we go door to door when we campaign. Ms. Clausen: Take these bags. Mr. Chang: We'll have bags with our names on them. 11 • • Ms. Clausen: Right on Dickie Chang...with your name. Excellent advertising. Mr. Chang: Nice bags. Mr. Bynum: Anyone else? Councilmember Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Connie, first of all I want to thank you for all your work with Green Star. It's a program that planted the seed in a lot of businesses here. Ms. Clausen: My extreme pleasure. Mr. Furfaro: Do any of your bags...the ones that I have also have the insulation with the zipper top. Do you have any of those? Ms. Clausen: Not with me. They're in my car. Mr. Furfaro: But they are available also for cold products that you have an insulated interior and then the zip tops. Ms. Clausen: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: I'm sure they... Is there a nickname for all the bags that you carry around your car? Ms. Clausen: I didn't realize I had this many. Mr. Furfaro: Unbelievable. Ms. Clausen: And I'm glad I have this big bag to put them all in. This is a fabulous bag. This is fabulous. Mr. Chang: Where's the...where's the American Savings bag? Ms. Clausen: You know, we've got to change things right away. We have them. I have one. It's in my office, I give it to customers. I don't have one for me. Okay, okay, okay, I'll handle it. Mr. Furfaro: There's seven of us here. Ms. Clausen: I think I have 10. Mr. Chang: We have a council staff services also. We'll get you the total number. 12 • Ms. Clausen: Okay, okay, okay. You promise... Mr. Chang: It's only a dollar. It's only a dollar. Ms. Clausen: So the deal is you'll use them. Okay, you want to know the trick? I have three of them folded up flat, not these messy ones, on the passenger seat of my car. Now when I get in my car, my purse goes on the passenger seat, but I have 3 to 4 bags folded right there. When I go to grab my purse to go into a store, I've got a choice of 3 bags. Plus I told the mayor... You want that one? Here, I've got a few extra. Here Lani, take the chocolate one. I told the mayor that I have... One of the bags that I got at Taste of Hawaii had a little sticker that you can put on your windshield or your side window that says, don't forget to take your bag. And he said let's make some. Mr. Bynum: Yeah. Ms. Clausen: We can make them. Make little bumper stickers... used to put it right in your window. Mr. Bynum: Connie, thank you for your testimony. You need a Surfrider bag. Gordon might be able to help you out. Ms. Clausen: I know; they were all out. I really don't actually need any more bags. I mean this is my newest favorite one. Oh no no, take it. Oh, so sorry. Mr. Bynum: Thank you Connie. Ms. Clausen: Sure. CARL BERG: Aloha. My name is Dr. -Carl Berg.' I'm a marine biologist ecologist. That's a hard act to follow, but I think a point well made that for maybe at least 5 years we've had all the different stores handing out these bags, Surfrider giving them away. We have a program in all the different stores where they've offered you a rebate for plastic bags. In spite of all that, we have... are littered with plastic bags. This is not effective. Doing nothing, just saying...having a statement saying I don't want a bag is not effective to date. I think the county really needs to go ahead with this plan to stop bringing the things to the island, and that way the people will use all those bags that I too have in my car. But I would just like to mention that the question of these compostable bags is that some of them, many of them, they don't instantaneously compost, so that for a year or two they are floating around in the ocean and they're littering our land. Composting biodegradable, it doesn't disappear, folks. It doesn't just magically disappear. It releases chemicals, and the plastic ones are...they have found, I got some emails today about the nasty chemicals that plastics put off when they degrade, they get into the food chain in the ocean. And finally, when they degrade, even if you are 13 • composting, you put all those plastic bags into the landfill, they break down, which is still adding mass to the landfill, which is what we don't want to do. The safe way to do that is don't bring anything in the first place. So it may be that your biodegradable compostable bag goes down to one-tenth of the volume, or maybe one-hundredth, but as we just heard, seven point eight million bags, well that would get down to seven hundred and eighty million bags... or seventy hundred eighty thousand bags. That's still a lot of waste going into our waste fill. I think that there's no rationale for not passing this bill. We've gone...we've come far enough. We have the cloth bags. People are used to this now, and I think we should go ahead with it. Thank you very much for allowing me to testify. Mr. Bynum: Thank you Dr. Berg. PAT GEGAN: I brought my boss with me, I hope that's okay. For the record, my name is Pat Gegan. OLIVIA GEGAN: For the record, my name is Olivia Gegan. Mr. Furfaro: Hello Olivia. Mr. Gegan: And to start with, we would first of all like to thank the clerk, as well as the county staff, who hosted Kalaheo School yesterday. They were sitting in your chairs. They looked almost as good as you guys, and they did have a pretty good debate over whether or not chewing gum should be allowed in the school. So it was pretty heated, just about like windmills, so... Anyway, we're here today in support of 2321. We said bags have been around for a while. This bag was bought in 1991 at the Kapa`a Safeway. They were giving a nickel back then, okay. So this bag has been used a thousand times, much better than any plastic bag I have. We like it. The county obviously supports this. I got this from the county, and I understand they have another 25,000 on order; a little bit different design. So it's wonderful. Many good reasons for doing it. If you do hear people saying it's inconvenient or anything, what I would say is it's kind of like the seatbelt laws were in the 70s and 80s, you know. Paternalistic legislation, how many lives have we saved with seatbelts? In this case it might not be human lives, but how many animal lives, wildlife lives, how much waste are we not going to be creating by passing a bill like this? I think it's a wonderful idea myself. One of the other things that I used to like, on the mainland, this was 25 years ago, we had a store there called Cub Foods. One of the things that they offered was a bag... a box; it would fit inside a normal cart, you could still get your hands around it, but you know what, I could put a 12 pack in there, 4 bags of...you know, bottles of cooking oil, all sorts of stuff, and I could carry it right in the house and in one breath. It was better than a bag, so I'm waiting for somebody here to catch up with that, but... So I support this bill. I thank you for putting it on the docket and moving forward with it, so... Mr. Bynum: Councilmember Chang. 14 Mr. Chang: Thank you Pat and Olivia for your testimony. Olivia, I know that you were here yesterday with your third grade class, and I've managed to find your letter. Would you care to read this for the audience, please? Nothing about windmills, don't worry. Ms. Gegan: Dear councilmembers. This is a letter regarding bill number 2321. I feel that grocery stores should not give out plastic bags. I think they should not give out plastic bags because it is not good for the environment, and it kills animals in the ocean. Thank you for your attention... .And when they burn the plastic bags it makes pollution. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Mr. Gegan: Sincerely Olivia. Ms. Gegan: Sincerely Olivia Gegan. Mr. Chang: Thank you Olivia. Mr. Bynum: Anyone else? Thank you Olivia. Thank you Pat. Mr. I~Takamura: We have no further registered speaker Mr. Chair. Mr. Bynum: Jimmy? JAMES GERARD TRUJILLO: James Gerard Trujillo for the record. I'm representing my family. We're in support of this bill. I spoke when the first hearing for this bill was read. I'm sure that was after midnight earlier in July. So many more people testify now in favor of this bill. I can't add to anymore compelling reasons why we need to support this. As JoAnn Yukimura mentioned, it's part of our strategies in our integrated solid waste management plan draft. As many folks pointed out; you know, we contribute to that floating garbage isle out there in the North Pacific gyre, whatever they want to call it, it's huge, and it's a man-made environmental disaster. I support the authors in this...of this bill and look to see aseven-o vote in favor of it. As Mr. Pleas suggested, maybe a little wording change from may to shall would give a little bit more teeth. As a representative from the plastic industry suggested, there's some additives that can be made pretty simply cost-effective-wise to those other types of plastic bags that aren't covered in this ban. That's an additive that we need to have so that we can have whatever plastics breaking down much sooner than later. There's a...I guess just one last closing thought. As Connie demonstrated, it's in the bag. This is something that we're all behind. This is something that we need to move forward with, and we look forward to that complete support of this bill. Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Councilmember Furfaro. 15 Mr. Bynum: So thank you for being here, Jim, but I think everybody should also read that, you know, we have a strategic plan for waste reduction here in the county. Somebody earlier showed the bags that the county has invested in. We have a coordinator in Allison. We have a position in the budget, although it's dollar funded right now. We have some decisions coming from the administration about a MRF and other recyclables, but as you pointed out, and I thank you for doing that, all of these things are in the strategic thinking for waste reduction on our island. So thank you for pointing that out. Mr. Trujillo: Absolutely. Thank you. Mr. Bynum: Anyone else like to speak on this matter? Going once... If not, this public hearing is closed. Thank you all for coming. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 16 • • PUBLIC HEARING SEPTEMBER 9, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee,. on Wednesday, September 9, 2009, at 1:34 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice 'of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2298 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE AND SINGLE-FAMILY TRANSIENT VACATION RENTALS, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on August 5, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on August 12, 2009. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Chris Moore, dated September 7, 2009 2. Lorna A. Nishimtsu, Belles Graham Proudfoot Wilson & Chung, LLP, dated September 9, 2009 3. Barbara Robeson email dated September 7, 2009, with attachments (2) dated September 8, 2009 4. James Bray email dated February 17, 2009 5. JoAnn A. Yukimura, dated September 9, 2009 Mr. Furfaro: For the audience, I would like to point out that this is a public hearing. This is a hearing that the council body will take testimony; it is not necessarily at this time the body's intent to engage in Q&A. We are to take testimony. It is possible that this public hearing will be followed up in committee on September 16 in the planning committee. Mr. Clerk, may I ask, do we have written testimony? 1 • • Mr. Nakamura: distributed, Vice Chair. Mr. Furfaro: this hearing? Mr. Nakamura: Mr. Furfaro: as registered? Mr. Nakamura: by James E. Bray. We have written testimony. I believe it's been Thank you. Do we have speakers signed up for We have registered speakers, Mr. Vice Chair. May I ask you to call out the speakers The first registered speaker is Ron Agor, followed The hearing proceeded as follows: RON AGOR: Aloha Councilmembers. My name is Ron Agor and I'll be short and calm. I want to thank the Council for... anyway, taking a look at bill 864, and after about a year and a half, seeing what's been happening and then coming up with bill 2298, and I do strongly support bill 2298 for the reasons stated in the purpose and findings of the bill. And I urge the council to move this as quickly as possible. We have citizens that you do represent that are under the gun by the prosecutor's office, and they need some relief, and I urge you to pass this bill. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Are there any questions? If~not... Chair Asing. Council Chair Asing: I have a question, and if I'm off base on the question, you let me know. Mr. Furfaro: I will raise my hand, sir. Council Chair Asing: Yes. Ron, you're on the board, the land board? Mr. Agor: Yes, but I'm speaking as an individual, yeah. Council Chair Asing: Yeah, so you're not speaking as a board member? Mr. Agor: Absolutely not. I signed up as a individual. Council Chair Asing: Okay, as an individual. Mr. Agor: Yes. 2 • • Council Chair Asing: Okay. Now, what has happened, because I did not follow... follow the process to its finalization and entirety. What has happened to the vacation rental in the conservation district? Mr. Agor: People that were cited who have not... Council Chair Asing: So the end result, anyway, is that they're not allowed a vacation rental... Mr. Agor: Yeah, they are not allowed. Council Chair Asing: ... in the conservation district. Mr. Agor: They are not allowed. Council Chair Asing: Okay. That has been done, handled, and that's it. Mr. Agor: Yes. Council Chair Asing: Okay. I didn't know what happened, and it sort of ties in, but I wasn't sure. So thank you. Thank you Ron. Mr. Agor: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Next speaker please. JAMES E. BRAY: Thank you. My name's Jim Bray. All of you have probably been paying attention to this issue since before the ordinance was passed. I don't believe anyone here is happy with the potential pitfalls, no matter what side of the fence you look at it from. The county could be in for potential losses due to damages from stopping legitimate owner-operators with a cease and desist orders that have been issued. In addition to lost revenue from GET and TAT taxes, the TAT taxes paid to the county by TVRs are greater than the TAT taxes paid by the hotels, and that's the Kauai Visitors Bureau statistics. With the county already experiencing decline in tax revenue due to recession related issues, can we as a community really afford to do this to ourselves? And it seems to be your option. And I'd prefer to see the county keep its work staff and improve our roads and infrastructure. The vacation rental industry operates with no additional burden on the existing infrastructure and provides income to a variety of people which stays on the island. The term "illegal vacation rentals" has been misused to sway public sentiment. Could you please see some visual document that overturns the Kobayashi opinion? We've been asking for that for a long time, and maybe it exists, but it hasn't been public. As far as I know, it was requested of the county attorney and never happened. And what are the CZO stating regulation of the TVRs on ag land? 3 • • The document doesn't say they need to be prohibited. I'd like to read from the deed to my property. This is a official legal document. It's issued to me upon purchase of my property. It says, the restriction at the unit shall be occupied and used only for permerted... sorry, permitted agricultural uses, as private residential dwellings by the respective owners thereof, their tenants, families, domestic servants, and social guests and for no other purposes. The unit shall not be rented for hotel purposes, which are defined as a rental for any period of time less than 7 days in which the occupants of the residential apartments are provided customary hotel services, such as room service for food and beverages, maid service, laundry. and linen, or bellboy services. Short and long term vacation rentals without the characteristics of hotel's use are permitted. Similarly, the residential apartment shall not be used, leased, rented, or any undivided interest therein be transferred for any timesharing plan, agreement, or arrangement as the same is defined under Chapter 514E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as amended. Except for hotel purposes and timesharing, the owners of the respective residential apartment shall have the absolute right to sell, lease, rent, or otherwise transfer such unit subject to all provisions of the declaration and bylaws recorded immediately following this declaration. That was...that's page 5, paragraph 14 of the deed to my property, and it's in the sample deed that went to the planning commission, the State real estate board, finance division, and one, other one. So it's been around, approved-they had the opportunity to reject or accept it, and it was accepted. This is in a hundred and eighty members of the Kalihiwai Ridge subdivision's deeds. And I'd like to ask this council to rethink the position taken by the previous council. I cannot afford to spend my reduced wages.... Mr. Furfaro: Could you hold on one moment please? Was that the 3 minutes time bell? Mr. Nakamura: Three minutes Mr. Vice Chair. Mr. Furfaro: Would you like to continue? I can give you another 3 minutes now. Mr. Bray: I don't need 3 minutes; I'm ready to sum. Mr. Furfaro: Well, if I give you a continuance, it'll go into your time and we allow people to speak twice. So I'm going to go ahead and give you that time right now. Mr. Bray: That's fine. Thank you. I ask this council to rethink the position taken by the previous council. I can ill afford to spend my reduced wages, given the recession, to defend my right to continue operation, within the tourism industry, but I will if I need to. I started operating my business legally by every definition I know. I refuse to accept the label put on us by the former councilmember and current prosecuting attorney equating TVR owners to drug dealers. Again, please rethink your current ordinance. 4 • • Mr. Furfaro:- Thank you. Are there any questions? If not, may I ask if I can get for our committee a copy of your deed document? Mr. Bray: I can send you a pdf of the full deed. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, if you... Mr. Bray: ~ Okay, could I get where I should send that to? Mr. Furfaro: I would prefer that since you... the portions that you read are in your hand, that's the portion that I'll enter into the record. So if we could just get a copy of what you have in your hand, I'd appreciate it. Mr. Bray: Certainly. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Ms. Kawahara: I have one more question. Mr. Furfaro: Wait, now you have a question. Hold up, I'm sorry. There is a question for you. Ms. Kawahara: Just one. Thank you chair...Vice Chair. - I just wanted to clarify. Did you say there were no additional infrastructure demands made by vacation rentals in your testimony? Mr. Bray: Yes. Ms. Kawahara: No additional infrastructure demands on your property, but maybe not on all county services. Mr. Bray: Well, I'm using... Ms. Kawahara: Just your property. Mr. Bray: ...existing infrastructure. As in where hotels are created, there's new infrastructure needs to be created and has impact wherever it is. Ms. Kawahara: Okay, thanks. Mr. Furfaro: I would caution you on that term, because many of our resorts do provide their own wastewater systems and so forth. So it's sometimes a bad assumption that they're depending totally on county infrastructure. 5 • • Mr. Bray: It's not without impact to the national resources, though, correct? Mr. Furfaro: No. I don't disagree with anything other than your comment about infrastructure, because some of the provide their own. Okay. Can we get a copy of your piece? Mr. Bray: You did. Mr. Furfaro: No. I don't disagree with anything other than your comment about infrastructure, because some of the provide their own. Okay. Can we get a copy of your piece? Mr. Bray: You did. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Daryl, go ahead. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Chair. Do you have any kind of a farm activity or deriving any kind of agriculture income off of your property? Mr. Bray: I used to. I applied for it and had the agricultural deduction initially, but when the goals changed...I had it up to 2001 or 2, because I complied with what. was required, but when the rules changed, I said, well I'll just pay residential taxes at that point. And we do... Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Bray: We don't produce produce. Mr. Furfaro: agriculture. Thank you. Mr. Bray: that I do live on... So you're not farming the property currently. We have an in-ground nursery, and we sell plants. Thank you. A nursery is part of the definition of If I could clarify something about the agriculture Mr. Furfaro: I'm going to say that we gave you your time, and we're posing only questions to you. When you respond to those questions, that's much appreciated, but we'll move on. Thank you. Mr. Bray: Thank you for your time. Mr. Furfaro: We'll move on. Thank you. Next speaker please. 6 • • DAN HEMPEY: Good afternoon Councilmembers. My name's Dan Hempey. I'm here today representing several owners of properties that had been used as TVR and an organization called KAVA, Kauai Alternative Vacation Owners Rental Association, and we're here to really express our support for 2298 at least as an interim measure and at least inasmuch as it's certainly, we believe, better than doing nothing. So we support the bill.. We're asking to vote for it today. To give this just a little context, yesterday we were at planning commission meeting, and Mr. Aiu (I think) believed ...stated that about 45 people with ag properties applied for nonconforming use permits under the current TVR law 864. There was about 45 applications. They were all denied, of course, because they were on ag land, and of those, about 16 appealed. So that's really the numbers we're talking about. We're on talking about hundreds or thousands of TVRs on ag land. Of course 864, the TVR ordinance, does say now that TVRs are... on ag land are illegal and that they've always been illegal. But as I'm sure all of you are aware, two county attorneys have come to a different conclusion in the past. The State has accepted taxes from TVR use on ag lands. The State's accepted transient accommodations tax over the years. The 2000 general plan approved by the council directs that the county shall recognize and regulate TVRs on ag land. So my clients have been against the blanket prohibition against TVRs on ag land since the beginning. They are supporting this amendment because it adds a certain amount of fairness and it buys time. I can assure the council that I've been in constant communication lately with the county attorney and deputy county attorneys. We are actively trying to figure out a way that would both protect agriculture on Kauai and the constitutional rights of people who had been doing...using their properties as TVR in the past. So we're working towards a solution. Just to highlight, there are, you know, a few situations that I think the council, you know, might be .interested in right now. I mean I've... among my clients, we got... some of them are actively engaged in farming...full-functioning farms. They've been denied a TVR, and we respectfully assert on behalf of them that taking away their supplemental income does nothing to promote ag use on the island and that ag use on the island isn't helped by the government regulating who's sleeping upstairs in the bedroom when there's already a farm. Mr. Nakamura: Three minutes Mr. Chair. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Hempey, you've come up to your first 3 minutes. If you'd like, I'll go ahead and extend you a second 3 minutes. Mr. Hempey: Thank you Mr. Furfaro. Other situations we have are people who are on land that's zoned ag but it's... some of them are on lots in the neighborhood of 10,000 square foot lots. One that came up yesterday at planning, the man has a 9700 square foot lot; over 2,000 square feet of that are in marsh land under water, and when you take out the footprint of the house there's about 4,000 square feet left. It's unsuitable for any kind of farming or ag. That's why he of course supports putting this off until the important ag lands study is done. There's also a couple people who have land on `Anini beach that's completely unsuitable for 7 • • ag use, but nonetheless, they were denied the nonconforming use permits because the land is zoned ag. So generally speaking, we think this is a good idea. Of course the council heard from Mr. Bray. There's a couple other families that are up in Kalihiwai Ridge area that it's right in the deed that says they can do it. So in any event, we think that 2298 is a good measure in the short term that could alleviate some of the problems with this, and we support it. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Thank you Mr. Hempey for your testimony. Are you familiar with the planning department's recommendation for amendments to this bill? Mr. Hempey: Yes. I know the amendments are in there. I just actually learned today that the...what was another bill has sort of come incorporated into this with amendments, and we support it with the amendments. Again, anything... Yeah, everybody's actively working for a solution here that will protect ag and constitutional rights of people. I mean a lot of people literally saw the general plan, listened to previous county attorney's opinions, and invested their life savings in properties with the idea that they could supplement the mortgage, you know, by renting all or part of them. And so I know the amendments would allow people to apply for use permits based on agricultural activity and based on their ag use being ancillary to a farm, and I think that's a good idea. Mr. Bynum: Okay, just that there is the bill as originally written and the planning department made recommendations which, you know, arrives maybe at the same outcome, but takes a very different course of action to get there. So... Mr. Hempey: Yeah, and again, we don't think...my clients really, some of them aren't going to think this is good enough, but... Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me, Tim, we need to pose questions to them, rather than (inaudible)... Mr. Bynum: I just wanted to know if he is aware...if he was supporting the bill as written or... Mr. Furfaro: And I heard the answer. His answer was he supports the amendments as proposed. Is that what I heard? Mr. Hempey: As opposed to doing nothing, yes. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Any other questions? Councilwoman. 8 • ~ • Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. -Some people have been calling this bill the... a non-enforcement agreement. Can you tell me as an attorney what kind of issues come up with your doing anon-enforcement agreement of something that's already in an ordinance, and do you have issues with that, or are in support of the bill you're saying that that is something that is surmountable. Mr. Hempey: You know, here on the spot, I probably don't want to venture in to, you know, the legal opinion about, you know, whether a non-enforcement agreement works. I can just tell you, from my client's perspective, right now non-enforcement is a good thing while we are actively working with the county attorney, you know, to a solution. This doesn't solve all the problems. I know there are cases where there's problems with, you know, what had been called non-enforcement agreements in the past. I am assuming the county attorney, in the amendments that they've put forward to this...have analyzed it properly and that it's okay. That's obviously between you and your attorney, I think. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Any more questions? If not, thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Hempey: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Next speaker Mr. Clerk. CAREN DIAMOND: Good afternoon Councilmembers, Caren Diamond. I'll stand on my testimony from August 5 and ask you to look at that again. And I'll ask you to please not magnify this problem that has occurred. The TVR, ordinance has created massive problems and the implementation of it has been a failure from planning. I don't know how you .can ask planning to do anything else or implement another part of it when they have so utterly failed. So once again, I'm saying that really I think this council should require an audit per the county charter 3.17 county charter, the council has the only authority to ask for an audit of this implementation of this ordinance. And I'd ask all of you to really consider that. The amount of people that had come forward at the beginning and what was previously identified and the amount of people that have been granted permits are not the same thing, and I'd also ask you to map that. Wainiha and Hanalei had been mapped by this council before, and you can actually see what the difference is, and how many more people came to get their permits once you offered that permit. And so maybe you only have 45 or 17 people asking for this right now, but what happens when everybody wants the right to put a vacation rental on their ag land. And I'm not sure how we'll ever get our agricultural land back if it functions as a resort. And does that mean that the entire north shore, from Ha`ena all the way to Anahola is a resort? I don't understand. I thought we had visitor destination areas, and I'm not sure why... I certainly recognize the interest that people have the 9 • problems that they have and needing to have more income. But I don't think our agricultural lands were the proper way. I think that you have to have a farm so that any vacation rental use has to be ancillary to a farm, and not that you develop a farm after the regulations are enacted; that you have had a farm that earns money. And you might look at the B&B regulations and expanding them to include this kind of use and include the use where people live in a place. But if you take the 10 bedroom, 10 bathroom vacation rentals that have been constructed on ag land and say you want a unenforcement agreement so...because maybe those ag lands will be zoned different in the future. I've never heard of the county or State making a law because something might change into the future, and I'd ask you to please make laws that are current of what our laws are now. There's always a time in the future to change, so that if those are not important ag lands, then they can be identified as resorts then. I really again ask you not to magnify the problems, and I ask you to exercise your jurisdiction oversight on what happened to the TVR, ordinance, what has happened to what was a community and what is now a resort, and I'd ask you not to make our ag lands a resort as well, and I thank you. Mr. Furfaro: ~ Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Are you familiar with the amendment that the planning department recommended to this bill? Ms. Diamond: I'm not sure if they're new or they're the same amendments from last month. Mr. Bynum: It's the amendment that would encourage the council to create a situation where the units could be permitted under 205. Ms. Diamond: I'd have to read it, and I'll come back. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Any more questions of Caren? If not, thank you Caren. Next speaker please. GIGI GASTON: How do you do? I own a piece of property that... Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me. How do you do as well, but you have to give us your name first. Ms. Gaston: ~ Oh, Gigi Gaston. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, perfect. Ms. Gaston: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Gigi. 10 • Ms. Gaston: I own a piece of property on Larsen's Beach Road that's an agricultural... on agricultural land. The farming, I have not done quite as well on and have proceeded to probably kill a couple trees, avocado trees, because I guess I did the wrong thing as a farmer. I rent or have rented and I've paid all my TAT taxes, because I didn't know when I bought the property that you couldn't rent on agriculture land, and so I put all my savings into this property and thought I can rent to help supplement my income, because the farming wasn't covering it enough, and my rental is very small, it just has 2 bedrooms, if you can call one a second bedroom, it's very tiny, and I have rented to men coming back from Iraq, I have rented to friends down the street that wanted to put their in-laws .up -and didn't want them staying with them, I have rented basically moreso to neighbors. We've had a couple local weddings on my property, and I of course am here and supporting the 2298 and I'm really hoping that you could actually do the checking of the land to see if it is appropriate where my property is, because if I don't get to continue to rent,.I'm going to have to give up 5 people who I employ right now that take care of the land and help me. There's going to be more job loss. I'll lose my land, which I guess is my responsibility, because I've been cut back in the profession that I do. My mother just broke her neck. She didn't have health insurance, so I gave her my second line of credit on the land towards helping my mother who's 97, and there's some people out there...I have not hurt the community, all the people in my CPR are completely for me renting it, they said I should come here screaming, you know, constitutional rights and all that stuff, but that's not what I'm here to scream about. I'm here just to say to you I hope that during this tough times that I won't have to lose my land and that, you know, I support the 2298 measure that you all have proposed. And I just think that, you know, maybe I could hire some more people to help me with my fruit trees, because I actually am not doing well with them. So I'm just here to say there's another side to this. I'm on 3 acres. I've never rented to partiers, you know, and it's just always been wonderful. Anyone who's come to the land has loved it, and been wonderful, and when I'm on the mainland taking care of my mom, it's just...it's really helped me out. So I just want to thank you and just I guess beg you humbly if you could just let us keep renting our land at till you figure out if it's good agricultural land or bad agricultural land. And that's it, and I thank you all for your time. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Gigi. Mr. Bynum, you had a question? Mr. Bynum: You live on your property? Ms. Gaston: Not full-time, no. ,I'm now...I'm in Venice because of my mom's situation, but I got a frequent flyer ticket to come here today. Mr. Bynum: Were you renting... Was your property a vacation rental prior to last March when (inaudible). Ms. Gaston: Yes, and I've paid TAT taxes, I've been up board honest on everything, 11 • Mr. Bynum: And did you apply for a use...for a permit? Ms. Gaston: Yes, I did. Mr. Bynum: And you were denied. Ms. Gaston: Yes, more or less. They said they would consider it, you know, that it was kind of up in the air, you know. And that's why I thought I should come to say, you know, that no one's complained of noise. I don't even think if someone screamed you'd hear it down there. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Ms. Gaston: But yeah, they said they were thinking about maybe allowing it, but it had to be checked through all of you gentlemen and ladies up there. . Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much. Ms. Gaston: .Thank you sir. Mr. Furfaro: One moment Gigi, we have another one. Council Chair Asing: Yes. How long have you had the property? Ms. Gaston: For 3 years. Council Chair Asing: Three years? Ms. Gaston: Yeah. Council Chair Asing: When you bought the property, was the house built on the' property already? Ms. Gaston: Yes sir. Council Chair Asing: So you bought... When you bought it did you understand that it was being used as a vacation rental? Ms. Gaston: Yes I did, and I thought it was alright to keep using it as a vacation rental, because I just... I'm not a wealthy, wealthy person. I just...like I said, I put all my money in this to retire. That's my life's dream is to retire here on your island, and so no one told me when I bought it that oh you won't be able to rent it. They said, you probably won't want...probably people won't want 12 • • to rent it because it's way out down a dirt road. That's all I was told. I was never told I could not rent it. - Council Chair Asing: So when you bought it, was your intent to live there or was your intent to continue vacation rental? Ms. Gaston: ~ My intent was to continue vacation rental and to get the agricultural property going more, and to come in when it wasn't rented, because I was told I wouldn't get a lot of rentals, and to stay, like to say when the rentals weren't happening, and then I was going to come and have come like for one month here and one month there, you know. That I have to...I have a mother I have to take care of right now in Los Angeles and another job there. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Hold on, we have another question from Mr. Chang. Mr. Chang: Thank you. Hi Gigi. Ms. Gaston: Hi. Mr. Chang: Are you growing only avocado on your 3 acres? Ms. Gaston: No. There's avocado and then there's tangerine and mango. Mr. Chang: So you're selling those fruits at this time...your help is... Ms. Gaston: No, I don't have help...help... I've had. help that have... mowing and who've taken care of the Jacuzzi and the people who've cleaned, and then Barbara who's in the back who manages the property who's a fabulous woman... Barbara Watts, and you know maintenance, and so those are the people I've been able to keep in business, and I know one gentleman, and Barbara could probably tell me better his name, who said he had to give up his business because so many people weren't being allowed to vacation rental, and so now we have a new family in there cleaning, but they all urged me to come because they said these are our jobs. I mean I literally have asked Barbara several times going well maybe I shouldn't mow the place, you know, because gardeners are quite expensive here compared to LA. And you know, this guy, he's so sweet, you know, it's like... I told him today, I said I'm going to keep it going as much as I can. And so what I was talking to Barbara about was to make into... Mr. Furfaro: Gigi, at this point you've given your testimony... 13 • • Ms. Gaston: Right. Mr. Furfaro: You need to respond to the question that's posed... Ms. Gaston: Oh, I have sold some, but it's not an active thing. I mean I just came back and found several trees dead, and I don't know~why they're dead. So yes I have sold some, you know, avocados and some tangerines. Mr. Chang: Okay, thank you. Ms. Gaston: No mangos yet. Mr. Furfaro: -Thank you. Next speaker. E.J. OLSSON: Good afternoon councilmembers. 1VIy name is E.J. Olsson, and I'm here to speak in behalf of support for bill 2298. I'm seeing through testimony I've witnessed and listened to over the months over the coming...over the past year and a half to two years that maybe what's happened is that there is a little bit of analysis paralysis and lost sight of the big picture. I urge the councilmembers to step back for a moment and look . at what the goal behind ordinance 864 really was. What was that goal? It was to stop the proliferation of transient vacation rental units, as I understand it, go crack down on tax scoff laws, and you know what, that bill has already been a huge success. You've already managed, in my estimation and this is an eristic measurement, I don't have a scientific scale for it, but from what I'm hearing on the street that about hal£..only about half of the people that they expected even applied for an NCU. And of those, you know, right now it's just a pittance handful. So I urge the council to consider for ag TVRs the same thing that has been successful to the largest extent on activities on the Na Pali with the non-enforcement in relationship with the DLNR, and I'm using this not as a categorical reference, but I'm just trying to say it's a similar situation where okay look, it got x-number of... x-amount of commercial activity, why beat a dead horse on all these infinitesimal technicalities? Why not step back, look at the big picture, and try to surmise the goal. We are in a situation out there where it's pretty darned rough, and I'm just amazed that the real estate community hasn't been more vocal on this, to be honest with you. I...you know, what's...we're in a economic tailspin, and I just want to say I want to thank the councilmembers for listening to my testimony. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Let me see if there's any questions of anyone for you. Members? Do you have a question? Go right ahead? Ms. Kawahara: When you speak about economic factors and the tailspin that we're in now, do you feel that there is a place in planning our long term sustainability and making bills that economics should be part of a long term policy thing, when we're talking about economics that's swinging back and forth? 14 • • Mr. Olsson: I do... Ms. Kawahara: Because when you say... When you say that we are in an economic downturn, that's going to be the case at several different times. And when we're on an economic upturn, do we change the legislation? I'm curious. Mr. Olsson: Well, two things. Thank you for asking; that's a good point. Two things. One is bill 864 has already stopped the proliferation, so in economic good times, you've already limited the number of TVR,s by what you have done. You've already basically slashed, I would guess, to half or will have completed in not allowing about half of the pre-existing vacation rentals on the island. What I would say to your testimony is the bill 864, as I remember, or was that when it was a bill... Excuse me. The ordinance 864 did state at some point, as I recall, an opening...leaving an opening to analysis down the road that whereby there could be an additional allowance of TVR,s at a later date. I did read that somewhere, but that was just language later on in the bill that preceded the. ordinance. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me. You know I'm...there's been a couple things said here I just want to make sure we're very clear on. First of all, the general plan is intended to not expand proliferation of vacation rentals. But the term that is used in the general plan is to regulate what we have. That's what's in the general plan. That was the mission. Second, I want to make sure that everybody understands, transient accommodation tax does not come to the county. Transient accommodation tax goes to the State, and if you recall recently, a possibility of the State not sharing with us was very real last year, and in fact, we're probably going to go through that episode again, because our share is legislated to us, it's not a guarantee. That tax is actually going and being collected by the State. So I just want to make some clarifications here, because I've heard a couple commentaries that perhaps didn't quite understand the flow of that tax. But your testimony today is, especially on the economic items, are very much appreciated. Mr. Olsson: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Next speaker. JOANN A. YUKIMURA: Council Chair, Councilmembers, JoAnn Yukimura for the record. As the drafter of bill 2298, I'd speak I favor of it with one exception. First, please allow me to provide some background on this bill. When the first State land use categories were created in 1969 and applied to lands throughout the State, the first identified were the urban areas around towns, and then the conservation areas based on watershed and environmental information. It's not clear to me how the rural lands were determined, but they were small in number. The remaining lands, a large amount of the land, were designated agriculture. Agriculture was a catchall category and over the past 40 years it's been used for miscellaneous uses that have undercut the main purpose of agriculture by allowing golf courses, at one 15 • • time residential subdivisions or country estates, churches, landfills, etc. The 1978 constitutional convention, in its wisdom, saw the necessity of identifying the prime ag lands within the larger catchall category, and regulating those lands more strictly and thus protecting them. Shamefully, the State legislature and the county of Kauai dragged their feet for over 30 years, ignoring the constitutional mandate, and when the State legislature finally passed legislation in 2005 it was also terribly flawed. Nonetheless, our county is finally embarking on the identification of prime ag land. It is disturbing that there is no plan for developing regulations once the land is identified, because existing ag regulations are totally inadequate. However, the identification of prime ag lands is a start, and presumably there will also be an identification of lands that should no longer be categorized or regulated as ag lands. It is these lands that are relevant to the bill before you today. Bill number 2298 proposes a holding action for pre-existing vacation rentals on ag land until it's determined whether the lands are agriculture or not. And by pre-existing, I mean vacation rentals that qualify for grandfathering under Act 864, except for the fact that they are on ag lands. That means that they should have been legally and lawfully operating as vacation rentals prior to passage of the law, except that they are on ag lands because of the issue of whether they are allowed on ag lands. So please be aware, as Mr. Hempey pointed out, that we are speaking of a limited set of vacation rentals. I have 'not seen the planning department's proposed amendments, but if they allow...they would allow ag permit for other than those qualifying for grandfathering, that would be a huge loophole. And I see Councilmember Bynum shaking his head, which means that they are limiting it, and in that case, it's better. Bill number 2298 allows the county to execute and enforcement agreement that holds everything in status quo, neither adding nor subtracting rights. Mr. Furfaro: JoAnn, it's my duty to let you know that that's the first three minutes, but I will extend the other three minutes to you now. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you Councilmember. So it would neither add nor subtract rights while the county completes its important ag land- study, and once the study's completed, the lands that are designated important ag, other ag presumably, although I've not gotten that clear from planning, and not ag, then the vacation rentals on non-ag lands can claim a permanent grandfathering. For example, those R-4 lots that are across the road in `Anini and which are very likely not to be declared important ag lands and probably not even ag lands, and the vacation rentals on important ag lands will have to follow the applicable rules. Now that's why I'm so concerned that there's no plan for developing applicable rules. But assuming that vacation rentals are not allowed on ag lands of importance to the State, then all vacation rental use must cease on those lands. The portion of the bill that should be amended, in my mind, is the last phrase in proposed section 8-17.10(e)(3) of the county code, which allows the issuance of a special use permit, because this would not be in keeping with the status quo. It actually would 16 • be adding a right. And thus, I would remove the wording (quote) or has received a special use permit under HRS 205-6. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Mr. Furfaro: Let me see if there's any questions of you. Are there any questions from councilmembers? JoAnn, may I just thank you for reconfirming what I said about the issue being regulating what we have, and not intended to expand. And I think your testimony underlined that point. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. I think Caren Diamond also... I think all of us feel that Act 864 did achieve its purpose in stopping the pro... uncontrolled proliferation of vacation rentals, and you just don't want to open that door again. But we're not talking about how we deal with this subset of exi...pre-existing vacation rentals on ag land. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you JoAnn. You have a question for JoAnn? Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I just... You're aware that the important ag land study is just going to identify different ag lands. It's. not going to be a mechanism that changes the zoning-that'll have to be done separately with ordinances. Correct? Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Even if they change the zoning, if the...there's not clear regulations for these different categories, we're still going to be in trouble. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done even beyond the important ag lands study. Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I just was hoping you shared my concern that there seems to be this concept that once we complete this study, everything will magically change, and it's more complicated than that. Ms. Yukimura: Well, and I think yourself, Councilmember Bynum, and myself when I was on the council was trying to pin down the planning department as to the whole course of planning with respect to important ag lands. Because if you just stop at identifying them, we're going to have the same problems we're having right now. Mr. Bynum: Right. Okay, thank you. Council Chair Asing: I have a question. Mr. Furfaro: Go ahead Mr. Chair. Council Chair Asing: JoAnn, your intent is that after the ag study has been completed and the important ag lands identified, as soon as there has been the identification of the important ag lands, then if these vacation rentals are not not in 17 the important ag lands category; they will be automatically able to continue their operations and be legal. Am I correct? Ms. Yukimura: No. Actually, they would be continuing now under an enforcement agreement, and then when it is determined... I mean I'm anticipating at least three categories: ag lands of importance to the State, other ag lands possibly, and then non-ag lands. To the extent that... Council Chair Asing: I'm only at this point, I'm not interested in anything other than the breakaway of ag... important ag land. If you fall in that category, and I'm not concerned about the other two or three or however they want to identify if, I'm not concerned about that, I'm concerned more on the important ag land category. If you fall within that category, you will now be automatically able to continue your vacation rental and you will be legal. Am I correct or... Ms. Yukimura: Oh no. If you are on what is determined to be important ag lands, then you would have to follow the rules which- are applied to important ag lands, and what they would be is what I'm worried about, because there's not clarity in the ag land planning process about what's going to happen in terms of regulations. But it's a policy decision. Once...I mean... One of the...the constitutional convention said identify important ag lands because one thing is you will not be able to redesignate it something else without atwo-thirds vote. Right now it's majority vote, but atwo-thirds vote. So they're saying make it stricter. You need a super majority to change it out of ag land. But there's a whole slew of other regulations you're going to have to determine-will you allow vacation rentals, what will be the minimum lot sizes, you know, how will you define farm dwelling... all of those things will have to be determined with respect to important ag lands. That's a key piece. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, I need to... I need to kind of stop us there. Ms. Yukimura: Okay, but have I answered your question, Chair? Council Chair Asing: That's fine. I think I have an idea as to your intent. Ms. Yukimura: It would not... In all likelihood in my mind, it would not be allowed to continue if they are found to be on important ag lands. Council Chair Asing: Ms. Yukimura: Council Chair Asing: Ms. Yukimura That's what I wanted to hear. Okay. Just what you said right now. Yes, alright. 18 • Mr. Furfaro: And that is the intent of the bill. Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Chair. Do I have another speaker? We have no... Mr. Nakamura: No further registered speakers, Mr. Vice Chair. Mr. Furfaro: May I see by a show of hands how many individuals may want to speak on this? If not, I am going to... Oh, Jonathan. Would you come up? Is there anyone else? Thank you. Jonathan. JONATHAN CHUN: Sorry Mr. Chair. Jonathan Chun... and I'm going to be speaking in support of this bill, but I'll also like to make a few observations. This bill attempts to basically put on a hold pattern the issue of TVRs on ag land, and I think the intent is good. But what I think eventually is going to happen is it's just basically going to delay the decision, and what I'd like to offer an alternative to the council at least to consider it. The problem you're having right now is you're making a generalization over specific uses of ag land, similar to when the council was thinking of whether or not to allow dogs on the bike path, you were making a generalization that all dogs are bad and so we can't allow them. And of course you heard the outcry for people that you should look at the individuals, and it's not the dog that matters, it's how the dog is controlled. Similar over here, you know, you have a generalization that all ag lands can't have TVRs, because you can't be in agriculture use if you have a TVR. You need to look at that as specific, because there are situations specifically where the county has recognized ag use through their real property tax exemption, and at the same time, they are using TVRs...they have TVRs on those properties. So on one hand the county is saying yes, we recognize you're in a legitimate ag use. On the other hand they're saying, you're not a legitimate ag use because you have a TVR. You need to look at specifics, and I would suggest to the council that an amendment you should consider, if this one does not pass, is to allow all ag uses, all ag properties, to apply at least for the nonconforming use certificate. Right now by your ordinance 864 says you can't even apply, no matter whether you're using ag or not, you can't even apply. And that's where it's...that's where the log jam is and that's where you having all this testimony come out that what about me, what about me, I'm doing ag use, you know, I'm having this, and yet now it's not enough? So I would suggest as an alternative to look at the big picture and to solve the least the problem is to say ag people, we're going to amend the ordinance to allow you to apply. Planning department, you look at their specific situations, and if they have adequate ag use as required by the law, you should allow them a NCUC. If they don't, then you should not allow an NUC(sic), because they're not a nonconforming use. Plain and simple. The problem (inaudible) is it's going to take a lot of time and energy, but eventually it will have to be done, because I do appreciate those comments by 19 former councilmember Yukimura and Councilmem... Chair Asing. These are issues that you're going to have to address even afterwards. So that will be my suggestions to the council. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Jonathan. We have a question, and I'll wait my turn last. Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Mr. Chun, are you familiar with the amendments that are recommended by the planning department? Mr. Chun: Not really. I've heard about it, but I haven't read about them. I believe they would want to have a special use permit, or allow a special use permit for ag land. I think in general, it's understandable, but again, it avoids the main issue, and that is are you in compliance now. What the planning department is saying is, well come in and ask for a special use permit and we'll ignore the issue of what you were doing in the past, but that's not the issue. The issue is are they in compliance with 205 now, and somebody needs to make a determination on a case by case basis as to that. Mr. Bynum: I would encourage you and others to...I mean the planning department sent over a staff report, you know, basically recommending that we amend the bill to allow them to go through the process you're suggesting of seeing whether they can permit them under 205, as Maui does now. Right? So and that's a little simple, but it's available...those documents are available and... Mr. Chun: I can do that and I'll submit written testimony to that. Mr. Bynum: Okay, thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Anymore questions of Mr. Chun? Mr. Chun, I don't want you to jump to any perceptions that this is the end of the task in front of the council, please. I think councilwoman sic) Yukimura has brought up some very good points. We do, under 205 and State land use commission rules and so forth, have certain jurisdictions on property under the control of the county planning commission, especially those under 15 acres. We also have an opportunity as this evolves to really deal with a ag tourism plan that can be implemented and reviewed at the county level. But the intent here is to put us in a holding pattern so that we can allocate the right resources to address some of the things that you brought up. So I just wanted to make sure that we had this understanding that there are some of us here that are painfully aware of the methodical process that we need to go through. Mr. Chun: Yeah, understood. Yes. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Mr. Chun, thank you very much. 20 Mr. Chun: Thank you, Mr. Councilman Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, I am going to go ahead and... Caren, did I give you your six minutes? Why don't you come up, I'll give you another three under the assumption that you did not use all your time. Ms. Diamond: Thank you. I just had a chance to read the planning amendments, so I just wanted to... Mr. Furfaro: Answer Mr. Bynum's questions? Ms. Diamond: Answer Mr. Bynum's question... Mr. Furfaro: Okay, go right ahead. Ms. Diamond: Which is, and basically the amendment says the dwelling in which the transient vacation rental activity is conducted is also located on and used in connection with a farm, where the property on which the dwelling is located provides agricultural income to the family occupying that dwelling. So I would say if you're going to consider anything like that, you'd have to define what a farm is and define what the adequate income is, and again, they'd have to already filed schedule F's, not that they decide to put in a farm afterwards. And I'd also urge you to put in any kind of dwelling size limitation, .because again, as a 10 bedroom, 10 bathroom, really, is that suitable on ag land if you grow a couple avocados. And so I'd ask you to consider that. I actually don't think it's written very well, and I'd urge you not to really... I think once people get an approval, they consider that they have vesting. And then if those lands are considered important agriculture lands, and I think all of our agriculture lands are important, then I'm not sure how the county would .ever take that away. But I also want to let you know that we've been studying the increased valuation of homes that have gotten the TVR approval, not only on this island but across the State, and generally they are 30 to 40% higher valued that that commercial use brings. And so I'm not sure, you know,. we're having this problem with regular people not being able to afford farm land, and I don't know how this would ever help make farmland more affordable. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Caren, I just want to make a comment. As you know we have a parallel bill going for workforce housing, and we are struggling with the definition that we get from the land use commission on, you know, the components that make up a farm. Very good point and it's a .point not just for this bill, but other things we're working on. Are there any questions for Caren? No. Ms. Diamond: Thank you. 21 Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. I see no one else wanting to testify. I'm going to go ahead and close this public hearing. This will be going to committee on September 16. Thank you very much. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:33 p.m. Res ectfully submitted, .~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 22 r. r • • PUBLIC HEARING OCTOBER 7, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, October 7, 2009, at 1:33 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2322 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE (ADU Building Permit deadline extension for non-residentially zoned land), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on September 9, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on September 23, 2009. The following.communications were received for the record: 1. Phil Fudge, dated October 7, 2009 2. Mike Dyer, dated October 7, 2009 3. Justin Chew email, dated October 6, 2009 4. Nanette Chang Dettloff email, dated October 6, 2009 5. John and Francine Edson, dated September-15, 2009 6. Danie McReynolds email, dated September 9, 2009 7. Isani Alahan email, dated October 5, 2009 8. Joshua Hew email, dated October 6, 2009 9. John and Shannon Towey, dated October 7, 2009 10. Chris Hayden, dated October 7, 2009 The hearing proceeded as follows: Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Clerk. So a reminder on this particular piece, this bill is to extend those that had facility use permits, and the 1 • • facility use permits were filed when you made your intent that you were going to pursue the possibility of building your additional dwelling unit as the ordinance came to a sunset. This also is true of anyone who may have had a building permit application in at the time, but it is only addressing those items. Mr. Clerk, do we have people who have signed up for speaking? .PETER NAKAMURA, County Clerk: Yes, we have registered speakers,. Mr. Chair. Mr. Furfaro: Can I ask you to read the registered speakers list? JESSE FUKUSHIMA: Good afternoon Councilmembers. Before I start, I'd like to submit to you testimony from Justin Chew and family, Nanette Chang Dettloff, John... Francine Edson, Danie Reynolds, Sonny Alahan, and Joshua Hew for the record. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Mr. Fukushima: First of all I'd like to say thank you very much for this opportunity for you recognizing the difficulty of the economic times that many of us, in fact all of us, are faced with today, and it is because of your initiative of ordinance 2322 shows your compassion, and many of us we are in support of the ordinance 2322, which is to extend the building permit deadline for ADUs and those people with the clearance forms. I'm pretty sure there will be .other people testifying personally how this bill will positively affect them, and just on a sidetrack note, theoretically when you look at what's out there, there is at least... I believe there is 375 applicants that is in this pool, so the point I'm trying to make here is that not only do we ask and support this bill, but in turn, I think these 375 individuals will be contributing back to the county, and how do we contribute back, and that will be done in the realm of real property taxes. And if you average out anywheres from 1200 to 1500 dollars per tax...real property tax per dwelling per year, this county in the long run stands to receive anywheres between 45.0 to possibly 560 somewhat thousand dollars per annum. Thank you for your time, and I'm open to any questions. Mr. Furfaro: Before I ask of any questions, Mr. Fukushima, I want to thank you for recognizing this council who initiated this extension and sent it down to the planning commission. It also should be noted that it did get the full support of the planning commission. Mr. Fukushima: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: Are there any questions. of Mr. Fukushima? If not, thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Clerk, next speaker please. 2 • • SHANNON TOWEY: Goof afternoon Council. Thank you for having me. I'm here as myself, Shannon Towey, and my husband John F. Towey. We both are working several jobs, at least three a piece, to try to make it so...we weren't able to make it to the planning commission (inaudible), but I'm here on our behalf. I would also like to add, I did have a copy made to be spread before all of you, so you do have it, so I'll keep it brief. One thing I didn't add I would like to add is that when we testified before, many local families, as we are a local family from the .islands, as well as Kauai, for 30 years and we have three sons to Kapa`a High and one serving in the army right now in Kuwait, is that many, many local families came to us and thanked us because they were so shy-they didn't want to come forward and say what they felt was very important to be said. I also want to thank you like (inaudible) that you have even brought this issue up on behalf of the citizens. So just to go through our vain points. We are a local family who own agriculturally zoned land here on Kauai. We have met all of the above specifications as we all know you have written very clearly. We also did the infrastructure-the septic system, the paved road; the water meter that's functioning, etc. So we are very much in favor of you to vote to extend this. We did put in a building permit but cannot afford to pick it back up and get it out, get the application... get the architect's stamp, let alone build the way that we had foreseen in the past. So the bullets are: our income and work situations have changed drastically, we make much less, and pray for income to continue. The value of our property has weakened substantially. Keeping our home and our ADU acceptance viable is extremely important for our family and the community as a whole, as we live on land that was divided and built upon originally in the 1950s to house pineapple workers. The lot is quite small; it's about a third of an acre or less, and not able to sustain agricultural income. It certainly can include agricultural uses that benefits people, fruits and flowers, etc., which we are doing, but in a small amount because it's a small piece. And hopefully an ADU to assist in long term rental needs for our fellow citizens before, hopefully, our sons will hopefully...we won't have a brain loss and they'll gain higher education and stay in the islands... if not on Kauai, that's our dream. This is our first and only home land, and as a local family, we have no intention of going anywhere in our lifetime, let alone ever.. We do, as I mentioned, have three sons all born and raised here, and a grandson too now as of August. Economically. at this time it is too much to ask for people, our family included, we believe, to obtain the costs necessary to fulfill the building permitting process and the building of the ADU. We both, my husband and I, are working several jobs to make ends meet. Two sons as I mentioned in high school at Kapa`a high, and a son serving our country in the army. We are really struggling to make ends meet right now, and we're working on a loan rate modification processes, etc. as many families are. We don't want to go into bankruptcy. We want to see things...we just can't say enough that we appreciate your consideration of this and how important and precious it would be to have an extra five years to be able to hopefully hold on to 3 • • things and go forward. Our sincere intention would be to build something smaller than we initially thought... Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me. That was three minutes, Mr. Clerk? I can extend you another three minutes if you'd like. Ms. Towey: That's fine. I'm ready for questions. I was just going to say long term rental is where we would like to help in the meantime in our community, and feel that that would be functional. Open for questions. Mr. Furfaro: Just to clarify a couple items. There- will be no voting today. This triggers a process that actually opens public testimony here at the council, just like it did when we sent the bill down to the planning commission. Ms. Towey: We were here. I understand. Mr. Furfaro: So there'll be no voting today. Are there any questions of the testimony? Mr. Bynum: Thank you for your testimony. Mr. Furfaro: Yes, thank you. Thank you very much. Ms. Towey: Thank you very much for your time. Mr. Furfaro: Next speaker please. JOSEPH TATEYAMA: Honorable Chair Asing, Honorable Councilmembers, I'm Joe Tateyama from Kapa`a. First of all I want to thank you all for considering and taking the initiative to get this piece of legislation into effect. I know it's a long process. I want to thank Jesse also for helping to initiate this movement. I've been trying to build an ADU on my ag property for 19 years. First time I applied, water department all of a sudden decided no more ADUs where I live because the waterline had to be improved; it wasn't large enough to support additional ADUs, so I couldn't build one. Next time I tried to apply, I found out a neighbor of mine built an ADU, and I asked him how he did it, and he said he put in his. own well. So I applied again saying I'd put in my own well; they told me they're in the process of changing their procedure and their policy, so I was denied putting in my own well, so I couldn't build an ADU again. So now this extension at least allows me the time for them to put in that well, and I'm told by the water department that it'll be in about two years or so...funds are being available. Now that funds being available concerns me, so I'd like to request if you could consider extending this for 10 years so I won't have to come back in five years if the water department hasn't replaced the line, and ask you to extend it another five years. If you would, I would really appreciate that, and I think it gives everybody the 4 • flexibility to build it in their own time when the time and situation permits. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro:. Are there any questions of inaudible. Thank you very much sir. Next speaker please. CHRIS HAYDEN: Aloha Councilmembers, and to the public watching and listening. My name is Christopher Hayden, and I came to this island of Kauai in 1970. I brought my beautiful wife Diana and my three beautiful children to this garden island of Kauai. In 1970 I started my business, which is carpet sales and installation, and we...later we added carpet cleaning, and now we're working with solar hot water heaters and photovoltaic... solar photovoltaic. Back in the mid-80s we purchased an agricultural lot in an agricultural subdivision in Wailua Homesteads, three acres, and we saw the opportunity of sharing this with our family and our children and having a legacy, so did a CPR and gave it to our oldest son so he'd have his own land and own deed and by-and-by build a house. So after the hurricane we helped him build his house, and on our land we didn't do anything yet. On our portion of it we didn't do anything because we felt well, when the time is ready and when we choose to do it, we'll do it. So now is a different time and circumstance. If this ADU is accepted...this extension of time is accepted, my family will be able to continue with our goals and our dreams to build a house for perhaps one of my other children and my grand children. The families that are in the same situation, families that own land here and would choose to build as soon as they can for themselves and for their .families, I think. the opportunity to have the extension of time would be a wonderful gift. So wouldn't it be nice if this could happen, and I respectfully appreciate your listening to our concerns and supporting us. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Do you have any questions of Chris? Chris, thank you very much for your testimony. Next speaker Mr. Clerk. SCOTT OAKLEY: Aloha Councilmembers. My name is Scott Oakley. Bill number 2173 was designed to control the unintended growth on -lands not primarily intended for residential use. Part of that was a requirement of submitting ADU facilities clearance forms, and they had to have been completed by June 15 of 2007. Therefore, it seems to me that the intent of the bill has been met. Nobody can get a building permit unless they submitted that ADU facilities clearance form by 6/15/07, which was the deadline. No one else is allowed to submit a form thereafter. So what difference does it matter when the eligible people that met that deadline...what difference does it make when we apply for a building permit, whether it be this December 15, which we're trying to extend by five years, but why not just delete that altogether, because make, it 10 years or 15 years, but the idea is that the requirement...the ADU facilities clearance forms are no longer being accepted anyway, so the people that made that deadline are the only people that qualify to build anyway, and no new ones are being accepted. 5 • . I talked to Ann Ola, the owner of Island Pacific Mortgage across the street, she said construction loans are very difficult to obtain nowadays. Personally, I submitted a plan on June 17 of 2006. The department of water gave me and my engineer wrong information on the location of the waterline that ended up costing me two years and over $6,OOO...after tax money dollars. And I would like to get that refunded. Of course that they denied the responsibility, but all this led to now, which is I do not any longer qualify for a construction loan like I did two years ago. So I would appreciate if you would at least extend the deadline by five years, if not indefinitely. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Scott, could you hold on just a second please: Before we do, I want to get some history on this bill for everyone. First of all, these additional units and density was never designed to be in the agricultural districts; number one. During a very difficult housing period, Councilman Tehada introduced this bill that would allow what occurred in residential districts to actually occur in and on agricultural property. That bill was for, a 5-year period, initially... sorry, it was fora 10-year period. At some future point, and I may not have all the dates or the chronology correct, that bill was extended for an additional 10 years to give that density. Recently in 2007 when that expiration date was to come up before the council, there was a move on the council to let that be enforced. In other words, it sunsets, no additional ADUs. We heard from the public about the need to have clear advice as far as pursuing permits, etc. So we introduced a extension that allowed people to declare that they were in fact going to build their additional dwelling unit for the purpose of family use or expanding the ability to move the main family into the larger home or the existing home and build something so that tutu and tutu kane could stay close to the family. That is what triggered the facility use form, to declare anyway. Now parallel to that, a bill was running on vacation rentals and it was important for this county to say, the general plan requires us to regulate vacation rentals, and there was a concern that these ADUs would turn into additional value if they could in fact be used for vacation rentals. So this facility use permit paralleled this bill, and I know this because I introduced both bills, so that if people were true to their intent of filing their facilities claim, it was to be for the purpose of housing and density within their own families and/or long term rental, not vacation rental. Therefore, the economic bubble burst, and what we also discovered is in that timeframe for those that declared that intent, financing was not available in this market right now, and hopefully this market will turn around in the next couple of years. Therefore, we understood that hurdle and we came in with this 5-year extension based on the difficulties that you're summarizing for us, Scott, and I thank you for that. But I wanted to make sure that people understood the chronology of time here and what was a modification of what was allowed to now getting people to understand, we needed to have those that wanted use for home use, family use, we needed to have them declare that intent through filing a facility permit. I hope that helps. And Mr. Bynum, you had a question? Mr. Bynum: Actually, I was going to thank Mr. Oakley for outlining for any members of the general public that might be watching this that 6 • • this ADU extension is for people who had already met those criteria. It is not a bill to allow new ADUs on agricultural land, but only for those people who had already demonstrated their intent, and I wanted to recognize the council that was here just before I was elected who passed kind of the sunsetting, which was the recommendation from the planning department on the four previous extensions, right? And so anyone who's interested can read the excellent planning department report on this bill that outlines the history of this, but I wanted to thank you for outlining for anybody who might be watching on TV, this is not to create new ADUs on ag land, but only to allow a continuation of those people who had already declared that intent. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Are there any more questions for Scott? Thank you Scott. Next speaker please. JENISE RUSBY: Good afternoon. I just wanted to say real quickly... Mr. Furfaro: You need to introduce yourself. Ms. Rusby: Oh, I'm sorry. Jenise Rusby. Real quick, I just wanted to state that I too am in agreeance(sic) with the extension of the deadline for the building permit, and I wanted to say thank you to (Is it Jay?) for the quick synopsis, because that's exactly the category that we're in and the situation we're in. My brother and I have ag property and we are just in the beginning stages of our organic farming, and in order to go. through the process and do our long term plan, my brother and I both plan on building homes for ourselves in order to run the farm, and so we're in a situation where if we were forces to start by December 15, that would really put us in a financial bind. So by the extension, that would give us the opportunity to plan much more carefully financially and continue what it is we plan on doing. So I just wanted to mention that we are I total agreement with what you are trying to propose here. Mr. Furfaro: Let me see if there's any question? Are there any questions? Thank you very much for testifying. Next speaker please. MIKE DYER: For the record, my name is Mike Dyer. Council Chairman, Members, thank you for giving us the opportunity to discuss this extension of the ADU deadline. The property that my wife and I own is a one-acre urban open zoned property, so it's a little different than the situation with the ag properties, although most of the ag properties are ADU properties because they have open zoned land on them, otherwise they'd get another house and a guesthouse. The piece that we own is in Kilauea and I recall vaguely that, you know, when the ADU became available for this property and we didn't...we weren't too concerned about it at the time, we started to get a little concerned about it, because I think the property tax office became aware that this had become a ADU unit, so the taxes started going up significantly. But we didn't really start paying attention until that first deadline that Councilman Furfaro was just talking about 7 • • came and started approaching, and then we realized we'd been paying all this money and it was going to...we were going to lose the right to build this extra house. So then we hurried out...you know, this is when the curse of the ADU set in. You have a deadline and so you run out and you have to get a couple of building plans done, and at that point in time it was very hard to find anybody, because everybody was running around trying to get ADU plans done. Ours cost about $19,000 for two sets of plans for the two houses, another couple of...another $1500 for a septic system plan, another $8,000 for water meters; we had already gotten our ADU clearance, and so we were really committed and on the road now to having to actually build these houses. It's a property that we had owned for, at that point in time, over 30 years. We got that three-year extension and so the plans that we had at the building division are still sitting under the desk there. They're all approved and ready to go, but as has been mentioned by other speakers, you just can't get a loan anymore. I can't get a loan. I tried and couldn't do it. So the plans are sitting over there. I'd love to pull them out from under the desk and take them home and wait until we're ready. This 5-year extension would be extremely helpful in getting us some time. You know, as the previous gentleman said, we may not have wanted to build on this property for, you know, 10 or 15 years, but our hand was forced by this curse that we have on us. But the five years would be really helpful, and I hope that you will act in favor. of this extension. Thank you. . Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mike. Let me see if there's any questions. Are there any questions of Mr. Dyer? Mike, thank you for your testimony. Mr. Nakamura: No more further registered speakers, Mr. Chair. Mr. Furfaro: Is there anyone in the audience that would like to testify on this bill, and could you raise your hand if you do? Please come up, Mr. Fudge. Are there any others? Mr. Fudge, you'll be our last speaker. PHIL FUDGE: Well thank you Council for the opportunity, and thanks for bringing it up for us. If you don't mind, I'll read this, otherwise I'll forget half of it. Thanks for the opportunity to testify about the possibility of extending the ADU deadline. I'm the principal broker for a local real estate company located in Kapa`a. I'm a member of several business organizations and the Kauai Board of Realtors; however, this testimony is solely my opinion and my request. I own a one acre parcel of ag zoned land and hope to build an ADU. As a real estate agent, I work with buyers, sellers, and residential and commercial rentals. As a realtor, I don't just read about our economic problems in the newspaper or hear about it on TV, I see and work with them every day. I can tell you from firsthand experience that people are struggling: owners to pay their mortgages to keep their properties, and tenants to pay their rent. Each month I see tenants falling behind on their rent and asking for rent reductions. Landlords, without exception, are helping where they can by accommodating these tenants that have had their hours cut or have 8 • • been laid off, or in the case of commercial tenants, seeing their business drop off as tourism has declined. These landlords, many of which also live in Hawaii, have mortgages that these rents help pay. They are facing their own financial difficulties, but in addition to being compassionate, they are smart enough to know that if they are not understanding, that they will have to look for new tenants and ultimately experience a greater loss of rental income. That's what I'm asking the county to be, understanding, compassionate, and smart, and to support this extension request. As Councilmembers, you are guardians of the land and the people of Kauai, and we need your help now. I support the county extending the ADU deadline for several reasons. During these current economic times, those of us not employed by the government or healthcare are struggling to make a living. For many of us, the ADU potential represents a significant portion of our retirement planning. Many of us cannot afford to build a house at this time. This request to extend the deadline five years will give most of us an opportunity to build our ADU as the economy recovers and our income returns to normal. Many industries in our nation that are suffering have received stimulus packages. For us, an extension would be a stimulus in that we won't have to build at an opportune time. We can't really afford not to build, as this will represent throwing literally thousands of dollars away. However, being forced to build now may require an initial mortgage to pay, if we can get the loan. If the economy doesn't recover soon, this would be an extreme financial hardship or even cost some of us to go into foreclosure or bankruptcy. If the extension is not passed, those that cannot afford to build now will be losing a huge asset. This represents future income for living expenses and retirement. Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me Phil. I just want to make notice that your first three minutes has come up, but you're welcome to take your next three minutes. Mr. Fudge: Okay, thank you. It is my opinion that we as a county have a responsibility, much like the federal government, to assist the people of Kauai, and unlike the federal government programs, this measure won't cost the county or its taxpayers a single dollar. By passing the ADU extension, many owners will have an opportunity that would otherwise be lost. This is a gain for the county in terms of increasing the tax base, more jobs in construction, and more affordable rentals available. Typically, ADUs are small and less expensive, so lower rents can be charged. In addition, once the economy starts to recover, we will be committed to contributing to recovery when we start to build our ADU. There will be those (inaudible) that say we are diminishing our agricultural lands by building ADUs and increasing the density of those lands; however, most of these lands are too small or otherwise unfit to be committed to agriculture. It is preferred that there be no deadline; however, a five year extension will help us all. Please vote to pass this ordinance relating to an extension of time to obtain a building permit for ADUs. Thank you. 9 • , Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Phil. May I ask if there's anyone... Lani, go right ahead. Ms. Kawahara: Hi Mr. Fudge. Did you mention why they couldn't meet the deadlines before the market crashed...the people that you were representing or speaking about? Mr. Fudge: Why they couldn't make... You mean to build? Ms. Kawahara: Their original deadline... The original deadline, why they were not able to meet it. Now we know the market is suffering, yes, but prior to that when it was booming, what did you... Did you specify the reason? I didn't... Mr. Fudge: Well, I can take myself as an example. I had not planned to build anything for several years. And now this is forcing me to do it much earlier than I wanted to, and I think a lot of people are in the same situation. I had thought that I would build something maybe in five years, ten years, something like that, something that would help with my retirement planning, and you know, some...an ADU for perhaps family, but more importantly to me, it would be to supplement my income. And I just didn't want to do it yet. Ms. Kawahara: ~ So you did purchase it with the knowledge that there was a deadline, but you wanted to extend it at that point, even before? Mr. Fudge: Well, I've owned the property for 15 years I've lived there, and I got the ADU clearance before I bought the property...I mean when it was in escrow with that intent, but never with the intent to building until I was ready. And now then this is forcing me to and now...here's a deadline, and I wouldn't really want to build, but if I have to, I will. Ms. Kawahara: Okay, thank you. Mr. Fudge: Does that answer? Ms. Kawahara: Yeah, I think so, because there was a deadline that you knew of, but that you didn't want to build till you knew you wanted to build it...despite what the deadline was... Mr. Fudge: Right, I could have built it, you know, anytime in the last 15 years, but I just didn't want to. Ms. Kawahara: Okay, Okay. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Anybody have a question? Go right ahead, Mr. Bynum. 10 • Mr. Bynum: Thanks Phil for your excellent testimony, and I see it's in writing. Can we get a copy of that? Mr. Fudge: Yes. Mr. Bynum: And I also wanted to thank you for acknowledging the large .number of very thoughtful, and considerate landlords that are working with their friends and neighbors to try to accommodate difficult situations. We have some of the best landlords in the world. Mr. Fudge: I've been really surprised over this past six months. Some people, they've even volunteered without even asking. Mr. Bynum: Right, and you know, when things were great and rents were high, there were many landlords who kept them low, you know, and didn't take advantage of the hot market, and now they're suffering and taking some loss to help out their friends and neighbors. I just know it's great to hear that. You see it firsthand. I know it's happening, and you know, much mahalos to all of the Kauai people that are working together to get us through these difficult times. I think your testimony was excellent. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Phil, before you leave, I just want to summarize some of the financial pieces we're seeing in the real estate market, just so we're all clear. The very difficult times in the mortgage market in banking really started back in March of 2007 with some very large brokerage houses. Lehman Brothers and so forth, they all began to find out that their value to credit rating was overextended. Subsequently, from March of 2007 until October of 2008 is when the market, as following up on Lani's question, is when the market started to feel the crunch, and we had almost 35 percent deflation in the market. It is very difficult now to even pursue getting a mortgage with 20 percent down, 25 percent down, 30 percent. Here we are a year later and we see this financial difficulties kind of rolling in out of the mortgage market now into the hotel and resort industry, and then soon into the business and commercial market. So we're realizing it may not be over in a year, but it didn't just start a year ago. Mortgage money is very difficult to get right now, am I correct? Mr. Fudge: I can attest to that with four or five things that I'm trying to work with right now. Mr. Furfaro: But I just want to give us all a perspective of we didn't get to the market in October and find out credit was tight. It started back with some of the major guys failing in 2007. 11 • Mr. Fudge: That's right. Anyone that had their nose into financial markets, they knew that. There were some people that got caught, though, only recently. Mr. Furfaro: But I do want to reiterate, that is one of the reasons, and I think Scott Oakley gave the same kind of testimony, it is very difficult as far back as 07 to finance the building of these small units which are intended for residential. The silver lining in this is in fact we may give some small stimulus to the construction business on additional housing and long term rental. So I'm glad from the real estate market you can attest that we just didn't open the door on October 8 and find out the market wasn't (inaudible). Mr. Fudge: Right. It's been brewing. Mr. Furfaro: Are there anymore questions for Phil? If not, thank you Phil. I do not believe we have anymore testimony... Oh, we have two more. Could I have the... Debra, may we ask you to come up. DEBRA MARCH: Good afternoon. Should I just go ahead? Okay, Debra March. Okay. I live in Wainiha, and I've had... I want to build an ADU, especially for my mother who is going to eventually come over here. She spends four months over here a year anyway. My father died about five years ago. And right now I went through...I had two car accidents, and I'm just getting back on my feet, and right now I just can't afford, especially with the market the way it is. You know, including my job, it's just barely hanging in there as well. So I'd really like to, you know, build something for my, you know, my family, but I would like to have the extension just because just to get back on my feet and, you know, be able to afford to build that. I'm hoping to build aowner-builder and thus, you know, build it over a longer period of time, but I still need a little bit of time before I can actually do that. So that's why I'm really hoping that we will get the extension. And I'm also asking, is there any way we can get a straw vote to find out? I know that the time is coming quickly to an end where we actually have to, you know, know if we have to build or not, and you know, just to give us an idea of what it looks like and do we have to really hustle to get things underway, you know, to build by this December. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Furfaro, our chair for this committee, stepped out for a while. So as vice chair I'll be conducting the public hearing. I believe that the timetable is that after we do have a public hearing, this would then go back to committee. Committee will then review the ordinance on the floor and perhaps if there are no amendments to the ordinance, it can move on to council, and soon after we pass in the full council, if it's going into that route, and probably could be done about a month or so, I say, this bill. If, you know, if... Ms. March: If everything goes as... 12 Mr. Kaneshiro: It goes to committee, there are not so many amendments to the bill, and so forth, which we don't anticipate any amendments to this bill. So it'll go into committee, go back to full council, and possibly be based in three minutes(sic). Ms. March: Okay. So I mean is it looking good that it's going to pass and we... Mr. Kaneshiro: I can't answer for the rest of the members. This is the time that we take testimony, and so far from the testimony we've received, all testimonies have been very positive to the extensions of the ADU. I'm just talking about public testimony. And I know we still have more testimony coming forth, so I'll turn the chair back to Mr. Furfaro, our planning committee chair. Ms. March: Okay, great. Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Kaneshiro, thank you very much. I'll summarize what's next after we get to our last speaker. Ms. March: Okay. Great, thank you. Thank you very much. JOANN YUKIMURA: Aloha Councilmembers. Committee Chair Furfaro, Chair Asing, members, JoAnn Yukimura for the record. As the councilmember who introduced the amendment which stopped further creation of ADUs-.but allowed those who had the clearance form to proceed to building within a limited time, I do want to agree with Mr. Oakley that the main problem has...was addressed by that bill. And given the very convincing testimony today, I think there is little harm in extending the deadline for those who do have clearance forms for another five years, but I would object to an indefinite time. One reason for setting the limit to have people build within a certain was to limit the speculation that goes on on vacant lands which have unit densities not yet built, and you know, it can...in a hot market, it was just raising the price of ag land, and that would come back again with a hot market. So it was basically saying, okay you want to have something for your family, then do it and make it happen, rather than just leaving it open ended and allowing all the resales of vacant land to occur. The moral of this whole thing, actually, is to not do ad hoc overlays on our basic planning framework. That is what really happened when ADUs were allowed on ag land by councilmember Tehada, and it was vociferously opposed by the planning department, because here you were going to double the density on some lots on agricultural land, not understand what the infrastructure requirements would be now for water, sewage, roads, and so forth, and that was not part of our planning, and it just overnight kind of added all this density. And you know, adding density in residential areas which was planned for residences ,is one thing, but when you make it on ag land, which is supposed to be used for agriculture, that has other ramifications. So that was the reason why we had to put a stop to this continual creation of ADUs on ag land, and if we were to do that, then you wouldn't have this kind of reliance which 13 • you can't blame people for, but you know, a person like Phil Fudge won't depend on ADUs on ag land, instead he would look to other residential lands for retirement planning or whatever, which would fit our planning purpose of having residences on residential land. So we are at fault. Yeah... Mr. Furfaro: That's your first three minutes. You can go right ahead. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Councilmember Furfaro. I mean it's really the fault of the public policy decision makers for having set up that framework in the first place, which started causing all these problems. We have stopped the bleeding, so to speak, and now...but we allow the rebuilding to try to accommodate the expectations that had been created by our public policy making, and so...I mean I...if there's a lesson to be learned, you know, don't make the mistake in the first place. Thank you. That's all, unless you have questions. Mr. Furfaro: Let me ask if there are any. Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: I thank you for your testimony. I think that I agree with your analysis, and I also agree with Mr. Oakley and Mr. Fudge that given the circumstances that we have now, an extension of time for those people who had those expectations is a reasonable thing. So I appreciate your historic perspective. That's why I encourage people to read the planning department's report, which outlines that history, and so just thank you for your testimony. Ms. Yukimura: You're welcome. Mr. Furfaro: Any other questions for JoAnn? Ms. Yukimura: Council Chair? Council Chair Asing: I don't have a question, and if you don't mind my replying a little bit towards your... Ms. Yukimura: I always want to hear your thoughts. Council Chair Asing: Your comments about ad hoc overlay and how about we've been doing it for 22 years? Ms. Yukimura: I know. What was the intention, though, first five years... Council Chair Asing: What you're making reference to, these extensions we're asking for today has been extended for at least five times. So we talking about a 20... over 20 year cycle, and we've been going on and on and on. And so start with, I think the basis behind this, and you can turn to your right and you will 14 i • notice Jesse Fukushima who was on this council at that time, Jesse and I were on the council and we did the very first mandated...we were mandated by the legislature to do the additional dwelling unit... Ms. Yukimura: On residential land. Council Chair Asing: On residential, an what we're doing today is a result of that residential zoning additional dwelling unit zoning that we did was amended to include ag and open... Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Council Chair Asing: And that's when the door... Ms. Yukimura: That was the mistake. Council Chair Asing: ...was opened and we're here today and we're doing the same thing over and over. So we talking about over 25 years. Ms. Yukimura: You're right, Council Chair. Council Chair Asing: So it's... and at the last time when we did this, we said we're going to stop everything, and we're here today, we're going to go again. So anyway, just a little bit of history on what has happened, and then the intent...my friend Jesse can recall, the intent initially was for the expansion of the family, because the families, there was not enough land and property available, so you could be allowed to do an additional unit on your family property, and that was residentially zoned property. Ms. Yukimura Mr. Furfaro: make comment. Council Chair Asing: And what the...it wasn't anticipated... I'm sorry. Excuse me. The chair asked me for time for him to I'm sorry. Thank you. My apologies. Mr. Furfaro: I won't pose any additional time here, because I happen to have a different position than both of you. But I have the privilege of being the chairman of this committee. I want to thank you, JoAnn, for your testimony. It's very much appreciated... Council Chair Asing: And I apologize. Mr. Furfaro: And I hope you understand, as chairman of the council, I have the same privilege as chairman of the committee. 15 Council Chair Asing: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Is there anymore testimony? Okay, did we receive... I believe I extended your time the first time around, Mr. Fukushima. Let me just double-check. Did he get two three-minute sessions? You can come up for a second three minutes. Mr. Fukushima: Feels good to be amongst former colleagues here, and I couldn't resist the fact that Ms. Yukimura did come up with some history as to why we're in the situation we're in. But I'd like to think that the first time when we initially passed the ADU for ag/open properties was basically Kauai was in a very serious transition-we lost the pineapple industry, I forget what the figures were, but I remember back then, Avery Youn who was the planning director, he and I went out and actually came down with a... several hundreds of families that were affected by the downturn of the pineapple industry, and these people were basically land rich, cash poor, and that was the beginning of why we initiated ADUs on the agricultural lands. I'd like to think that also in terms of choices, there are still a whole lot of families out here on Kauai, basically your local population, two, three, four generations that really have had no choice but the lands were bought in agricultural lands. And I do know that this council as well as previous councils as far back as the 80s did talk about changes within the comprehensive zoning ordinance. I've heard talk about we've talked about possibility of adding another classification to over...in the rural section, and I haven't seen anything done, and it's not your fault, it's because it takes a lot of work and due diligence to create something. And I think as you push forward in your CZO studies, I'm pretty sure that you will see that when the rural classification do come of one of the zoning areas that it's going to be probably an answer to a lot of the lands that not only the State, but the county had just said, if it's not in residential, if it's not RR-20, we're putting it in ag or we're putting it in open. Any questions? Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting back to order. I'm going to have some dialogue with my colleagues here, and then ask if they have any additional comment. First of all to the group, bill number 2322 as introduced by myself was actually heard for first reading on July 22. It was sent down to the planning department and the commission. It came back to us on the 9th of September. The 9th of September, we had the first reading. We set this public hearing on October 6. After this public hearing, it will go back to my committee, which will be next week the 14th. After the 14th and if it is successful, it potentially could go to the full council under Mr. Asing's guidance on the 21St of October. That is a very tight but possible schedule. It's dependent upon how long it remains in my committee next week. I'm going to give some summary comments. May I ask if there's anyone here... Okay. 16 ~ ~ You know, I just want to say, there's dialogue from councilmembers that go back a few more years to me. I just want to say that the intent of this bill is also to stop speculation. The intent of this bill is basically to say, let's make some exceptions based on the people that found some challenging times and these financial conditions, and make them declare their intent to move forward on these. The fact of the matter is it gave the county an opportunity, on those 374 applicants, to understand what our maximum exposure was, and at the same time, putting the vacation rental program in place that does not allow any...how do I want to say...expansion of that contrary to what the general plan...in consistency with the general plan wanting to control that. It is also the intent of this bill, and I want to make you know, I have no intent to move this bill forward with any more extensions. This is something that Councilman Asing has mentioned, as well as former Councilwoman Yukimura. I think it is looking at the problem, digesting the problem, coming up with a fair and compassionate approach to those that declared, but I want :to make it very clear that this five year extension is to solve some of the economic challenges that we have right now, as well as recognizing those people that came forward and declared their intent by filing a facilities claim. If there is not any further discussion, this public hearing is closed. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:28 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 17 • PUBLIC HEARING OCTOBER 7, 2009 • A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, October 7, 2009, at 2:29 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2323 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2009-691 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2010, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($132,000 - Moana Kai (Fujii) Shoreline Design/Permit), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on September 9, .2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on September 25, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:30 p.m. ectfully submitted, _~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 1 • • PUBLIC HEARING OCTOBER 7, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, October 7, 2009, at 2:37 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: 1) BILL NO. 2324 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING STATE LAND USE DISTRICT BOUNDARY IN NAWILIWILI, KAUAI (MORI Golf (Kaua`i) LLC., Applicant), 2) .BILL NO. 2325 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. PM-2006-382, RELATING TO GENERAL PLAN DESIGNATION IN NAWILIWILI, KAUAI (MORI Golf (Kaua`i), LLC., Applicant), 3) BILL NO. 2326 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ZONING CONDITIONS IN ORDINANCE NO. PM-2006-383, RELATINGTO ZONING DESIGNATION IN NAWILIWILI, KAUAI (MORI Golf (Kaua`i), LLC., Applicant), 4) BILL NO. 2327 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. PM-2006-384, RELATING TO VISITOR DESTINATION AREA DESIGNATION IN NAWILIWILI, KAUAI (MORI Golf (Kaua`i), LLC. Applicant), which were passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on September 9, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on September 16, 2009. The following communication was received fore the' record: • JoAnn A. Yukimura, dated October 7, 2009 1 • The hearing proceeded as follows: Mr. Furfaro: I might share with my colleagues that the maps as it relates to these bills and so forth are in the final environmental assessment prepared by Wilson Okamoto. I see some of you have them. On that note, may I ask if there's any written testimony, Mr. Clerk? Mr. Nakamura: No written testimony, Mr. Chair. We do have one registered speaker. Mr. Furfaro: And we have one registered speaker. May I ask who that is? JoAnn. JOANN YUKIMURA: Once again, Chair Furfaro, Chair Asing, members of the Council, my name is JoAnn Yukimura for the record. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on these bills, and I am speaking in favor of them. I'd like to give a brief history of some background, because those of us who have white hair have been around for a while. Mr. Furfaro: What happens to us with no hair? Don't leave me out. Ms. Yukimura: You're in-between. Sometime in 1989 or 1990, Chris Hemmeter proposed a golf academy and golf course on the 138 acres of coastal lands along the Ninini coastline by the Lihu`e Airport. The golf course greens would have stretched to the rocks along the coastline. Over 800 people showed up at DLNR's conservation use permit public hearing at the convention hall wearing "save Ninini coastline" t-shirts to oppose the development. I was mayor then and my office was opposed to the development. At that hearing, Kathleen Watanabe, then county attorney, announced that my administration would be intervening on the docket, and she requested a contested case. A few months later, Diane Plotts, an associate of Chris Hemmeter, called me and told me that they were withdrawing their application for a CDUA permit. With the imminent danger gone, all was quiet for a long time. A couple of years ago when the Kauai lagoons project was before the county council, I approached Ron Kouchi, representative of the applicant, to ask about the possibility of a donation of the conservation easement of those lands. I was very thankful when Ron was open to the idea, and very grateful when Kevin Showe, the developer and applicant, considered the request and considered... and consented to work on that possibility. I invited Council Chair Asing to participate in the talks, because he's fished along those coastlines and cares a lot about that place. And it was Chair Asing who suggested that an in-fee transaction, the whole thing rather than just an easement, would be cleaner. It was not enough time at that time to work out the plan, and Mr. Showe agreed... Although there was not enough time, Mr. Showe did agree to limit his density on the property, and that was 2 included in the zoning ordinance that was passed, and he gave us'his word that he would work to try to make a transfer of values happen. The bills before you today would make this vision a reality if you approve them on behalf of the people of Kauai. I commend and thank Kevin Showe for keeping his word. I thank Mr. Showe and Mr. Kouchi for their work, which has been a lot of work, to get this done. And I thank Chair Asing for his vision and steadfastness. As expressed by speaker after speaker at the CDUA hearing years ago, Ninini is a coastline of untold beauty and value to the people of Kauai, especially the people of Lihu`e. (Inaudible). Thank you, I'm almost done. It has been used by fishermen for generations. In the future, while it won't be used as a place of active recreation like Kealia beaches, it will become a place of solace and relaxation where residents and visitors will be able to breathe the fresh air, exercise and stay healthy, and enjoy the beauty of the coastline just a short distance from downtown Lihu`e. It has to be developed and managed carefully, but nothing will happen unless the county first obtains ownership and control of the parcel. It is truly one the places of the heart for Kauai, and I urge your support and approval of this project. And if you haven't been on that coastline, like I grew up here on the island, but I was never at Maha`ulepu...we live in districts a lot...until after I came back from college. So if you haven't seen that coastline, I urge .you to take a look. I mean, you know, there's some trash and old vehicles and stuff like that, but you can see that it's a place... an incredible coastline and something that is really worth protecting. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you JoAnn, and thank you for your very positive comments on and support of these bills, and your recognition of Chairman Asing and his work with several others on securing this. Are there any questions for JoAnn Yukimura on her testimony? JoAnn, thank you very much. Ms. Yukimura: You're welcome. Mr. Furfaro: Are there any other speakers? There's no other speakers. Does the applicant need to address the group? If not, I'm going to close the public hearing. I believe we have completed all the public hearings within my committee, and we are therefore adjourned. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:47 p.m. espectfully submitted, ~~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 3 • • PUBLIC HEARING OCTOBER 21, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, at 1:44 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: 1) BILL NO. 2328 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. PM-227-91, RELATING TO STATE LAND USE DISTRICT BOUNDARY IN KILAUEA, KAUAI (County of Kauai, Applicant), 2) BILL NO. 2329 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. PM-228-91, RELATING TO GENERAL PLAN DESIGNATION IN KILAUEA, KAUAI (County of Kauai, Applicant), which were passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on September 25, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on October 1, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter; the public hearing adjourned at 1:47 p.m. Respectfully submitted, .~ ~• PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 1 i • PUBLIC HEARING NOVEMBER 18, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Tim Bynum, Chair, Public Works/Elderly Affairs Committee, on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, at 1:35 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2332 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 12, ARTICLE 6, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987 RELATING TO THE ENERGY CODE, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on October 21, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on October 28, 2009. The following communication was received for the record: • Pamela Lightfoot Burrell, Good Design Works, dated November 17, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:36 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 1 • PUBLIC HEARING NOVEMBER 18, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance .Committee, on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, at 1:37 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T.. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asng, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2333 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2009-691 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2010, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($150,000 - Kapa`a-Wailua Development Plan), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on October 21, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on October 28, 2009. The hearing proceeded as follows: GLENN MICKENS: For the record, Glenn Mickens. Thank you Daryl. I apologize. I haven't gone through this special development plans that much...on the Kapa`a area, but I just have a couple of comments to make. This bill is asking for another $150,000. I tried to find out how much has been paid so far. I think, Daryl, I think you said you guesstimated...I think it was about 300,000, something to that effect. I think I even asked Ian, and I thought he said something like 500,000, but the figure's someplace in that ballpark, I guess. My ques... My concern happens to be that we're spending this huge amounts of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars, on these consultants planning and consulting for these projects, and I... We spend this money, and most of the time we don't have the funds to be able to implement what we're doing. I can still remember Steve Kyono fifteen years ago telling about how they were trying to get this...the plans for 1 • • ~ V coming from Hanama`ulu...I think up to Kapa`a. (Inaudible) All the community was there and picked out the most economic, best route that they could get, which everybody appreciated. He said we don't have the money to...for the planning and stuff. I said, Steve, what are we here for? So anyway, it dropped. Another ten years went by and then he...they had another meeting. The money was there for now for the planning and the other part of the plans, so Steve said, well the money's there for that, but we don't have the money to build it. I said, well what are we doing here then? So the point I think I'm trying to get at is why don't we first see that we have the funds to be able to do whatever these plans happen to be for the project? If it's building a highway, it's building a road, it's building a...whatever it happens to be, if we're going to improve the Kapa`a corridor in any way, that traffic jam or whatever it's going to be, shouldn't we be seeing that we have the funds to do it, otherwise, we're spending these hundreds of thousands of dollars for the planners and the designers of these things, but I don't see the purpose in it if we haven't got the money to go ahead with what we're paying these people to do. If you're building a house, you certainly know that you got the money to build that house before you have your architect design these plans and stuff, don't you? Or at least I would presume that. If you're designing, the house is going to cost you a couple thousand dollars for the plans, etc., etc. But you're going to make sure that at the other end of it, you're going to have the money to do it, or you're saying, what are you getting these plans...what are you paying that money for. So anyway, this is just my suggestion. I don't know how you guys feel about it, but I just feel that, you know, upfront you should be able to have the money available before you spend hundreds, maybe millions, of dollars on Okamoto and...or R.W. Beck, or whoever's doing the design and phases of these things. I don't have no problem with futurely planning certain things, building heights and stuff like that, I have no problem with anything in that. But when it comes to improving our infrastructure and stuff, then I say that I would like to see the funding be there, whether it's in a lockbox so you can't go ahead and take it for something else... Anyway, that's my testimony. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Mickens. Any questions for Glenn? If not, thank you very much, Glenn. THOMAS NOYES: Good afternoon Councilman Kaneshiro and Councilmembers. My name is Thomas Noyes. I am a member of the citizens advisory committee serving with the East Kauai Development Plan 2030, and I wanted to make myself available in case any of the councilmembers had questions from the perspective of one of the CAC members. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. So you're not really giving any public testimony, except to make yourself available for any questions at this point. Is that correct? Mr. Noyes: I haven't really prepared any written statement... 2 . _.. • • Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay. Right, thank you. Usually what we'll do is during committee we'll have...we'll probably...would appreciate if some of the members would come up as we take this through committee, because most of the time, through committee this is where the questions would come up through public hearings that we hear today... Or through the process of the public hearing we will receive information coming to us, which would be a good time to bring up during the committee deliberation. But at this time, I'll go ahead and ask any of my members if they have any questions for you. Go ahead Mr. Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Kaneshiro. Thomas, ~I just want to share with you, you missed it during my planning reconciliation, Iwant to make sure that the CAC members heard my quote. This $150,000 is to finish the plan, not to restart the plan. I want to make very sure, because we are...our resources are very limited, as stated by the previous testimony. This additional money, and I will be giving Glenn a summary of the nine projects that are going on in planning, and though an earmarked amount, it has been brought to our attention that the additional money was needed to finish the plan, not re-create the plan. So I just want to make sure we're very clear. Mr. Noyes: Thank you, and... Mr. Kaneshiro: Any other questions? If not, thank you very much for showing up today, for offering to be here in case there were questions. Mr. Noyes: If I may just put in a comment. We've been working on this. We started in April of 2006. It's been a long process. A lot of hours have gone into providing our point of view for a very valuable reason, we feel, and so we're anxious to see it concluded and implemented. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: And your work is really appreciated, and in 2006 I attended a few of those meetings, but I just wanted to restate, this is to finish the plan. Mr. Kaneshiro: Correct. Mr. Noyes: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Anyone else wanting to speak? Please come forward. BEV BRODY: Hi. My name is Bev Brody, and I work for the University of Hawaii as the Get Fit Kauai island coordinator. And I'm here to encourage you to please support the expenditure to complete this project. And the reason why I feel so passionate about this is because Ian Costa has promised me and several other people, in fact there was a room of about 40 people, and he promised that somehow, some way, he would implement the complete street 3 • • standards to all Kauai roads, and this means that every road will have accommodations for bicyclists, for walkers, for cars, for buses, every type of mode, and that's a lot. So I think... What? Mr. Furfaro: That is a big promise. If the planning director told you he can accomplish that, that's a very big promise. Ms. Brody: That's his goal, and I understand that's a huge goal, but I'd really like to support him in any way I can, and on behalf of the coalition, I would like to please request that you use this $150,000 to complete the project. -And just on the note of why complete streets are so important is that there are three numbers, just quickly, that I went over with the planning commission. They are 30, 25, and 365. And 30 is the amount of exercise that everybody should get per day. What do you think the 25 is? The percentage of the amount of Americans who get that type of exercise. What do you think the 365 is? (Inaudible) One year. Ms. Brody: That would be the most logical thing, but it's actually, if you add six more zeroes onto that, there is 365,000 people who die each year because of sedentary lifestyles, and that's a lot. That's almost three or four times as many people that are going to die with the n-1, 2-1, 3-1 flu that's coming out. I'm sorry, I forgot...that flu. And they're going to great measures, which is very awesome that they're doing that to save the 40,000 that are going to die, but . what about the 365,000 people that will die from sedentary lifestyles. So if we can incorporate physical activity in our daily lives, like in our sidewalks by walking, our kupuna/our children will all live longer and healthier lives. Did you know, just very quickly, is there a buzzer here...like there's a buzzer go off? Is that it? That's it. This will be really quick. Did you know that this is the first generation that may be...that we may outlive our children, that our children, because of their inactive lifestyle may not live as long as we do? The first time ever in history, and we, you, have the power to build a environment that will help curb that and change the direction that we're going. So I urge you on behalf of Get Fit Kauai to please approve this expenditure to complete the plan on the east side of Kauai. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions? Thank you very much Bev. Ms. Brody: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Anyone else wanted to give testimony on Bill No. 2333? Please. SHERI KUNIOKA-VOLZ: Hi. I'm Sheri Kunioka-Volz, and I too have served on this committee for several years, and I just wanted to voice that I am also ~.- .. 4 in support of the extension. I think it'd be a shame if all that we have worked on just goes to waste because of lack of funds. That's all I have to say. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Bynum: Thank you Sheri. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Anyone else? No one. If not, that public hearing is now closed on Bill No. 2333. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:51 p.m. Respectfully submitted, '` PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 5 CJ PUBLIC HEARING NOVEMBER 18, 2009 • A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, at 1:51 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, .and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing; Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2334 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2009-691 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2010, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (Transfer $230,000 from Kapa`a New Fire Station to Pi`ikoi Building Design), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on October 21, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on October 28, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 1 • PUBLIC HEARING NOVEMBER 18, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Tim Bynum, Chair, Public Works/Elderly Affairs Committee, on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, at 1:36 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2335 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 13, ARTICLE 4, SEC. 13-4.1, OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE ELECTRICAL CODE AND ADOPTING THE NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CODE, 2008 EDITION AS A STANDARD FOR ALL ELECTRICAL WORK, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on October 21, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on October 28, 2009. The following communication was received for the record: • Contractors Association of Kauai, dated November 18, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:37 p.m. Respectfully submitted, L~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 1 ---s"'1 ' ~ ~l • PUBLIC HEARING DECEMBER 2, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Lani T. Kawahara, Vice Chair, Public Safety/Energy/Intergovernmental Relations Committee, on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, at 1:45 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair Excused: Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2336 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 16, ARTICLE 20, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS_AMENDED, RELATING TO THE TRAFFIC CODE, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on November 4, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on November 12, 2009. The hearing proceeded as follows: LARRY LITTLETON: Good afternoon Mr. Chair, members of the Council. I'm here to speak about bill 2336. I oppose this as it is written on the grounds that it discriminates against people who are deaf or hard of hearing whose only means of communicating is by text messaging. As I understand this bill, if a person wants to buy a mobile phone that is wireless so they can continue driving while speaking on the phone, that is available today. But for a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, we don't have that availability-there is no device on the market that will allow me to drive hands-free and communicate by text. So I feel that this discriminates specifically against people who are deaf. or hard of hearing. We in the deaf community have worked very hard with paging companies to provide plans that allow us to do only text messaging, and not use cell phone minutes, because we can't use them. So now for the county to take away that ability to communicate mobilly feel to me very discriminating, and I would hope that the council fully considers 1 r It ~ ~ • what you are doing before you vote on this. Let me say that I understand the safety involved; however, we have fought very hard to get these devices to be free to communicate mobilly, and we want the same equality as everybody else. So until a device is on the market that allows us to purchase and to continue to communicate hands-free, I feel that this is very discriminating. Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you for your testimony and thank you for bringing up an important issue. I'm sure the intent was not to be discriminatory. Do we have any other comments that you wanted to make, or any questions... Any questions from the councilmembers? No? Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else in the audience that would like to testify on this bill? Seeing none, the public hearing is now adjourned. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:51 p.m. Respectfully submitted, /ao PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk 2 • PUBLIC HEARING DECEMBER 2, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, at 1:51 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair Excused: Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2337 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 5A, KAUA`I COUNTY CODE 1987, RELATING TO LIMITATION OF TAXES ON PROPERTY USED FOR LONG TERM AFFORDABLE RENTAL, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on November 4, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on November 12, 2009. The hearing proceeded as follows: LORRAINE NEWMAN: Hello, my name is Lorraine Newman. Thank you very much for having this hearing; we do appreciate it. I'm going to try to stay out of the personal, unless when I'm done you want to ask questions about me. I'll be more than happy to give you a reality check of what it's like to be on the other side, if that's okay. What I'm here to do is to support this amendment. I don't think I need to go into what it's about; it really does support affordable housing. I am a long term rental owner. I have been compliant with this for the past...well, since its inception. The bill addresses a few problems that have arisen, because I believe when it was created it just maybe wasn't thought out to the extent of what could possibly happen if things didn't go quite right. For one thing, as it stands, there is no way to appeal anything that isn't in compliance for whatever reason, force of nature, whatever, and that's very, very important. So this bill offers a way to have an appeal process. It is... Also, I understand there's some concern maybe about the 1 _ L • • amount of the penalty. I want to remind the council that this is for affordable housing. It is a way to encourage and even reward people such as I who are offering affordable housing. My way of looking at it is a penalty...there's a reason for a penalty, and it should...it should take care of the clerical process, the time, the cost of readdressing paperwork, etc. That seems really fair. But it is not like not paying taxes, and again, any cost to a long term rental owner is going to get passed on, and I believe the original intent and the- intent at this point is to encourage as many land and property owners to keep the price down. I understand this is considered a temporary draft that council Kaneshiro is possibly looking into something longer term. I really encourage you to pass this. Let's not make it too complicated. At least have something happening for the next year, and certainly before the next tax bill is due, which is very soon, and at least it gives us a little time, and put in a corrective measure. If I have another minute or two, I'm actually willing to alter myself just to give you a little reflection. From the very beginning, I've been in compliance and have received the deduction; it's really been considerable, and I do appreciate it, okay? Last year 2009, I sent in the paperwork, everything the same, and when I got my tax bill it had more than doubled from less than 2,000...I'll just say it, to over 4500, okay? I was shocked and I called to see what happened. Well, nobody could tell me, but the paperwork hadn't been received, for whatever reason, and I want to say that Wallace Rezentes and people I guess in the office really tried to look to see if it had been misfiled, but nobody could find it. It could have been lost in the mail, whatever. The problem was I had no way to prove I had got the paperwork in time. There's nothing that's sent back to the taxpayer that says we received it; nothing's stamped. When you get your tax assessment for the year, there's nothing on this piece of paper reflecting this deduction. So I only knew a couple months beforehand, and nothing could be done. I showed all my paperwork. I said, look, here's my lease, I'm in compliance, everything's good, it's been like this for three years, same tenants. And they said, we'd love to help you, but we can't without this legislative change. Not only does... did I have to pay an extra 200 a month according to this, which my lease does not reflect at this point, but the basis changes to the higher amount, which is considerable. So at least if this draft is passed as it sits, I can go back to where I was, I can show I'm in compliance, I do have the paperwork, nothing's lost, I've been complying all along, and yea, I'm willing to pay a penalty. I mean it takes some time, it takes...there's mailing costs involved. I'm just asking that they not be exorbitant. That's it. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you for your testimony. Any questions by Councilmembers? Go ahead Mr. Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you again for your testimony. A couple things are correct. This is a bridge amendment for one year so that we can work on perhaps the encouragement of longer periods of time for those that provide rentals on an affordable basis, and it does provide this appeal process. I just want to make 2 • • sure you do realize, and it sounds like you're comfortable with the five percent penalty as the bill...you expect to pay a penalty, and five percent seems fair. Ms. Newman: Yeah, I actually know everybody's trying to save money, and real property division needs to be mindful as well, and obviously if the paperwork isn't right for whatever reason, it takes time and there's costs, and I am very comfortable taking responsibility for that. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay, any other questions from members? If' not, thank you... yes, go ahead Mr. Chair. Council Chair Asing: Ms.' Newman: Council Chair Asing: charge? So you are not a renter. You own the rental unit. That is correct. Would I be out of order to ask how much rental you Ms. Newman: Actually, I would really love you to really think about this. Right now I own a two bedroom house in Hanalei. Now I could be a vacation renter, as it were. My ethics are such that I wanted local people to be able to live in Hanalei. May or may not be the best business decision, but that was my choice. Twelve hundred a month. Think about how cheap that is, and then, an additional 200 a month I have now been asked to pay...have paid, actually, since this error, okay? And I can't even pass that along to my tenants at this point, because we do have a signed lease. So really, it's...not much money. Council Chair Asing: So your rental rate is 1200 a month. Ms. Newman: Yes sir. Council Chair Asing: And that's a two bedroom house in Hanalei? Ms. Newman: Yes sir. Council Chair Asing: Would I be out of order if I asked which area, where the house might be? Ms. Newman: No. It's on Aku Road. Council Chair Asing: Aku Road, oh wow. 3 .. ~. • • Ms. Newman: think, this has been... Council Chair Asing: Aku Road, and for the...it's been three years, I Aku Road is short, so (inaudible). Ms. Newman: Yeah, it's on Aku Road, right in the middle of town, and I've had my paperwork in, you know, signed and all of that, with the lease. It's not like I wasn't doing this and in compliance for years. I'm really doing a service for the community. Council Chair Asing: Okay, thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Ms. Newman, I just wanted to thank you for your testimony and also take the opportunity to thank you, and you representing a lot of really thoughtful caring landlords on Kauai who have kept their rents in affordable range, you know, because they care about the community and care about their tenants. So I'll let you represent a whole bunch of landlords out there I know that, you know, have kept rents low when they knew they could have done a lot better. So thank you very much. Ms. Newman: Thank you. Anything else? Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Can I have the next speaker please? HAROLD MATSUNAGA: My name is Harold Matsunaga from Lihu`e. I'm here about the property tax for the affordable rental tax thing. As you know, I was here before, and I always, as I told you... Excuse me. Honorable Chairman and Councilmembers, thank you for allowing me to be here. I'm sorry. I always felt like, you know, whenever we late in any kind of payments to the county, we should pay a penalty, yeah, and that's why I told you why I felt that the way it was it was very unfair, because the way it was, we moved to the higher assessment, and that would be like a permanent thing. So this is why I asked you if you could bring it back to the level that we were, with a five percent or six percent increase, providing that we were still in compliance with the law, except that we made the mistake of not filing on time. My question when I went to the tax department and I asked the lady, how come they moved my assessment so much, and my question to the council today is that does she have that power? Who gave her that power to move my assessment to the present level just because I missed the deadline, although I was still in compliance? Did she have the power to do that? Mr. Kaneshiro: Go ahead and make your testimony. Mr. Matsunaga: Yeah, I'm asking you the question. 4 • Mr. Kaneshiro: We'll answer questions later. This is your opportunity to go ahead and make your testimony. Mr. Matsunaga: Yeah, okay. Anyway, that's really all I have to say, and I want to thank all of you for the time that you're given me to look into this matter, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to make the proper adjustment. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Matsunaga? Mr. Furfaro: No, I just could answer his question, if you'd like. The Charter authorizes the tax office to upgrade the codes and the assessments every year as they go out and make comparable assessments in those neighborhoods. That is not the responsibility of the council. Mr. Kaneshiro: Correct. Mr. Matsunaga: She had that power to do this? Mr. Kaneshiro: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: The tax office does; yes sir. Mr. Matsunaga: Okay, thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: You had a question, Mr. Bynum? Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I just want to clarify that. I don't believe that they would have changed your assessment because you missed the deadline. All the assessments are done islandwide, so changing the assessment on a home, and like they've gone up for a number of years, and it looks like they're coming down now. But I don't think it would be connected. The assessment...reassessment would happen regardless. Does that make sense Mr. Matsunaga? Mr. Matsunaga: Oh, okay. Mr. Bynum: I don't think they say, oh you're late, so we're going to look at your assessment. Mr. Kaneshiro: I think... You know, I don't want to get into too much discussion in this, because we're particularly on the issue`of this... We're not on the issue of assessments at this point. We're on the issue of real property tax amount that you've been paying and so forth. But simply to make it short, the assessments can either go up or go down; depends on the market. Just so happened 5 • the market went up that high. Everybody else, it will go on to comparable markets. So if it drops, well, everybody else drops. So it wasn't particularly picked just because, you know, you didn't apply for this particular...for this exemption. Mr. Matsunaga: Yeah, by me not filing by the 30...December 30... Mr. Kaneshiro: No, that will not raise your assessment values. Because I can tell you, my assessment jumped hundred percent from the year before. So you know, just to give you an example. So again, it's a whole different subject, so we can take that up in different communication, but at this point, you know, I thought I'll just try to explain it as simple as possible that it wasn't based on your filing or late filing for this exemption. Mr. Matsunaga: Okay, thank you. Mr. Furfaro: But to answer his question, yes they have the authority to do it-that was the question. Mr. Bynum: And just, Mr. Matsunaga, thank you for bringing this to the council's attention, and I think, you know, that's the intention of this bill, to have a reasonable mechanism to address your concern. So thank you. Mr. Matsunaga: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay, anyone else here that wanted to speak on this item at this public hearing? Seeing none, this public hearing is now adjourned. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:08 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~-~'~_ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao t. ~ . n 6 PUBLIC HEARING DECEMBER 2, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, at 2:09 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair Excused: Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2338 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. B-2009-691, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2010, BY REVISING PROJECT DESCRIPTION IN THE GENERAL FUND (Affordable Housing- $1,000,000.00), which was passed on first reading and. ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on November 4, 2009, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on November 12, 2009. There being no one present to testify on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao • • PUBLIC HEARING DECEMBER 16, 2009 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Planning Committee, on Wednesday, December 16, 2009, at 2:46 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building, 4396 Rice Street, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2339 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ARTICLE 8 OF CHAPTER 8 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS IN THE OPEN DISTRICT, which were passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on November 18, 2009, and published in The ~ Garden Island newspaper on November 25, 2009. The following communication was received for the record: • Dave Arakawa, Executive Director, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, dated December 16, 2009 The hearing proceeded as follows: Mr. Furfaro: For the general public, I would like to make note that I have requested that before we start the public hearing that we have a presentation from the Planning Department, in particular the assistant director. There is a lot of history with this approach to this proposed ordinance. It actually goes back to when I was on the planning. commission and there was an attempt to structure a bill that actually reduced density in open space areas that were actually more aggressive than some of the ag areas. And I would like to ask the councilmembers if I can so remind you that this is a public hearing for public testimony.... This will come up in my committee in the new year for our particular questions, but because it is such an important issue, I wanted to ask the planning 1 • • department to actually make a presentation before the public has a good or better understanding, if there is any public testimony. So on that note, this is an evolution of this bill over several years, and I will go ahead and ask the planning department to make a short presentation. Mr. Nakamura: Vice Chair, for the record, just we have one written testimony that was circulated to the members. Mr. Furfaro: Yes, thank you very much Mr. Clerk. The floor is yours. IMAI AIU, Deputy Planning Director: Thank you Vice Chair Furfaro. I'd like to begin using a PowerPoint (see Attachment 1 hereto) that basically breaks down the mechanics of the bill. Okay, I will try and be as quick here as possible (I understand the agenda is very full today.) and keep this very simple. The purpose of this bill is to address the problem of agricultural sprawl that we have going on throughout the island, and the bill attempts to do this in two ways: through addressing the density of Open zoned lands and the subdivision standards of Open zoned land. So I'd like to begin by basically reviewing what the standards are for density and subdivision as they exist today. Agricultural densities are basically at... One acre, you get one house. You get an additional house for every three acres, up to a maximum of five. That cap of five is pretty important. Open densities, the... What we are concerned with here is the language in bold that pertains to lands within the State Land Use agricultural district-it's basically one house per five acres. It's important to note that there is no cap on the Open zoned land. So if we are to compare the two, it's... Notice...well, at different densities, the lower-sized lots, the Open zoned lands are actually more restrictive. Here at 70 acres, you will get basically one unit in the Open zone; you've already got three if you're in Agriculture. Here at...what is that, 13 acres, this is where the ag maxes out at 5, but again, you're only going to have two in Open zone. Here at 25 acres, notice that they're the same density-five units each one. And once you get up to something like a hundred acres, now you start getting 20 units in Open and only 5 in Agriculture. So the proposed fix for that is, out of what came out of the General Plan, was looking at the ag standards versus the open standards, and it was...pretty much generally agreed and at least came out in the general plan that the ag standards are pretty good; that type of management should go on on the Open zoned land. So the first strategy is to act on ag land institute a cap of five units. So you move from that hundred acres of Open zoned land with 20 units will now just have five units. If you look at that same density comparison now, you'll notice that the Open zoned becomes much more restrictive than the Agriculture zoned. Next let's take a look at the subdivision standards for ag lands. When I put this on the slide, the subdivision standards ran off the page, and I let it do that, because they're...it just kind of illustrates how long and complicated the ag 2 • subdivision standards are. So we'll go through them kind of one by one, and graphically, so... Basically, the basic point of the Ag subdivision standards is the larger the lot gets, the more restrictive the subdivision standards gets in order to try and keep a larger lot size. So if you have 10 acres of ag, you can subdivide that into 10 one-acre lots. If you have...in this example, 14 acres of ag, you hit a different standard. You can do four one-acre lots, and then the rest have to be two-acre lots. Next, if you have...we'll take 25 acres of ag, you've now hit upon a different standard again. You can still do four one-acre lots, but the rest of your lots have to be three acres. Start getting up into 50 acres, and basically you can divide it into five-acre parcels. So the lot sizes are getting larger as you go along. When we start getting up into lots of hundred-acre size, you can subdivide it into 10 parcels, that's your cap, none of which can be smaller than five acres. And then lastly, once you get into the really large parcels, you start getting into this scale, which is, you can take 75 acres and divide them into 10 lots, none of which can be smaller than five acres, that's this bottom row here. Then you can twenty percent of the lots, so in this case we have a 900 acre parcel we're looking at, it's 180 acres, and you can divide that into lots no smaller than 25 acres. In this case you'd probably end up with something around six 30-acre parcels. Then the rest of this you cannot subdivide; this is considered the remnant parcel. So these are part of the standards that we looked that said, well, hey that's pretty good, that gives us out of the 900 acres, we saved a lot that is still an intact large parcel for agriculture. If you look at the Open subdivision standards, this is what becomes important here, is that they can just subdivide it into five-acre lots, the same as the density basically. So if we are to compare that, again you'll see that at the smaller lot size, the Open zone is more restrictive, but it becomes much more permissive at the larger size. So that same 10 acres, Ag, Open, you get 10 one-acre parcels in the Ag, which you're only going to get two in the Open. If you look at a 50-acre parcel, this is an important part in what the 50 acre size comes in, because 50 acres of Ag can be divided into five-acre lots, 50 acres of Open can be subdivided into five-acre lots. The standards become the same at this point for the lot size. And then here's where the big... most a lot of the problem areas come in. The Ag subdivision standards that we have that get us this large remnant parcel, if that were 900 acres of Open, you can subdivide it into 180 five-acre lots. So what we're looking at is then, again, the subdivision standards that was agreed in the General Plan seem to work pretty well for us, so we're going to...the proposed solution is to institute those same standards now into the -Open subdivision. The Open subdivision, like I said, already carries a minimum lot size of five acres, so we start at the 50-acre standard of a five-acre lot. So any lot not more than 50 acres in size can subdivide into five-acre lots. Lots that have (inaudible) of 100 acres, this range is actually 50 to 300 acres, so this 100-acre lot would fit into that standards, you can subdivide into 10 or fewer parcels. So in this particular case, you know, we've gone with five five-acre parcels and five 15-acre parcels, but you're free to choose however 3 • • you really want to do that. And then, again, the large parcel, which is really a lot of the concern is (inaudible) or well it brings it about, we've instituted the same standards. that you would find in the Ag parcel. Seventy-five acres you can divide into 10 parcels, twenty percent of the lot can then be divided into parcels no smaller than 25 acres, and you get the remnant parcel. Now lastly, all the examples I've been giving you are basically the lot is either Open or Ag. The reality that sits out there for most of our lots is that they're a mixed zone. You're going to find a mix of Ag and Open on just about every large parcel that is the intent of this bill. So in this case, just to kind of look at what happens today, this is a theoretical lot of 200 acres of Open, 200 acres of Ag. The 200 acres o£.. Sorry, I did that backwards. But the 200 acres of Ag would be subject to that 200-acre standard, which is, again, 10 or fewer parcels. So you'd subdivide that up into your 10 parcels, probably look at how you could get the most density out of it, but that's... You'd do something like this: The 200 acres of Open, you could divide into the five-acre parcels; you get 40 lots out of that. To institute the standards we have proposed here, the subdivision standards,- just the subdivision standards, the 200 acres of Ag would of course remain the same, but now this 200 acres of Open you would subdivide into, again, the 10-acre lots. Now you're going to get ten 20-acre lots out of it, or 10 lots...you're going to (inaudible), but for simplicity I've gone with 20 acres. We've done one more thing in this bill to help limit the ag sprawl, and that is we've added in this provision to the general provisions, which basically says, once a lot has more than 50 acres of Open zone in it, you will... for the purposes of determining which of those standards you fall under, between the, you know the 50 acres to the 50 to 100 acres, up to the 300 acres, for determining which subdivision, you are going to consider not just each 200 acres individually, you are going to apply this as just one lot. You are going to say, this is now a 400-acre lot. So the difference becomes, now, whereas you had 10 lots, 10 lots on each side, you will now are going to subdivide this by the 300 acre standard, which means you are going to go with the 75 acres into 10 lots, the 20 percent of the lot into lots smaller than 25 acres, and again, you get a lot larger remnant parcel. So hopefully when... the intent is all three of these things will start to institute stricter standards, standards that we have said will help us preserve large tracts of viable agricultural land, those large pieces, because as you can see, we're starting to get up into the higher and stricter standards that we already have instituted for ag land. That is it. Hopefully that was simple. Thank you for your time, really appreciate it. I know it's going to be a long day, so I will finish up right there. Mr. Furfaro: Imai, thank you very much for making that presentation for the public. This will be on the Planning Committee's agenda coming up in the new year. I also want to make reference that we should point out that when we have grades of greater than 30 degrees, there is some change in the Open areas that is not counted for density. But for my colleagues, I would like to say to you, in the next couple of days I'm going to leave in your mailboxes, you have 4 • • Imai's presentation, but I will leave in your mailboxes the calculations that we currently have on the ag areas, so that you have something to compare. On that note, we did have one written testimony, am I correct, and we have one registered speaker, JoAnn Yukimura. I saw her here. Oh, okay. JOANN YUKIMURA: Thank you. Committee Chair Furfaro, members of the Council, JoAnn Yukimura for the record. I want to thank Deputy Planning Director Aiu for a very clear explanation of Bill 2339. It really shows why we're having so many problems with our so-called ag subdivisions. And thank you Vice Chair Furfaro for arranging for the presentation. I submitted testimony on November 18 in favor of this bill, and I noticed just now because I brought my old testimony along that I had a typo on the bill number. So am clear now, it's 2339, and this is the bill we're talking about. It's my opinion that proposed bill draft number...well now it's Bill 2339, will provide critical support for protecting the rural character of Kauai and preventing sprawl, which are key goals for our community as articulated in the General Plan. As we know, one of the main problems of our planning process is the lack of implementation follow-up, and so I want to congratulate and thank the mayor and the planning department for initiating this very important implementation action as recommended in the General Plan. By supporting this bill, you will be supporting good planning. I think passage of this bill would be a fitting way to validate and honor the vision and hard work of all those who put time and energy and passion into updating our General Plan, which is...was in the year 2000, and I know that Committee Chair Furfaro was part of the Planning Commission back then. Mr. Furfaro: That's correct... and part of the General Plan. Ms. Yukimura: And part of the General Plan Committee. There were many others involved, and it was a good update in many ways, and you know, it'll only be of value if we can actually implement its recommendations. So I urge passage of this bill. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: Any questions? Mr. Furfaro: JoAnn, I just want to let know, we don't have a specific date in our calendar right now for this in January, but it will be in January. So... Ms. Yukimura: Are you meaning it may not be on the next committee meeting in the new year? Mr. Furfaro: There's no more committee meetings for this year. 5 • • Ms. Yukimura: Right, but is this likely to be on the first committee meeting of the year? Mr. Furfaro: I'm hoping it would be. Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Mr. Nakamura: Vice Chair, it will be on the January 13 Planning Committee agenda. Ms. Yukimura: January 13. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: So that is the first committee meeting next year. Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Our calendar just came out if anybody wants one. So we have them available. Ms. Yukimura: Okay, great. Thank you. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to testify on this bill? If not, I am going to go ahead and end this public hearing on this bill. Thank you very much. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 3:04 p.m. . /ao Att. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk 6 ~~ LAND USE RESEARCH ~~~ "` -s ' .~cy F"~rw3 Q ~~ ~ -_ ~ n _ s -.t. _.' .. '-~ ?";~ ~_ S €"3' Q 1 •, 6 FOUNDATION OF HAWAII boo Bishop Street, Ste. 1928 '~' N Honolulu, Hawaii 968 Phone 52i-4~y Fax536-0~2 December i6, 2009 Honorable Bill Kaipo Asing, Council Chair Members of Kauai Council 444 Rice Street, Suite 235 Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii g6~66 Via Fax: (8o8124i-6~4g Comments and Concerns regarding Bill No. 2339 ~ A Bill for an Ordinance Amending Article 8 of Chapter 8 of the Kauai County Code i98~, As Amended, Relating to Development Standards in the Open District Honorable Chair Asing and Council Members: My name is Dave Arakawa, and I am the Executive Director of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii (LURE), a private, non-profit research and trade association whose members include major Hawaii landowners, developers and a utility company. One of LURF's missions is to advocate for reasonable, rational and equitable land use planning, legislation and regulations that encourage well-planned economic growth and development, while safeguarding Hawaii's significant natural and cultural resources and public health and safety. This measure appears well-intended and LURE supports the intent of the proposed bill, however, we have several major comments and concerns regarding Bill 2339 and respectfully request that Bill 2389 be re-referred to Committee to review and evaluate the major comments and concerns expressed below. Background. AS you know, many of LURF's members are involved in agriculture, and over the years, LURE has been supportive of Agricultural concerns. LURE has joined with the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation (Farm Bureau) in support of the appropriate use of agricultural lands for viable agricultural production, the process for designation and preservation of Important Agricultural Lands ("IAL") and the establishment of IAL incentives to encourage the designation of IAL. LURE worked with the Farm Bureau and a consensus-based coalition other agricultural stake holders toward the successful passage of Act i83 by the State legislature in 2005. In 2008, LURE again worked with the Farm Bureau and the same stakeholders to recommend that the legislature pass a bill implementing the IAL incentives at the state level through the passage of Act 233 (2008), which became HRS 205-45.5• Bill 2339• The purpose of this bill is to close the County Open District "density bonus" as discussed in the County General Plan by imposing controls on development of land AZZACHMIIV'I 1 12-16-2009 Public Hearing • • (Nt^.i;'a~~-::i^i) ~~~ (/Vleetin~Date) ....,~~.:~.~.....rd.~... `L.475`i~E.4~Ee P~Q~FFEJ .,~..m ©o o a e a a e o a© a o a o 0 o a o o v o 0 ~.a~%;`~ C'o.z~;:~ ~~ ~'c~~_.eiy Members ~~ r ~~a~er. • • Honorable Bill Kaipo Asing, Council Chair Members of Kauai Council December i6, 2009 Page 2 zoned County Open and Agriculture Districts within the State Land Use Commission Agricultural District, specifically by imposing a density cap and limitations on the subdivisions containing mixed zoning of County Open and Agriculture Districts. LURF's Comments & Concerns. LURF has the following major comments and concerns: i. Inconsistency of Subdivision Criteria - . Proposed Bill No. 2339 is confusing from the perspective that there seems to be two different sets of subdivision criteria, as follows: First, in Section 8-i.4 (d), the proposed amendment establishes that, "For parcels which contain multiple zoning designations, each designation shall be considered individually in applying the standards of this Chapter, with the exception that any lot or parcel located in the State Land Use Commission Agricultural District and containing fifty (50) acres or more in the County Open District shall be considered together with the County Agriculture district for the purpose of determining parcel acreage to apply subdivision standards." Second, in Subsection (c)(4), the Bill stipulates, "For contiguous lots or parcels of record in common ownership existing prior to or on September i, i9~2, within an area designated as "Agricultural" by the State Land Use Commission the following standards shall apply. Parcel area shall be calculated in accordance with Section 8-i.4 (d): (A) Parcels not more than fifty (50) acres, maybe subdivided into parcels not less than five (5) acres in size. (B) Parcels larger than fifty (50) acres, but not more than three hundred (300) acres maybe subdivided into 10 or fewer parcels, none of which maybe smaller than five (5) acres... What set of criteria would determine how a parcel of land is to be subdivided? In the first provision, take a parcel that is say 4o acres in size with 20 acres zoned Open and 20 acres zoned Ag. This parcel would be allowed 51ots for the Open and 51ots in the Ag portions or a total of io lots. The second set of provisions seems to indicate that this 4o-acre parcel would only be allowed 81ots because none of the lots can be less than 5 acres in size. If this is clearly not the intent, then the two sets of criteria need to be clarified. 2. Inconsistency with the Important Agricultural Lands (IAL) Law. The new provisions of Bi112339 which restrict the number of farm dwellings seem inconsistent with the recent IAL law relating to employee housing, which generally provides as follows (HRS 205-45.5 originally Act 233 Session Laws of Hawaii 2008) which provides as follows §205-45.5 Important agricultural land; farm dwellings and employee housing. A landowner whose agricultural lands are designated as important agricultural lands may develop, construct, and 2 • • Honorable Bill Kaipo Acing, Council Chair Members of Kauai Council December i6, 2009 Page 3 maintain farm dwellings and employee housing for farmers, employees, and their immediate family members on these lands; provided that: (i) The farm dwellings and employee housing units shall be used exclusively by farmers and their immediate family members who actively and currently farm on important agricultural land upon which the dwelling is situated; provided further that the immediate family members of a farmer may live in separate dwelling units situated on the same designated land; (2) Employee housing units shall be used exclusively by employees and their immediate family members who actively and currently work on important agricultural land upon which the housing unit is situated; provided further that the immediate family members of the employee shall not live in separate housing units and shall live with the employee; (3) The total land area upon which the farm dwellings and employee housing units and all appurtenances are situated shall not occupy more than five per cent of the total important agricultural land area controlled by the farmer or the employee's employer or fifty acres, whichever is less; (4) The farm dwellings and employee housing units shall meet all applicable building code requirements; (5) Notwithstanding section 205-4.5(a)(12), the landowner shall not plan or develop a residential subdivision on the important agricultural land; (6) Consideration may be given to the cluster development of farm dwellings and employee housing units to maximize the land area available for agricultural production; and (~) The plans for farm dwellings and employee housing units shall be supported by agricultural plans that are approved by the department of agriculture. [L 2008, c 233, §2] Emphasis added. We would strongly recommend that prior to adopting Bi112339~ that the Corporation Counsel should review Bill 2339 to determine whether it is consistent with the IAL law. 3• Bill 2339 may not be consistent with Bill 2gi8 (2009) Agricultural Worl~orce Housing bill. We also are concerned that Bi112339 may not be consistent with Bi1123i8 (2009), which is the current Agriculture workforce housing bill being proposed by the Council. Bi1123i8 was recently deferred to January 2oio while an Ad-Hoc Committee of members, including the Kauai Farm Bureau, the Koolau co-operative and former Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura work on the bill with county departments of Finance, Water and Planning. The purported purpose of Bi1123i8 is to include agriculture farm worker housing as one of the 15 uses and structures that require a use permit in agricultural districts. As drafted, Bi1123i8 has a number of requirements including requiring that the farm generate at least $35,000 of gross sales of agricultural products each year for 2 consecutive years and the living space does 3 • Honorable Bill Kaipo Acing, Council Chair Members of Kauai Council December i6, 2009 Page 4 not exceed i2oo square feet. Some farmers are proposing amendments to the existing bill including reducing the gross sales to $i2,ooo per year instead of the $35,000 currently proposed. In November 2009, Bi1123i8 (2009) was deferred by the Planning Committee until January 2010 to allow the Ad-Hoc working group to identify three main issues facing the bill, which include: (~) how the properties will be taxed; (2) how they will combine their catchment systems with the county's water meters to keep the farm land adequately hydrated; and (3) if the housing permits will run with the land - resulting in a permanent increase in density - or temporarily with the farm as long as it is in operation. See Attached Exhibit "i" article "Farm Worker Housing Bill Deferred.", Garden Isle, November 2, 2009). To avoid any inconsistencies between Bill 2339 and Bill 2318, we would respectfully recommend that the adoption of Bill 2339 be deferred until the conclusion of the current public review of Bill 2gi8 relating to Agricultural workforce housing. 4. It is unclear how the adoption of Bill 2339 may impact the outcome of the ongoing Kauai County IAL Pilot Study. Kauai County is the only county currently undergoing an IAL Pilot Study with the University of Hawaii Department of Urban and Regional Planning to assist the State Land Use Commission on the designation of IAL. The purpose of this study is to assist the County of Kauai in identifying important agricultural lands. The Study will involve a series of Stakeholder/Technical Advisory Committee meetings and general public meetings where the goals are as follows: (i) work with the Kauai community; (2) refine methods developed during the pilot study; (3) examine legislative criteria; (4) identify IAL; and (5) create policy recommendations relating to agricultural lands to support the viability of the agricultural industry. See attached as Exhibit "2", Kauai IAL Study Brochure). Because it is unclear how the adoption of Bill 2339 may impact the outcome of the ongoing Kauai County IAL Pilot Study, we would respectfully recommend that the adoption of Bill 2339 be deferred until the conclusion of the Kauai IAL Pilot Study. 5. The decrease in land valuation caused by this bill should be reflected immediately in Kauai County real property tax assessments. We assume that the current real property tax assessments for Open-zoned Agricultural lands reflect the highest and best use of those lands under the current law which would allow a certain number of residences and density. However, this law would reduce the existing allowable density in the Open zone, thus reducing the value of that real property. If this bill passes, we would strongly recommend the following provision be added, to accurately and appropriately recognize the fact that the land value would be reduced: "The County's real property tax assessment division shall adjust values immediately to address the impact of the reduction inland values resulting from the enactment of this bill." 4 • Honorable Bill Kaipo Asing, Council Chair Members of Kauai Council December i6, 2009 Page 5 Based on the above, we respectfully request that Bill 2339 be deferred by the Council and re-referred to Committee for review and evaluation of the above major concerns. Thank you for the opportunity to express our comments and concerns regarding Bill 2339• Print Version > Farm worker housing bill defe~ ~~ARDENISI.AAID News > Kauai News http://www.kausiworl~m/articles/2009/11/02/news/kauai news/doc4... Farm worker housing bill deferred ~rira =~, By Michael Levine -The Garden Island ' Published: Nbnday, November 2, 2009 3:10 AM HST LIHU`E -The Kauai County Council's Planning Committee this week deferred until January a bill that would allow farms to provide housing for their workers, potentially providing a boon to island agriculture. Planning Committee Chair Jay Furfaro confirmed what he had stated earlier in the week: An ad hoc committee of members of the Kauai Farm Bureau, the Koolau co-operative and former Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura is continuing its work on the bill In conjunction with the county departments of Finance, Water and Planning. Furfaro has said the three main issues faang the bill are how the properties will be taxed, how they will combine their catchment systems with the county's water meters to keep the farm land adequately hydrated, and if the housing permits will run with the land -resulting in a permanent increase in density - or temporarily with the farm for as long as it is in operation. The Kauai Farm Bureau and other supporters of agriculture have expressed concerns that the bill, despite its positive intentions, could be used as a loophole for developers and the real estate industry to further inflate the price of ag land and price out working-class people. The Planning Committee voted unanimously to defer Bill No. 2318 until its first meeting in January. Copyright ®2009 -Kauai Publishing Company [x] Cbse Window 1 of 1 12/16/2009 11:42 AM eEXH I BIT "1" How can I be involved in this initiative? O Attend our Kick-Off Meeting: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm Kauai War Memorial O Check out our website: ht~://sites.eoo~le.com/site/kauaiial/ O Submit a Statement of Interest to be considered for our Stakeholder/Technical Advisory Committee (STAG) due on or by October 9, 2009. O Watch for more public meetings to come) ITI.... x , - t R f ...~_ N :.~ ~ ~- >~ ~. yr;,1 ~.j ~,;~ti 5 i .~, ±{' .w ,>~> ;:~: ~p~ ,;a ~~ i 1~~ ;I '' ~ ~: _ r,: ,I ` t ~ I .~..+td47R`JOCP... .. ~J.wa• :.~yA ~ ,t ~y ~~ :~ A t;' ti ~- , - ~~ , t.: Project Background In 2008, the University of Hawaii Department of Urban & Regional Planning (UH DURP) completed a pilot study ~~ for the State the Land Use Commission on the designation of Important Agricultural Lands (IALs) using the ~' ~ framework from Act 183, SLH 2005. The pilot study examined legislation relating to IAL, gathered data and ~' developed a method for identifying IALs, focusing on the Koloa-Poipu District on Kauai. The study included both ~~ an urban growth model as well as alternative policy scenarios. Fulfilling the legislative mandate in Act 183, the County of Kauai subsequently approved funding to contract ~ with UH DURP to identify IAIs county-wide. The purpose of this study is to assist the County of Kauai in identifying important agricultural lands. public meetings. UH DURP will work with the County of Kauai Planning Department to. • Work with the Kauai community • Refine methods developed during the pilot study • Examine legislative criteria ~~ Identify Important Agricultural Lands • Create policy recommendations relating to agricultural lands to support the viability of the agricultural industry The study will involve a series of Stakeholder/Technical Advisory Committee (STAG) meetings as well as general ~~ ® ., >„e~ .. ~ ;; What are IALs? Pursuant to Act 183, SLH 2005, Important Agricultural Lands (IAIs) are: • capable of producing sustained high yields when treated and managed according to accepted farming methods and technology; • contribute to the State's economic base and produce agricultural commodities for export or local consumption; and • are needed to promote the expansion of agricultural activities and income for the future, even if currently not in production. How are IALs identified? lands meeting the following criteria shall be given consideration by the State land Use Commission: 1. Land currently used for agricultural production; 2. Land with soil qualities and growing conditions that support agricultural production of food, fiber, orfuel- andenergy-producing crops; 3. Land identified under agricultural productivity rating systems, such as the agricultural lands of importance to the State of Hawaii (ALISH) system adopted by the board of agriculture on January 28,1977; 4. Land types associated with traditional native Hawaiian agricultural uses, such as taro cultivation, or unique agricultural crops and uses, such as coffee, vineyards, aquaculture, and energy production; 5. Land with sufficient quantities of water to support viable agricultural production; 6. Land whose designation as important agricultural lands is consistent with general, development, and community plans of the county; 7. Land that contributes to maintaining a critical land mass important to agricultural operating activity; and 8. Land with or near support infrastructure conducive to agricultural productivity, such as transportation to markets, water, or power. ... What is the future of agriculture on Kauai? 1~- • AGRICULTURAL DENSITIES Section 8-7.6 Permitted Residential Densities. Permitted residential densities shall be calculated as follows: (1) One (1) dwelling unit for each parcel one (1) acre or larger. (2) One (1) additional dwelling unit for each additional three (3) acres in the same parcel, provided that no more than five (6) dwelling units may be developed on any one (1) parcel. (3) A parcel or wntiguous parcels in common ownership of record existing prior to or on September 1, 1972, which is smaller than one (1) acre, may develop one (1) dwelling unit (Ord. No. 164, August 17, 1972; Sec. 87.5, R.C.O. 1976) OPEN DENSITIES Section 8~.5 Development Standards for ConsWCtion and Use Within An Open District. (b) Residential Densities, Except as othervrise provided in this Artide, no more than one (1) single family detached dwelling unit per three (3) acres of land hall be permitted when the parcel is located within an area designated'Urban' or'Rurel' by the State Land Use Commission, and no more than one (1) single family detached dwelling unit per five (5) acres of land shall be permitted when the parcel is located within an area designated as "Agriculture" by the State Land Use Commission, pmvided that the provisions of this Arfide shall not pmhibd the consWdion or maintenance of one (1) single family detached dwelling with necessary associated land coverage on any legal parcel or lot existing prior to or on September 1, 1972. COMPARATIVE DENSITIES Lot Size Ooen Zone Density Agriculture Zone Density 1 Acre 0 units 1 Unit 4 Acres 0 units 2 Units 7 Acres 1 Units 3 Units 10 Acres 2 Units 4 Units 13 Arses 2 Units 5 Units 25 Acres 5 Units 5 Units 100 Acres 20 Units 5 Units AZZACI~N'I ~~ ~ ~~-16-2009 Public Hearing • DENSITY CAP The following language is added to Section 8-8.5 'and provided fhaf no morn than five (5) dwelling units may tie developed on any one parcel.' CURRENT LAW PROPOSED LAW C''.J k y ~~ ~ ~,~ ~' E"r Q t.. 1W ACRES OPEN-2l1 UNfiS '~ _ __ _ _. `1W ACRES OPEN-SUNITS DENSITY COMPARISONS Lot Size Ooen Zone Density Aariwlture Zone Density 1 Acre 0 units 1 Unit 4 Acres 0 units 2 Units 7 Acres 1 Units 3 Units IO Aaes 2 Units 4 Units 13 Aaes 2 Units 5 Units 25 Aaes 5 Units 5 Units 100 Aaes 5 Unds 5 Units AG SUBDIVISION (b) Method of Calwlating Allowable Subdivision of Agdwlture Lands. (1) Contiguous lots or parcels of record in common ownership existing prior to or on September t, 1972, no larger Man three hundred (300) acres may be subdivided only in accordance vriM the following criteria: (A) Parcels not more Man ten (70) acres may be subdivided into parcels not less Man one (1) acre in size. (B) Parcels larger Man ten (10) acres, but not more Man tweny (20) aces, may be subdivided into parcels not less Man two (2) acres in size, except Mat not more Man four (4) Tots in Me parcel may be one (1) acre in size. (C) Parcels larger than twenty (20) acres, but not more than Mirty (30) aces, may be subdivided into parcels not less Man three (3) acres in size, except Mal not more Man four (4) lots in Me parcel may be one (1) acre in size. (D) Parcels larger Man Mirty (30) acres, but not more than fitly (50) acres, may be subdivided into parcels not less Man five (5) aces in size. (E) Parcels larger Man fifty (50) aces, but not more Man Mree hundred 2 C: AG SUBDIVISION STANDARDS 1 - i ~j ~ r - I I_ 10 ACRES AG~ 10 - 1 ACRE LOTS Parcels not more than ten (10) acres may be subdivided into parcels not less than one (1) aae in size. AG SUBDIVISION STANDARDS 4-1 ACRE'rOiS L _._ l._... L 74 ACRES AG ' `~ `ut~- Parcels larger than ten (10) acres, but not more than twenty (20) acres, may be subdivided into parcels not less than two (2) acres in size, except that not more than four (4) lots in the parcel may be one (1) acre in size AG SUBDIVISION STANDARDS F h~i- oi_ wj I i ~- Q~, ;, i -- 7 -3 Al:ilc ~ufS 25 ACRESAG Parcels larger than twenty (20) acres, but not more than thirty (30) acres, may be subdivided into parcels not less than three (3) acres in size, except that not more than four (4) lots in the parcel may be one (1) acre in size. 3 • . - . AG SUBDIVISION STANDARDS i ~ ~~ ~~ ~ -- ~ ' i - 'i -- ~~ - ~_ '~ i ~-- 50ACRESAG ~ 10-SACRES (LOTS Parcels larger than thirty (30) acres, but not more than fifty (50) acres, may be subdivided into parcels not less than five (5) acres in size. AG SUBDIVISION STANDARDS 6-5 ACnF~nic ~ - - -~ ~- T C-~ ,~A~a~AG .-,.AVOW.., Parcels larger than fifty (50) acres, but not more than three hundred (300) acres may be subdivided into ten (10) or fewer parcels, none of which may be smaller than five (5) acres. AG SUBDIVISION STANDARDS -----~ _,.._ i ~.,,.,l.ri, -_ - - 900 ACRES AG 10-7.5 ACRE LOTS Contiguous lots or parcels of record in common ownership existing ro or on September 1, 1972, larger than three hundred (300) acres may be subdivided only in accordance with the following aileria: A maximum of seventy-five (75) acres may be subdivided into not more than ten (10) parcels, none of which shall be smaller than five (5) acres. An additional twenty percent (20°h) of the total parcel area or three hundred (300) ayes, whichever is less, may be subdivided into parcels, none of which shall be smaller than twenty-five (25) aces. Thn halanrn of 1hn narrnl araa ehall nnl ha ciihAiviAaA 4 OPEN SUBDIVISION No parcel or lol shall be created which is less than three (3) acres in size within an area designated as'Urban' or'Rural' by the State Land Use Commission, or Tess than five (5) acres in size within an area designated as'Agriwlture' by the Slate Land Use Commission, except within an'Urban' area a lot or parcel may be created which is one (1) acre or more in size H the existing average slope of the lot or parcel thus created is no greater than ten percent (70 h). SUBDIVISION STANDARDS COMPARISON - ~ ~ ~ ~ --- ._ ~ ~ ~ l , l ~ l 70 ACRES AG 10 - 1 ACRE LOTS ii~ ~ ~ ~ 10 ACRES OPEN 2 -5 ACRE - LOTS SUBDIVISION STANDARDS COMPARISON ', v a 'i v is j e - - ---- a i ^ ~ ^ ~ o I m> i i^iniuo a1 .. _ ~ ~, ^ i ~ a ^ ~ ~ it i T- i o ~'i a ~~ a o~ e I _ . W ACRES OPEN 10, - 5 ACRE LOTS • 5 C~ SUBDIVISION STANDARDS COMPARISON L ~ _~ ~ .~~,~ :~~' PROPOSED SUBDIVISION STANDARDS Parcels not more than fifty (50) acres, maybe subdivided info parcels not less than (rve (5) saes in size. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I olo o~ 3 soA~so~ -- - - ~.,A~w ~ - - PROPOSED SUBDIVISION STANDARDS Parcels larger than filly (50J acres, but not mom than three hundred (300J saes maybe subdivided into ten (1O) or /ewer parcels, none o/which maybe smaller than five (SJ aaes. S-S ALRE LOTS ~ ~ F:~ ~J i ~~. C~ 'I ~ ~ -_~ _ ]~.c I ~ Q -_ __ _ _ -~~~--1W ACRESOPEN ~ SiSACRE IDTS C 6 ,~ ~ ~ PROPOSED SUBDIVISION STANDARDS _ELm- I ~'~ I ' 1. ___ ___ _ .B_~ ACRE e LOTS r ~ BOO ALRES OPEN l to-]S ~LRE LOTS ' A maximum of seventy-hve (75) acres maybe subdivided into not More than fen (10J parcels, none o/which shall be smaller than five (5) apes. An additional twenty percent (20%) of the total parcel area or three hundred (300) saes, whichever is less, maybe subdivided into parcels, none of which shall be smaller than twenty-!rve (25) acres. The balance o/the parcel area shall not be subdivided. MIXED ZONE SUBDIVISION CURRENTIAW i -. _ - _.. c aI I .~. /-.... ZIIp ACRES OPEN OTS /0-SACREL MIXED ZONE SUBDIVISION PROPOSED SUBDIVISION STANDARDS ~ - [w wt,nW U2n / tO~M ACRE LOTS Parcels larger than tiny (50) saes, but not more than three hundred (300) acres maybe subdivided into ten (/OJ or leaver parcels, none of which may be smaller than five (5) acres 7 MIXED ZONE SUBDIVISION PROPOSED SUBDIVISION AND CUMULATIVE ACREAGE STANDARDS pU ACRES AG ~ ACRE LOIa r D - i < r __ _ I d F l ~ _ _ ~ ~W ACRES OPEN i - __~ c~S M...[W: For parcels containing mulfiple zoning designations each designation shat/ be considered individually in applying the standards of this Chapter, with the exception that any lot or parcel /oceted in the State Land Use Commission AgricuRurel Distrid and containing fifty (50) saes w more in Nre County Open Dishid sha0 be considered together with the County AgriaNure Distrid for the purpose of determining parcel aaeaga to apply subdivision standards. •