LIHU‘E — The county Planning Commission on Tuesday deferred a decision to allow a helicopter tour company to land and conduct a tour on an area adjacent to Hali‘i Falls, approximately 1.5 miles west of Kilohana Crater. Commissioner Caven Raco
LIHU‘E — The county Planning Commission on Tuesday deferred a decision to allow a helicopter tour company to land and conduct a tour on an area adjacent to Hali‘i Falls, approximately 1.5 miles west of Kilohana Crater.
Commissioner Caven Raco said the commission would like to give time for the owners of Inter-Island Helicopters, Robin and Dana Venuti, to work out with the county Planning Department some of the concerns expressed during the public hearing that morning.
The commission had already delayed its decision once, on Sept. 28, and no date has been set to re-introduce the matter on the agenda. The department has the discretion to set a date “when it has the necessary information,” county planner Ka‘aina Hull said.
Despite saying the tour operations would bring no significant impacts to the area, Hull said the department recommended the permit approval on a temporary basis.
The Santos family was more worried about the impacts the tour operations have near Burns Field Airport in Hanapepe, where the helicopters take off, rather than the impacts on Hali‘i Falls.
Ku‘ulei Santos said her family has been making salt for generations at Salt Pond, next to the airport. The salt plant is located in one of the lowest spots in that area.
“Everything that happens (there) affects us,” said Santos, adding that Inter-Island doesn’t even have a permit to have a permanent office at the airport.
The Planning Department did not respond at press time to a query of who, if anyone, has permits to operate and store equipment at Burns Field.
During salt season, which lasts for three months, Inter-Island is asked not to fly over the salt patches because it spreads dust over the ponds, Santos said.
“They continue to do it every single time,” she said. “They run their helicopters 20 to 25 minutes. All the dust, everything, it affects us, it affects what we do.”
Santos said she has been “willing and able” for the past two months to meet with the owners, and despite attempts from the county to set up meetings, there have been no phone calls from the company.
Inter-Island office manager Valerie King said she has “done nothing but tried to work with all these people.” She denied the Santos family ever called the company.
Good neighbors
Rostagno said his reason for the request is “primarily to be responsible with the local community.”
He said by adding waterfall landings to the tours, the number of flights would be less since the helicopters would be tied up for an hour at the falls, thus reducing noise pollution generated by the helicopters.
Inter-Island is able to conduct 14 tours per day, according to Venuti. If the waterfall landing would be approved, the tour company, because of a longer tour, would be able to conduct only 10 flights per day.
Venuti said his reason to request the permits was “absolutely financial,” but it would also be beneficial to the island because the noise would be reduced.
The company, however, is not operating 14 flights per day. Between its two helicopters, Inter-Island is only averaging six-to-seven flights per day, according to Venuti.
Ku‘ulei Santos’ mother said Inter-Island is not the friendly company they say they are.
Hanapepe resident Abbey Santos said that a few months ago she was watching the Sept. 28 hearing on TV — in which Inter-Island originally asked for the waterfall landing permit — when pilot Luca Rostagno said the company has been a good neighbor in Hanapepe.
On that same day Abbey Santos saw Rostagno’s helicopter “buzzing” over her house, hovering in her yard.
“So I thought, ‘Well, he just said he’s a great neighbor, so I’m going to call him up and ask him why is he buzzing my house,’” she said. “So he told me ‘Well, I was on a survey and I can do whatever I want to.’”
Rostagno said he didn’t have to tell her which survey he was doing because of the privacy act, she added.
Abbey Santos said after spending two hours trying to figure out which survey Rostagno was doing, she was told that he was surveying egrets.
“There were no egrets in my yard,” she said.
She then called the Federal Aviation Administration, and they confirmed that Rostagno can do almost whatever he wants if he’s on a survey.
The FAA also told her that they keep no records of complaints, she said, which led her to conclude that it’s the reason why Rostagno said in 13 years of flying helicopters on Kaua‘i he never had a complaint from the FAA.
“I don’t think they respect our community,” she said. “They are not good neighbors.”
The FAA could not be reached for comment by press time.
Education
Venuti told the commission the waterfall landings would be an opportunity to bring awareness to people about the area.
“It would be definitely an opportunity for education,” Venuti said.
He said he would be able to help improve the area by bringing back some of the native plant species that once thrived there. “It’s overrun by ginger and non-native plant species.”
Commissioner Herman Texeira asked Venuti to explain who on the island would be educated by the tour.
Venuti said he would educate every single passenger that goes on a tour.
The answer did not satisfy Texeira.
“But most of the passengers are not island residents, they’re visitors. How would this impact our local population?” said Texeira, adding that a helicopter tour is something many locals cannot afford.
“Well, we’ll make that affordable,” Venuti said.
Inter-Island currently offers on its website only one tour package, priced at $249 per person.
Ku‘ulei Santos said Inter-Island does “nothing” to help protect Salt Pond.
“Now you want to fly to a waterfall? What’s to say you’re going to help protect that area, when you can’t even protect the area that you had? It’s disturbing,” she said.
Ownership
Another major concern raised during the first hearing, last September, was that the company had been conducting waterfall landings for years despite never having a permit.
Residents testified in opposition to the permit at that hearing, saying the owners did not deserve to have a permit because of years of operating illegally.
The Venutis said then that they had bought the company in January 2010. They said as soon as they found out the waterfall landings were illegal, a few months later, they stopped doing them, and have not done any since the beginning of last summer.
They also said they have pulled every ad promoting the landings, including brochures in airports.
The Inter-Island website, at press time, still had several pictures of waterfall landings.
Some residents who testified in September also raised concerns about the company’s ownership.
Despite the Venutis testifying that the company was theirs, Ken D’Attilio, who owned Inter-Island for many years, said the company was still his. “That’s my company. I own the whole damn thing,” he said at the time.
D’Attilio said the Venutis were only “repping” for him at the September hearing.
Robin Venuti said he and Dana were the sole owners. His wife Dana owned 51 percent of the share, and he owned the rest, Robin Venuti said last September.
According to Dun & Bradstreet, a business-database company, as of July 3, 2010 Joel D’Attilio was the president of Inter-Island Helicopters, Jonathan D’Attilio was the vice-president, Jeremiah D’Attilio was the secretary and Joseph D’Attilio was the principal. Each one owned 25 percent of stock capital in the company.
Venuti said on Tuesday the ownership claim has been resolved, and that D’Attilio has no ownership in it but remains as a consultant.
Go to www.kauai.gov for more information. There’s no set date for the permit request to be put back on the commission’s agenda. The commission meets every second and fourth Tuesday of the month, at 9 a.m. at Mo‘ikeha building, room 2A/2B, Lihu‘e.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ kauaipubco.com.
