Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions. The time is now 348 present here today in the Healow Chambers. We have Council Member Cuggy, a lot of Council Member Hustis, Council Member Galimba, and Council Member Coneley claim-fother, chair Chair Palaki Naba. We have a few more that will be joining us shortly. I do wanna make mention, we have a 5 PM hearing for the budget and on real property tax rates that needs to happen at five o'clock. So I know that folks have already waited patiently for us to get this meeting started. What that means is that if we are not done with all of the testimony and the hearing by that time, we will have to recess and come back to it later. I do apologize for any inconvenience that may cause, but we are, we do need to hit that 5 o'clock meeting. So I would ask for everybody's cooperation to keep their testimony as succinct on them point as possible so that we hopefully can get through all of the testimony before we need to do that recess just slightly before five. With that Mr. Clerk will go to public testimony please. Thank you so much Madam Chair. Noting that we do not have any testifiers in our remote sites, we do have a number of testifiers here in the Heelow Chamber and via Zoom. So what we'll do is we'll start with one testifier via Zoom. Take our next two testifiers here in the Heelow Chamber and continue that rotation until we get everyone. So with that chair, our first testifier is Kaola Hill, via Zoom testifying on Communication 100 to be followed by Zach Shimose here in the Healow Chamber. So Kayala, if you could unmute your mic, you'll have three minutes at this time to provide your testimony if you could just reintroduce yourself as you begin, please. Hey, Aloha. Aloha, county council. I'm Kialahil again from Roots and Rise Hawaii. Our co-founders, Eliza Gabin and Mona Trune, main art, are at a gathering on a Wahoo for Hawaii community foundations, health and wellness cohort. So I'm here to mahalo you all instead, or your consideration for the vi-by grant. Your support means some of our island's most vulnerable population, those with severe persistent mental illness, have regular access to nature and artist therapy, as well as a community they can feel safe in, accepted for who they are and understood. Humans are fundamentally communal or social beings, fostering the sense of community for these folks is crucial in helping them maintain in overall sense of wellness. The additional funding in this round includes transportation, so more of our community members from remote locations will be able to attend. Transportation will also facilitate more events in remote locations as well. So we will be able to touch more lives. Your support means we can better support this population on our island. So on behalf of Routin Rice about E, our sincere mahalo for your time and consideration. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chair, your next testifier is Zach Shimose to be testifying on communication 100 to be followed by Momi Natin. Zach, when you begin, if you could just reintroduce yourself, you'll have three minutes. You can hit that green button at the base that I'm Mike to turn it on. Oh, Mahalo. My name is Zach Shimose with Huahola Hui. I believe like email to all of you folks, just giving you a foundation of what we're doing. We're going to be doing a canoe carving and co-emaking workshops for Native Hawaiian veterans, Native Hawaiian first responders, but we really not going to turn away everybody. We wanted to familiarize with our project here. Mahalo. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chair, your next testifier is Momi Noughtin to be followed by Kristen Counter via Zoom. Both testifying on Bill's 1-9-8 and 1-99. Momi, if you could just clearly transition for us, we can reset your time. If not, it'll be three minutes. If you could just please reintroduce yourself as you begin. Okay, I'm Dr. MoMie Noughten. I've been before you before and I'm opposed to bill 198, 199, but I also have a larger concern in that regarding community involvement. So, and this has to do with the fact that the Leeward Planning Commission did an unfavorable recommendation because they were concerned about the lack of community engagement. And so I started to do research on who speaks for us, who lets us know what's coming down the pike. And the only group I could find was YMIA Community Association and the subcommittee that I'm wondering about is the YMIA Planning and Design Committee. I'm just going to call it a subcommittee. According to the website, the area of control is planning proposals, development applications, and building permits for all commercial and light industry properties in Waimea. And so my questions that perhaps the planning committee or I noticed Patty Cook's here from WCA, so she may be able to speak to this. But how are these members selected for this committee? And is there a resolution that formed this particular subcommittee of the YMAIA Community Association? And is there public record of this resolution? Do they submit regular reports to the Board of Directors, the membership, and the YMAI community with regards to what they're doing with or what they're suggesting to the planning department? And I'm noting that six of the subcommittee members are also directors of Leimea Community Association and one is Vice President. And the other question is of the six members of the subcommittee, one owns a real estate business, one owns a construction company, and one owns an architectural firm. That's three out of the six. So in keeping with the Internal Revenue Code for nonprofits, 4941D on self-dealing, do these people actually recuse themselves from weighing in on commercial development that might benefit them personally? 30 seconds please. Thank you.. So basically, you have copies of this testimony. I think what I'm concerned about is that we gave the Waimea Community Association flyers and information about the community meeting we are going to have. They did not post it on their website. Nobody came to the meeting and just wondering what's going on with that as well if they are. Community, thank you very much. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chair, your next testifier is via Zoom, Kristen Counter, testifying on bills 198 and 199 to be followed by Ladaanonna Shivly here in the Heelow Chamber. Kristen, when you begin, you'll have three minutes unless you can transition clearly, then we can reset your time. Please reintroduce yourself as you begin. Thank you. My name is Kristen counter. I live directly behind the subject property, and I'm just here to restate my opposition to both those one and one ninety nine. I know you have in front of you a comprehensive report of community feedback regarding the proposed development and there's a wide range of creative ideas about what the community would like to see. But to me, there is a lot of take away is that for all the reasons this council has already heard not a single person truly wants to see commercial development built here. Personally is a direct neighbor to the property. I think we should work around where we find the most consensus. which is maintaining large agglots while providing housing for the community. I think it's also important to recognize that land use has actually changed since the applicant first started this process back in 2021. Thanks to members of this council build one twenty three now ordinance twenty four forty creates a pathway to build a de use in state land use urban districts. So given that the parcel has existing state land use urban districts. So given that the parcel has existing state land use on the front portion. There are now options that keep the land in add use while also creating more housing options for the community. So for example, if the applicant did nothing at all to the parcel, the state use can still be built on the front state land use Ag portion, keeping the entire Ag lot intact while creating more homes. This would be my personal preference, that may not be a reality. An alternative could be to rezone as F A1A and per communications with Director Daryl. This could create up to five Ag Watts, one acre Ag Watts. In the front portion, which falls in state land use urban, there could be two one acre Ag Watts, and each of these could potentially have a mean dwelling in three ADUs. The back portion would be mean Ag, and there may be up to three one acre Watts, and no use would be allowed on the ad section farm dwellings only so a plan like this could create up to six 80 use and two main dwellings just on the front two acres alone and given the small size of 80 use they could potentially contribute to lower cost rentals for the area. So just this sort of plan could blend the best of all options. It keeps large ad lives as the primary zoning and creates 30 seconds please. It also reduces strain on infrastructure, traffic, water supply. Further, the last concern I think we all have is that the council is ultimately voting, is not voting on the plans, the drawings of the intent of the applicant, but rather land entitlements. And while the applicant may have the best intentions, once the property is legally re-zoned, there's just no guarantee of what will happen, so long as it meets the plan in criteria. So I hope the council considers the ideas the community has generated and the overwhelming desire to restrict the commercial rezoning. Thank you so much. The three minutes are up so we're going to have to move on. That's it. Thank you so much. Chair your next testifiers are here in the Hilo Chamber, Ladonna Shively to be followed by CC Davenport. Ladonna when you begin you'll have three minutes unless you can clearly transition between the items then we can reset your time. If you could just reintroduce yourself as you begin please. Oh sorry if you could just pull that mic closer just so that the recording can catch you there you go thank you. Can you hear me? Okay so I'm Ladonna Shiveley and I've been a resident of YMF for 36 years. So I'm requesting the county council to reject bills 198-199 including all the amendments. This project will possibly need 20 water meters. Why is the water department willing to cater to these developers? Why is the council willing to consider the project when there has been overwhelming community opposition? This project as well as the O'Leary Farms massive dry side by land development will only make more water shortage more of a concern. How many water meters will O'Leary Farms be entitled to hundreds of water meters? Is anybody aware of the OLEE Farms project I'm talking about? I'm just wondering where all the water is going to come from. These two developments alone will also create massive traffic congestion. The road infrastructure is inadequate for this and any other massive projects. So, in the last ten years, I know several residents in Waimea, as well as Paweilo, as well as Hummakua Coast, that have been pleading with the water department for one water meter. They can't even get one. Like, my son works for liquid robotics, and one of his guys that works for Eastman Triwin for seven years across from Anikona for one water meter. So I don't, if, you know, I don't understand why the county or the water department isn't granting, you know, a water meter for these individuals that could build an extra house for their family or relatives or family member because then they wouldn't have to rely on the government for the low-cost housing. I just don't understand how come individual residents are not allowed to get a water meter. I feel like this project isn't really going to help residents or come in to rent or buy there because it's just so expensive. They're not going to be able to afford to. The average Joe is not going to be able to afford that, you know, moving on to this project, you know, these five homes that are behind the commercial project also uh... okay I want to check this out I want to read a letter from a doctor Sharon Olson and she asked me to read it and it says no no, no. You ever receive closer thousand letters rejecting these two bills, 198 and 199. At this point, it is obvious that the council and James Houston appear to be personal representatives for Mr. Metzler, not the citizens on Hawaii Island. This likely breaks his oath of office and legal responsibilities. Who exactly will be taken? Three minutes are up at this time. If not, we can move on to our next testifier, please. Yeah, I can transition. So I'm wondering why in 2016 I was reading the newspaper and it was about a family trying to divide their five acres so that they could put up an extra home for their daughter to live there and the property was prime eggland in Hulu, Aloa so the county voted against it so if they vote against one person that has five acres to divide it and let their daughter build a house and live there with them. Why are they willing to take this prime land up in Waimea? That's been there forever next to all the you know other egg lands. Why are they willing to let that become a commercial development with a huge parking lot and three buildings get 20 water meters build another five homes on there as well and you know it just it's it's it's not practical for why me they don't really need it we have enough buildings already we don't have the infrastructure for it I feel like I'm beating a dead horse because I keep saying the same thing I've been here to how many meetings already. So that's the other thing I don't understand. Why is this not being stopped already? Why are we continuing to have for this year, last year, the year before, year before concerning this same project? When are they going to make a decision? And if they make the wrong decision, who do we talk to that's above the council? That's my question for all of you. So you keep having meetings like you're going to pass these bills no matter what. And I'm saying there is a legal liability for what you're doing. Why are you trying to pretend that you're going to convince us to do the will of Mr. Mezzler? Mr. Heustis should be concerned about his position since he should never be allowed to represent the will of any citizen in Hawaii from Sharon Olson. I personally would never vote for you again. So that's... Yeah, I'm going to ask you not to first do not to one read testimony that is someone other than you and secondly imply any behavior on behalf of the councilmember. It's not appropriate. Thank you. Well, I'm just reading what she wrote. And I'm going to advise you and any further testifiers that you should not be presenting other people's testimony I'll need your own. Thank you. I'm just reading what she wrote. And I'm going to advise you in any further testifiers that you should not be presenting other people's testimony only your own. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for your testimony. Our next testifier here in the Heelow Chamber is CC Davenport to be followed by Nancy Kar Smith via Zoom. CC, when you begin, you'll have three minutes to provide your testimony on bill 198 and 199. If you transition, we can reset that time for you. If you could just reintroduce yourself as you begin, please. Good afternoon, council members. My name is CC Davenport from Waimea. And I am in opposition of bill's number 198 and 199. I want to specifically address the property across the street where Minutestop is. That parcel is .73 acres. It was. It used to be where Keaka Kea is. It's now housing development, RS10, RS75, whatever it is. It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful piece of egg land that the white family farmed. Richard White decided, and he told the neighbors when he was going to do this, don't worry, don't worry. It's just gonna be like KW down the street, two gas, state, two little gas pumps. people can come and fix their cars. That's all I want to do here. Well now there's a great big minute stop there with eight gas pumps, you know, a convenience store. So, you know, I live across the street on another beautiful five acre piece of land. John and I built a house at the very back of the property hoping to get away from some of the noise coming from the street. I'd like to tell you that I wake up to birds chirping every morning but I don't. I wake up to Pacific waste banging their dumpsters on the ground, biodiesel with a hum for at least an hour and this is at four and five o'clock in the morning. This is not during normal business hours. Then we have urls, you know, there are beef, beef, beef of the big delivery trucks backing up. We have big diesel trucks filling up rice rockets filling up gas. You know, and they all think mom and I whole highway is a race track. They treat that corridor there like like it's the Indy 500. Richard's parcel, where Midsstop is, is .73 acres. John Metzler in the front, that commercial property is 2.35 acres. He could potentially triple the size of what Richard White has across the street, which will only contribute not only to the traffic but to the noise. It's non-stop every single day and one might say okay that's during the weekday Monday through Friday. No Saturday there are about 50 Harley-Davidson's across the street minutes stop. Transitioning, yeah, transitioning thank you. There are about 50 The Hurley-Davidson's across the street. At minute stop. Transitioning. Yeah, transitioning. Thank you. There are about 50 Harley-Davidson's across the street. Going down the highway, it's just noise. It's constant noise. Between the Fish and Hog and the White Camoila or Wimea Brue House, whatever that is, at the intersection. There are 51 driveways. Entrance is exits. Businesses, Residence, or residential properties. That's 0.6 acres. If you go from the brew house all the way out to Mary-Mens, then you go from the main intersection in Y-Mail, out to Y-imea School to the Carter Center, that's another point two miles. There's only, there's 56, actually 57 driveways. So there are within a half a mile, there's just as many entrances and exits going onto an off of Mama Lahua Highway, then there is through the rest of town. We don't need any more commercial. The little coffee ladies across the street, that's underdeveloped. Fish and hog, that's underdeveloped. They can build another building there. Grigis, electric, just built about the old and Firenet. They're looking for tenants. Right next to Dr. Hartwell, Dr. Doi, there's a commercial lot that's vacant. Benji Garfinkle can potentially build a two-story building on the back of his property, on the back, not through the floodplain. Down where a Kamuila meat market is, there's space for rent there. The old Montessori, that's vacant. Nobody's doing anything with that. I think it's been off, I don't know. But there's land there within that half a mile stretch. There's so much commercial property that's not being used, not being rented, not being built on. We don't need any more commercial in that area. Housing, this is prime egg land. Why me is very, very expensive. That's not going to be affordable housing. Not affordable to the normal regular local working family that works two to three jobs. That's where family coming in, they're putting their kids in HPA, Parker's school, you know, those are multi-million dollar homes that are going to go back there. There's nothing affordable about that piece of property as far as housing goes. 30 seconds please. So I'd like you to, you know, to really think about the long-term effects of this stretch of roadway. The traffic is horrendous. It's horrendous. I'm coming home trying to get home yesterday. People are jocke for positions. Two lanes down to one lane. We're trying to get on to the highway to go into town. We're sitting there, sitting there, waiting there, waiting, waiting, waiting. It's just ridiculous. It's gone, you know, it's just bad. It's just horrible. So thank you very, very much, Council Members. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chair, our next testifier is via Zoom. Nancy Carr Smith to be followed by John Coano and Dina Herwoods here in the Heavow Chamber. Nancy, when you begin, you'll have three minutes to provide your testimony on Bill's 198 and 199. If you clearly transition, we can reset your time. If you could just reintroduce yourself as you begin, please. Thank you very much. Aloha Chair, Kimball, Vice Chair, Onishi and Council Members. I am Nancy Karsmith from Wemia. These bills have been before you many times. I appreciate the efforts by this and previous council to make sure that you got it right on this one. You gave the applicant's time to adjust to make changes, which they did multiple times. You encouraged the public to weigh in on what they would like to see happen on the property. When I saw that occur, I assumed that you wanted some constructive feedback and suggestions from the public, but I never thought that you would give the public the right to tell a property owner what they can and cannot do on their own property. I cannot imagine that any of you or any of the folks that oppose this project would ever want to be told what they can do on their property. Right? I mean, it's common sense, but this has gotten really out of hand. The planning department has shared multiple times how these two builds are in line with the general plan, the South Kohala Community Development Plan and the Waimea Design Plan. Regarding the commercial component, the property is surrounded by commercial property and commercial endeavors, some of which are owned by people who are opposing this project. This is the classic not in my backyard scenario, which does not feel at all pono to me. The idea that we are losing precious aglan in Waimea is not realistic. Actual agriculture in Waimea is shrinking. It's not expanding. It's more of a reality these days for people to grow some of their own food rather than to farm to make a living. Hawaiian homes farmers market barely exists anymore and that's because farmers are not farming. If we ask the opposition how many of them actually farm, I can't help but think that there wouldn't be very many hands raised. It's more our way of life these days to grow what we can which is a perfect scenario for the proposed residential egg blocks. Transitioning rally. The commercial buildings themselves are not on the table right now. The commercial zoning is and the property was previously zoned commercial. There's commercial properties across the street to the east to the west and some of them legal some of them not. So you know how how you can tell people that you can't be a part of that is beyond me. The talk about flooding is not on the table right now either, that gets addressed at the planning level. This has become a very divisive topic for our sweet Waimea, and it's super sad to watch. This is all over a five acre parcel. For me, it's really a matter of principle, and I don't believe that there's anything on paper in the law encodes that prevent this project from moving forward. It's sad that this has become so personal, and it's really not fair how this has gone down. People who feel the same way I do don't tend to speak out. It's generally the opposing voices who tend to be the loudest, and I respect those voices, but it doesn't mean that it's right. I feel that the precedent that you would set by denying these bills is much bigger than the precedent you would set by approving it. I'm hoping you can find in your hearts to do what is right and not what you're feeling pressured to do. These times we're feeling ourselves nationally, locally within a great divide, disdain and distaste. And I hope you can find your way around that. The threats against council members is really awful to see some of the testifiers doing it and I can't say anything more about that but this is all rather disappointing and I hope you guys find it in your heart to do the right thing. Thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony. Chair your next two testifiers are here in the Heelow Chamber. John Cowano, testifying on Bill 198 and 199 to be followed by Deena Herwitz, testifying on Bill 199. John, when you begin, you'll have three minutes. If you clearly transition, we can reset your time. If you could just reintroduce yourself, please. Hi, hi, everybody along. Thank you for your time. when they get a long day. But I'm confused here. You know, our per- Thank you for your time and yet a long day. But I'm confused here. Our purpose was to come here to report to Heather about our community meeting. And speaking to James, our first agenda was to have Kalani. Have six minutes to brief the council what happened on the meeting. And I don't know what happened. Kalani was never given his opportunity today. I'd like to go on record to explain what happened in our public meeting which Mahina was present to 12 threats like that that there is no threats going on. It was a fair meeting. I've let Kalani elaborate on this, but I don't know why he hasn't given the opportunity to brief you on our meeting. So we had three, you know, we had an agenda that that meeting would be fair to whoever participated in it. There were three components for against and unsure. So we've all given this as testimony today. And I'm here to say we have black and white evidence the community is not for this project. And we add the agenda to tell make sure that these same faces you see is not their agenda. we are representing the greater community here. So, you know, we took the time, prior to this meeting, to meet with Jeff Tharros, to really educate ourselves to see what could be done in this property. So we're not going in blind. We're not going in, not knowing the consequences, you know. So what Jeff has told us, oh, transition to the other three, what Jeff has told us that after he has the zoning, there is no commitments. And then I believe the word was no agreeable binding liability agreements in the bill. So our answer to our public's output to the bill was no, no. So I would like to elaborate on why the no was, but, you know,, their wrote down on sheets. So we have this all documented as testimony. What the public wants for this project. So our job here today is to, we've presented you this testimony, black and white in paper, not hearsay, that please look at it. Please study it, please look at it. It's the agenda of the community, not five individuals, you know, so we made very sure that just our views weren't being expressed. But a lot of people can't be here. They have to work. They have kids, you know, so we are speaking for them. So please look at the evidence. I'm sure you see all the testimonies against it. I would say the major concern is public safety with the traffic. It's a major concern. If the traffic wasn't coming through WeMA as bad as it was, we would have no problems with this project. But we're under a lot of traffic. So in closing, Heather said the agenda was what would be acceptable by this meeting. And then what the consensus was from the neighborhood I got is we're okay with housing, but not with the commercial. And I have testimonies. If people are interested to read it, it's from people directly across the street. And I can leave it here for council. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Chair, your next testifier is Dina Herwoods testifying on bill 199 to be followed by Benji Garfinkle via Zoom. Before you begin your testimony, I just want to make one point of clarification, which is this testifying public Testify period is only appropriate for folks wanting to deliver testimony I will be reflecting to the body what has happened into the intervening periods since the last hearing about any meetings And if they choose to follow up on getting a presentation from the community meeting I'm not going to have a dialogue right now. I just wanted to clarify that there is an opportunity should the body request it after we get through public testimony. Public testimony just is not the appropriate place. Please go ahead with your testimony. Thank you. Thank you, Mahalo. May I stand at all? Can I stand before you? I feel more comfortable, Mahalo. Mahalo. Aloha, my name is Dina. Look at Lani Herwitz. I live in Kamawala, and I've been there. I have a six acre parcel across the street, and I was one of the first owners there in that particular location. I'm deeply moved about all of this and I really hope that each and every one of you hear my plead of Aloha. It's really, that's what I come away with with that's what I'm holding on to. It goes with the story in the income of Willa I was raised there from 17 years old so a lot of these people's parents raised me as I was just navigating myself. I lived there all this time with one knowledge. When I first got married and built a home, right up Lindsey Road, with a family name, right? Right up Lindsey Road and built a nice three bedroom, two bathhouse, and my husband and I noticed that the neighbors all around were so close, we knew that when we bought it, but we didn't recognize the dogs, the loud, noisy dogs that were now intruding on our privacy since we had just put up our home. So Steve went and called the police and reported, not knowing that who he was speaking to was the cousin of the person he was calling on. Back then when I moved into the town there was 2500 people. In the early 70s, Kamalala was only 800 people. It was very small and confined. So we built our house, he picked up the phone, he complained and said, this is, you know, I have my rights, I have this. And that was that. Nothing ever happened except the neighborhood and the Al-Ura. So when Lloyd Case would pass us, sometimes he'd look. If we met eyes, he would wave his fingers. But I was uncomfortable because my bloodline is related to his wife. But I don't really know them well. We didn't grow up together. I don't know. I don't know. So long story short with there what Lloyd Choi chose to do was to share a loha. And this man basically took my husband and said Steve let me take you hunting. Let me take you I got from Los Angeles Beverly Hills and he put him on and so they took him hunt. He caught the pig, he shot the pig, he carried it on his shoulders. He had tics in his hair and he had a different look in his eye and it was Aloha. It was understanding that this man was making a living and trying to feed his children. So today Lloyd Case and Steve Hurwitz are one of the best friends ever. I know that the Mezzar family, I know you, I know you're good people. I know the good things that you have done and I know the good bones that you do come from. We can all say that about every single one of us. I'm so sorry, Dean, but we have to leave with this. Sure, I will do my 30 seconds. The 30 seconds have passed. Three minutes are up. We have to move on. I'm so sorry. OK. As I walk away, can I state that by law, by law, Pilari Pakee stated that it is a law for women? Thank you. With that, I'm sorry to speak over you. But chair, our next testifier is Benji Garfinkovia Zoom. I think we lost Benji actually. Kalamayacir, we do not have Benji in zoom. So our next testifier is going to be here in the helo. zoom. Oh, I think we lost Benji actually. Color my chair, we do not have Benji in zoom. So our next testifier is going to be here in the Heelow Chamber. Anaco OPE to be followed by a poor case, both testifying on bills 198 and 199. Anno, when you begin, if you could just reintroduce yourself, you'll have three minutes. If you clearly transition, we can reset your time. Thank you so much. Sorry, you turned the mic off. Got to press it. There you go. Aloha. My name is Anako Ho PEM, a resident of Pukukapa, Waimea. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. I'm a home state. that would happen. Our farmer's market was loaded every weekend and we were providing a lot of food not only to our communities but also to the stores in our area. So to say that there's no interest in farming in our community is inaccurate what happened during that whole period was because of COVID. In terms of our pastoral lots we would be able to provide more food if we had water. So even though this doesn't seem to come together in a sense of way, for me to give water credits to another development and retail stores and all of that, we've had our homestead award for 30 years and we still don't have water for our pastoral areas. So I just wanted to correct that because it's not that there's not an interest in farming in Waimea. It's because of the decisions that are made by people who decide what's going to happen if we're going to have development or if we're going to have agriculture, if Hawaiian homelands is going to be taken care of or if people coming from the outside with lots of money are the ones that are going to get attention, permits and so forth. So I just wanted to set that straight. I personally for this, to meetings that we had, walked from one end of what I made to the other and handed out flyers, just stores and residents, it took me hours on the weekends. No one knew about this development that I spoke with. I handed out over 85 flyers, invited people to come to the community meeting that we put together so that they could learn more. So that's another thing. I don't know where the community outreach was, but the people that I contacted, and I walked from one small store and one small building to another through my community. No one knew what was going on. We did have 1800 testimonies opposing and we had over 180 people attend the meetings at that we held in April and in May and everyone was unanimously opposed. This goes back to what I'm talking about with Hawaiian homelands. We need a secure food supply. People that I talked to when I was going through the community and handing out wires of transitioning. Thank you. We're concerned about our food supply, especially with the incoming tariffs and all the other things that were happening. It was a real concern about what we are now faced with, what if the ships don't come in? What are we gonna do? We've talked to this body who you have come and gone and the State Department of Agriculture about this issue year after year after year after year about securing our food supply for our people here first before we're going to give out land and give out water and give out permits and all of that to other developments that you can't eat that and they're not going to take care of our families. When something goes down in the administration we have now, we don't know what's going to happen next. So that was another thing that was a huge concern with community members as I walked through YMAI. The other thing we don't have the infrastructure in YMAI for more development. We don't have the water. We don't have the roads. Our schools are overcrowded and Hawaiian homelands are school on Hawaiian homelands. Our own kids are on a wait list. That's how crowded our schools are to get into school that's built on our lands. There's energy problems. We've had rolling blackouts in our community that now are announced. We should just prepare and be ready for that. So we have to be ready for now rolling blackouts because of the inconsistent energy supply and our medical facilities are also overburdened. Finally, the project and this is something for me that's very painful is the soaring level of gentrification that we're experiencing. When I moved into my community 30 years ago in Hawaiian Homelands, there was one stop sign, one stop sign. Everybody knew each other, we all took care of each other. I don't recognize the white man anymore. I can't even get into a parking lot in our grocery store. We can't get our kids into our own schools. It's just unbelievable teachers can't live in Waimea. Our own teachers can't afford to live in Waimea. Our nurses cannot afford to live in Waimea anymore. Displacement of local people, you've heard this a hundred times, there's no such thing as affordable housing in Waimea anymore. A house basic single family over 800,000. It's unaffordable. Not for some people, but it is unaffordable for Kanaka and it's unaffordable for our local people. 30 seconds please. Yes. Allipono. This isn't right and there are no amount of amendments or anything else. That's going to make this right. Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chair, your next testifier is Pua Case to be followed by Ecolani Flores. Pua, when you begin, if you could just reintroduce yourself, you'll have three minutes unless you transition and then we can reset. Thank you. Aloha my kako. My name is Pua Case. I'm from Bukka, Hawaii Kapua, I'm in opposition to 1998, 1999, I live almost directly across the street of the proposed project. There's a chant, you know, I'm a cumulon, and there's a chant about why male, my kai eka aina o why male i of the community? That is the landscape of why mayor. And you know for us, if that land could speak to us and right across the street from me, I think what would it say right now for the benefit of the community? That is the landscape of why mayor street from me I think what would it say right now for the benefit of my mayor? Build this and just put me underneath all this cement and parking lot and commercial buildings or police. Save me for your future, for your children, for your grandchildren and do what is right, do what our kupuna would do. Think about the community. So we held this meeting and I hope you ask us about it after 81 people came to the meeting this past week because of course there was a full of drama preparation going on at the same time but we knew that. And what I'm thinking right now is I'm listening if you took away all of the emotion, all of the generational connections, all that genealogy, all that lineage and you just looked at the two bills and you looked at all the evidence that has been presented about these bills for I don't know over your year now it's the same evidence sitting in here I really haven't heard anything new because it's the same evidence being brought back brought back time after time and it's overwhelming just based on the bills itself as written. And that's what I'm in opposition to. The bills as written. The overwhelming evidence clearly clarifies why they shouldn't be passed. So when we present to the community, the community says, why is it so difficult to not pass it with all of the evidence? Why is it so difficult that we can come in front of you and we can present reports, maps, evidences, lack of studies, all of those things and we're still having to prove that these bills shouldn't be passed and when all the evidence has been given and we have to come here, I'm in charge of this. I'm again to do it. And I'm just hoping that this time, you're really gonna listen to not just 800, not just the 42 that I brought in that were handed in right at the meeting, but to all of the voices that has presented all of the evidence thus far and opposed as presented. Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chair, your next testifier is Kalani Flores to be followed by Victor Ferguson. Kalani, when you begin, if you could just reintroduce yourself. I was passing out a hard copy of the community report. If you can into the mics or the books on the icon here, you think... I was passing out a hard copy of the community report. I know you did receive it online. Such a start here. Hello, many? Oh, there you go. Hello, my name is Iqlani Flores. I live in full-couple, Waimea. I just have a few blocks down from the proposed project. I know there was a community meeting. There's a report that's been circulated. I only just touched upon a few other things before that. And just give testimony on why this bill should not be passed. I should say these two bills. 198, 1 in 9 should not be passed. and this is my testimony opposition for these particular bills. So when you look at the project as a whole, 188, 199 should not be passed. And this is my testimony in opposition for these particular bills. So when you look at the project as a whole, and so we're going to build 198, it's asking to rezone. So that's not an entitlement that comes with the land. There's a special request as well as before the land plan why it came before the legal planning commission why it's before the county council. It's a special request as well as before the land plan, why came before the Liberia Planning Commission, why is before the County Council. It's not automatic. So that is not something that the applicant is entitled to automatically. So when you look at what's a situation with this is the zoning to rural. Yeah, you're actually doing a spot zoning in this area here. So the parcel is noted. These are maps and attachments that are in the report. They have been circulated. These are actually taken from the applicant and the planning department on previous presentations. This particular parcel is asking for now a special boundary amendment and bill 108 for this parcel here. To change it from Ag5, Ag5 acres to residential half acre. That's the situation here. The problem with this, it then there's a domino effect. Besides taking out prime agricultural lands and subdivided into smaller lots here. You open up all this green here which are or egg five, then you say everybody else can do that. At one point does it stop. If you keep breaking it down, let me just put it into context. The applicant actually had 15 acres. The applicant project is here. He's originally about the property is here. Here, here. 30 seconds please. There's 15 acres. He initially bought the project. He's subdivided into three lots and five acres. Now he wants to subdivided to smaller half-acre lots, prime egg land. He already, when he once, and he sold the two other lots, when he subdivided it from 15 acres down to three, five-acre lots, he limited his options. So now he's coming before and wanting to subdivide not even further down from five acre to half acre lots. Transitioning? Transitioning to Bill 189. That's one of the problems here. So you open it up all this now, you set in a precedent that everybody else can do half acre lots. That's the concern that the community has expressed over and over and over. About the smallest subdivisions of these five acre agricultural prime lands. The other concern we come to bill 189 is a subdivision as such. It's unlike what has been said by others. The property is sandwiched between residential lots. You have here's a property here, a line in blue. And to the west of it, you have the old parker ranch housing, the former parker ranch employee housing residential. And And then on this side, residential, what depended that there's some overwhelming opposition to the commercial entity of this bill 1 in the 90s. Of trying to move this commercial, look, you can picture. They're trying to move this commercial big project here, down here, sandwich between the residential locks. So, the overwhelming opposition from the community on that part, there have been over 800 people opposing this at the Lyra Planning Commission. The Lyra Planning Commission actually voted an unfavorable recommendation for what you have in Bill 189. And that was in June 20th of 2024. They actually voted unfavorable for what you guys have been trying to pass the money. In addition, as the subsequent Vladimir Pan Commission, they tried to rescind that, but they couldn't get a vote to rescind it. They could not get a vote to rescind the unfavorable recommendation, which is the outfield one in a nine. The commercialization problem with it is that infrastructure, the road existing highway road infrastructure is not sufficient to accommodate this type of commercial development. There's over and over people has expressed that the commercialization is only to work, traffic congestion, there's no mitigation that can do that. You want to compound in it. You're not going to be able to alleviate it. All they did was move from tree entrances down to one, but this project is there. It's drawing all these people in that area. It's already significantly congested. The applicant does not live in Waimea. And yet we have to deal with this problem. It goes to live here, not the applicant. In the end, why is it so hard to say no? You can say no. The project can come back and applicant can redo it and say no. It's not hard to say no with the way it is. There's been overwhelming opposition from when to when the Leeward Planning Commission not much has changed when it has here today. And in that context I'd like to say Mahalo for allowing us to be here and provide testimony and perhaps we have an opportunity. Thank you so much for your testimony, Mr. Floor. I'd like to provide in the community our next testifiers are Victor Fergistrom to be followed by Janis Verde. Victor, when you begin, if you could just reintroduce yourself. And I just wanna give a quick time check. We may have 12 more minutes before we are going to need to recess and do our finance meeting. Hello, Council. Hello. Hello, Council. My name is Victor Fergerstrand, a resident of Waimea community for 40 years. I was born and raised in Heelow for 30 years also. I'm going to express my concern against the commercial development at this time. My opinion is that the study should be more studies and infrastructure done first. An example of studies of a remedial flood zone and effects on joint properties to my understanding this area is on flood and it's mining for 500 years. In the event, if damages occur, result of flooding, I feel the county should be held accountable or responsible. I give an example of a Konnianya road which is located between the 53 and 54 mile marker in Waimei was reconstructed and covered which he met. The construction tapered and sloped towards my property. I then got flooded in and took in three feet of water from the runoff coming over the, from the mountain side over the highway, flowing onto my property, resulting on erosion and flooding, undermining the pure structure to my home. And the roof line has sagged to a point of leaking, the leaking road damaging contents in my home. The man responsible or the developer at the time was Van Scanning, naming the private road Pukuniyahi, which is in Hawaiian Canyon or the Versa de Cannon, after his name as a landmark. He then sold the road with the house associated to the road to Mrs. Damon, then moved to Las Vegas, who is not responsible or accountable. The burning suffered was left to the individual landowner, which was myself. Exiled five should be kept egg five along which are surrounding properties and I feel the timing is not now. The alleviation of the traffic congestion problem first should be addressed first rather than adding to the traffic congestion problem. I'll transition. The county and state together should expand the road to at four lanes or revisit Hawaiian homes to consider a bypass road, even if they need to negotiate land exchanges to execute and make it happen. Should the highway get blocked, President-Ning, we have no escape route. Proactive action makes sense to me and let's not trap ourselves. Taxes and implications, commercial development tax implications should be quadrupled. And the surrounding egg-5 parses, taxes should be frozen. The idea is that to retain local people with five-acre egg, we retain owners to keep and continue their lifestyles lifesty be pressured to sell and move on account of unaffordability. This idea would bring chance and opportunity for families to educate and bring opportunity to younger members, allowing them to grow food and sustainability to a healthy lifestyle. According to President Trump, Tariffy is the best word in American dictionary, yet being uncertainty to lives of many people. Certainly, certainty and sustenance is also a beautiful word in our dictionary. These two words brings to mind a real, solid lifestyle for the doors that will contribute to make it happen. Thank you very much for your time. Consideration. Thank you. Thank you so much. Chair, your next testifier is Jan Asperger to be followed by Paddy Cook. Jan, just please reintroduce yourself as you begin. Mahalo for having us. My name is Jan Asperger. I'm from La Maa. Many generations in Ohanah there. And when I was first here a month or two ago, I began with Uomau Ke-e-o-ka-e-n-e-k-pon-no, the life of our land, but also our people. Is perpetuated in righteousness, and it is a matter of what is righteousness, what is panel and I realize it means different things to many. I come here today to represent Kupunna at 72 years old now. We don't have many in this room that age and as I have spoken to my friends, my age, we are all in agreement that in order to have a perpetuation of our Ohana, our families, our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, which I have many of, we need to keep our land intact. And we are farmers and growers. I myself, at one time, was a participant in the Hawaiian homes market. We will probably be having more. Every week, I see more coming to our Guhioale. As people begin to resuscitate themselves and recover from the COVID time, and also in educating our people, our Kanakamoahe, our Makai Nana, our aboriginals, We are the people who will grow the food. We are the people who will continue to fish. We are the people who will continue to want to educate our children and bring them back to Kokua our community. and we are proud to be Hawaiian. We are proud to be Caucasian Hawaiian. We are proud to be Hawaiian. We are proud to be Caucasian Hawaiian. We are proud to be Japanese Hawaiian and Chinese. We are wanting to still be there and when we open up looking at when we buy land, when we are fortunate enough to buy land, we are not developing our land to be commercial. And we are not trying to build bigger buildings to attract more business. We are looking to sustain a lifestyle. I'm transitioning now as we knew it to be, and as we know it it can continue in honor of what matters to us, our ancestors instilled in us a way of thinking and a way of caring for one another that I see It's not as prevalent a case in point when we have new people coming from other mainland areas. Usually they don't have the comfortableness of standing next to us and understanding how we talk to the teller and say, hey, how are your mama and dad doing? And they will turn around and they'll say, you know what, I got a shop, I get stuff to do, can you move it on and talk later? And we look at them like, this is our ohana in our town that we've always spoken to one another like that. It's just a little thing, but believe me, it's actually a big thing. It's how we keep showing care. It's how we know if somebody needs help. It's how we cook for somebody who is suffering. It is. It's righteousness. So I wanted to mention that I am one of the founders of Kanoka. I know New Public Century Charter School. I did ask my daughter who is a graduate and a teacher there. My children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. I asked her to go and deliver Palapala to do testimony for this yesterday and get it in on time through the internet. I'm not really good in the tech division, but they said they would and they did. So they were able to compensate for being in the Hula Jama. Our young people and our Kupuna, our Makua, are by and large, opposed to these developments at this time. For all the reasons that have previously been stated, they are relevant. And it is true, why can't there be a no right now? Mahalo Oh, cool, it got blessed, everyone. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chair, the last test of our, we have this patty cook. Patty, when you begin, if you could just introduce yourself. Good afternoon. Thank you for your patience and for allowing us to have a moment to speak. I'm Patty Cook from Waimea. I've lived there 40 years. I spoke on this project before and stand on my testimony so I'll keep it short. I don't think there's anyone here that's spoken today that doesn't love Waimea. No question in my mind about that. How we act on and is another thing. And for my 40 years in my mail, I probably have attended more than 150 community meetings with the community association. By the way, I do not represent the community association, but the questions about the funding and design review committee are spelled out on the website. And it was a resolution passed by this council back in 1986 and it's purely advisory. But it's open to everyone. All the meetings are more than open as are all Community Association meetings. And the opportunity to speak, ask questions, bring up issues is an open door. Going back to the point of how you participate, it's extremely important, unfortunately, to put time into it, to learn with the lawyers, to attend the Planning and Design Review Committee, the South Gohan and Traffic Safety Committee, the CDP Action, help write that plan, help study and review and contribute to the general plan, participate in all of those processes to truly be able to make a difference in how we shape the future. I respect coming to meetings and having opinions, but you have to understand what the consequences are. I don't think saying no to this project has good consequences for our community. I really ask you to please vote yes. I realize that there have been a lot of numbers thrown around today. I'm not personally convinced the consequences of that are understood, maybe by some, but these are very challenging times. And being able to do the kind of infrastructure improvements we need is going to take every single person in this room showing up and participating to figure out how do we solve our water problems and our transportation problems and our environmental management problems. I ask you to please vote yes. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for your testimony with that chair that seems to be well. I'd like to put a call out to see if we have Benji Garfinkle. I do not see him in the zoom room. Benji, if you are there, you can unmute. But if not, at this time, Chair, it seems those are all the testifiers we have. Thank you. Good job, everybody. You've made it in by the deadline. It is 456. I am going to put this meeting into recess until the conclusion of the special finance meeting. Thank you.