• ADU law intent was different
• Realtors not the whole problem
• Scared what ferry will bring
• What’s the status on ethanol here?
ADU law intent was different
Concerning the review of ADU’s on Kaua‘i, I was interested to note that the most vocal proponents are local Realtors. This law and related laws providing generous allowances for dwellings on agricultural parcels was established to enable families to live on the land that they farm. That noble goal has since been perverted into another means to facilitate the conversion of agricultural land into estates, corporate compounds, gentleman farms and vacation rentals. It is no wonder local working families and farmers have not weighed in on this issue, agricultural-home ownership is no longer an option for them and they have long since been priced out of the market.
What we need is some kind of formula where the value of improvements, equipment, crops and other items solely dedicated to agriculture are weighed in proportion to items such as pools, spas, water features, multicar garages, etc.
A ratio can be ascribed, let’s say 80:20 where 80 percent of the value of the improved property (excluding the dwelling) needs to be for the purposes of agriculture. If that ratio can be reached then the property can be deemed as intended for agriculture and an ADU would be allowed. The intent of the law would be satisfied and the ADU would not become another amenity valued more for its real estate value than for its contribution to an agricultural business.
Oh, by the way, when are we going to revisit the issue of CPR’s on “agricultural” land?
Realtors not the whole problem
It really saddens me to read comments such as Mr. Holbrook’s letter (The Garden Island letters, June 12) blaming Realtors for the necessity of his local friends working two or three jobs and living in substandard housing while real estate “friends” continue to force local people from their rental homes so those homes can become vacation rentals.
Rather than having these Realtors identified publicly in print and shut down for good, it might behoove us all to look at the real cause for this problem.
Kaua‘i is just too beautiful an island, has great weather, too pleasant a way of life for its own good. People wish to visit and to live here and they’re doing so in droves. Should we “uglify” our island — can’t change the weather — but we can slowly poison our way of life by killing aloha, which we are doing so now in small doses.
I could go on and on pointing to others who should be blamed for the situation that Mr. Holbrook rightly points out. Mr. Holbrook is correct in that rentals are becoming scarcer because of the rise of vacation rentals. But the Realtor can’t sell that rental property unless the owner wants to sell it, maybe for retirement purposes, maybe for profit incentives.
Also, that rental house would not exist and that sale would not have been made possible if some developer didn’t buy a piece of land, and maybe subdivide it, and build that home on it. That developer could not build unless a large or small landowner sold that land to the developer. All guilty culprits, I am sure.
Then it needs to be pointed out, neither the guilty large/small landowner nor the guilty developer would or could sell that vacant land without the permission of yours and Mr. Holbrook’s government officials. Elected and appointed officials which the Mr. Holbrooks of Kaua‘i, of all Hawai‘i, put into positions of authority and that make those decisions to develop which eventually drive Mr. Holbrook’s local friends out of their rental homes.
As I see it, there is only one person to blame for the conditions existing on Kaua‘i today and that is each and every one of us, the residents, who continue to vote, or continue not to vote, which allows the same individuals into office who perpetrate the same negative influences that have gotten us to where we are today
The remedy?
Stop putting them in office. Register and vote for new blood, new ideas, new solutions. As long as we keep using a flawed recipe we will continue to eat bad-tasting cookies. If anyone’s name or names need to be identified publicly in print for causing rentals to be turned into vacation rentals, it is our past and present incumbents in office. Don’t vote for incumbent candidates that got us to where we are today. It is that simple, it is common sense. Our Kaua‘i cookie can return to the sweetness it once had. Register and vote for never before used common sense answers and solutions.
Scared what ferry will bring
I agree with the recent letter from Mike Coots of Kilauea concerning the superferry being an unwanted bridge. I am scared of what this could bring to our island: drugs, drunk driving, crime, carousing teens, invasive species and the like. In addition, our teens would go to O‘ahu and possibly get in trouble there.
We don’t need another source bringing an influx of people and vehicles. Our roads are too crowded now. We cannot accommodate this. Shouldn’t the public have a say in this? How can this be stopped!?
What’s the status on ethanol here?
With amazement I just read the Monday, June 12, The Garden Island article concerning ethanol production.
On Maui, Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar may build an ethanol-producing plant, but the company states that obstacles must be hurdled. A major one is the lack of either microbiological or chemical engineers, as stated by the company. The article says that the difference in revenue from molasses to ethanol would jump from $5 million to $15 million per year.
I’ll bet that the expertise is out there, in Hawai‘i and if not, then import it. No more foot-dragging. And as for more foot-dragging, what about here on Kaua‘i? I believe it has now been two years since it was reported that Gay and Robinson was converting to ethanol production.
Did I get that right and what’s the status?
