• Hawaii Dairy Farm should stand down • Neighbors against liquor license • Funding Kauai roads will be costly Hawaii Dairy Farm should stand down For those who banter around such words as “anti” or “fear monger,” use the analytical thinking
• Hawaii Dairy Farm should stand down • Neighbors against liquor license • Funding Kauai roads will be costly
Hawaii Dairy Farm should stand down
For those who banter around such words as “anti” or “fear monger,” use the analytical thinking part of your head for a moment. You’re not being informed of a possibility, nor a probability. Facts don’t lie. You are being carefully, data based, informed of a certainty. It has been Hawaii Dairy Farms who has beguiled you with their magical dairy fantasy that has practiced the art of misinformation.
In aviation, if your mission is to transport cargo and find that under conditions of total weight of fuel and cargo, runway length and an extreme hot weather condition, the type of aircraft you’re flying can’t lift off. You don’t argue. You stand down, and try later under different conditions. If the mission is absolutely necessary, you can off load some cargo, (which lowers the total fuel requirement) then re-evaluate (chart the data). Simple: no bravado, no fear of flying, just common sense.
An appropriate dairy planner should do no less. The Hans Christian Anderson “The Emperor has No Clothes” is a perfect parallel to what has happened to Kauai residents.
HDF has paraded a never-before concept past their financial backer, the NRCS, the Kauai County planning agencies and the mayor, all seemingly bedazzled by its supposed scientific backup. Only when HDF opened up to the public (not a pat and practiced performance before a select audience), but a concerned group, did they find those who gave clear, data-based reasons and said, “I studied it, and it won’t work.”
Ronald John, San Luis Obispo, Calif., former Kapaa resident
Neighbors against liquor license
We residents of Kuawa Road in Kilauea have been united in our opposition to Common Ground restaurant obtaining a liquor, live entertainment and dancing license. Some of us live with our children and grandchildren in this agricultural/residential neighborhood. Some of us have lived here prior to the conversion to Guava Kai. Most of us prior to the snack bar’s change from selling guava juice and guava by-products to the current restaurant which no longer is “accessory and secondary to the principal agricultural use.”
Instead, Common Ground restaurant has been functioning as a dining and entertainment venue, using products provided by vendors, much like any other commercial restaurant on island. Where is the farm to table, farm to shelf component?
Where is the oversight?
To compound the situation, the Liquor Commission, to quote: “Following the policy set by the Planning Commission” granted liquor, live entertainment and dancing permits. We are not different from any other family on the island. Which family would be happy about having a bar and nightclub for a neighbor? This destination located at the end of a narrow, poorly maintained, dark rural road without signs or lights at night? Our properties where we reside, farm, maintain to the best of our abilities, are our most valuable investment. Many of us hope to see our children and grandchildren continue as good stewards of the land. We have small parcels, small in comparison to Mr. Jaeb’s, but we do not believe that one owner-developer (who resides elsewhere) should be able to decide for the 20 and more households who believe in keeping the ag/residential zoning. And it is worth noting that the property is currently for sale!
We have made our opposition known to the planning department, the planning commission, the liquor commission, through letters, phone calls and personal testimonies. We have the support of many Island residents plus the Kilauea Neighborhood Association in that we all feel strongly about preserving the integrity of the agricultural-residential nature of our neighborhood. A restaurant, which now has the permits to function as a full-service restaurant/bar/nightclub, belongs in a commercial, urban neighborhood, with easy access to the services of the fire and police departments, on a well-lit and well-maintained street. We residents have to live with the increased traffic, pollution, noise and fear not only for our health and safety, but for that of the public’s.
The many supporters for the liquor license all live elsewhere. At the end of their meals and parties, they get to go home where they can enjoy the peace and quiet of their homes. It is unfortunate that we citizens are not afforded the same protection by the same government agencies we support with our taxes. Again, how can one property owner/developer be granted permits against the protests and detriment of adjoining property owners/residents? What about compliance with land use, zoning laws and compatibility with the character of the neighborhood?
Something is terribly wrong with this administration.
Elli Ward, Kilauea
Funding Kauai roads will be costly
Mr. Mickens does himself and his readers a great disservice by insinuating that the reason Kauai roads are not being widened is all the fault of JoAnn Yukimura.
Mr. Mickens was at the Kauai Long Range Transportation Plan meeting when it was clearly shown, because of Ms. Yukimura’s calm and insistent questioning of the transportation panel, that the dollars required for the projects he wants far exceed the dollars available. In fact, just the Kapaa bypass would use all of the available money, and it would not be completed for 20 years.
Mr. Mickens should provide some ideas on how his projects should be funded or risk not being taken seriously.
John Zwiebel, Kalaheo
