Dear Mayor Carvalho, VETO the "TVR DUE PROCESS" Bill-a letter

To:
The Honorable Mayor Bernard Carvalho
From:
The Citizens of Kaua'i
Dear Mr. Mayor

We humbly implore you to veto the current TVR "Due Process" bill before you.

We realize that TVR's that wish to be "grandfathered" into an exempted class may or may not have been legal. There are various legal opinions on this. However, we also stand by the State Attorney General Opinions in which it has been stated that overnight uses shall not be allowed, and this applies to TVR use, which is not considered an accessory to a farm use, because there is no farming occurring on the properties.

We have heard numerous testimonies from TVR owners that they cannot farm their land, which is why they need to have expensive, palatial mansions costing up to 10,000 dollars a week, and in some cases up to 9,000 dollars a night, for rent on the property to "afford" to "support" their families.

We beg to differ, Sir. Local farmers who bought agricultural land, and who have been farming their lands did not put up palatial mansions on them, and are also struggling to support their families. They did not engage in this questionable activity and farmed their lands. It is highly unfair to favor one class of people over another on land zoned exactly the same. Therefore if you give an exemption to the TVR owner over the law abiding farmer what will that do to the character and dare we say it the very fiber and soul of this island?

Further, Mr. Mayor many politicians and public officials have stated over and over again about the importance of "sustainability", and the "promotion" of sustainable practices on our island. How can the practice of TVR accommodations on agricultural lands be seen as sustainable? There is numerous testimony on record from TVR owners, that they landscape and garden their property in one breath, but then the next statements are clearly to the effect that they cannot farm their land because it is unsustainable for food production. We find this to be highly suspect given the fact that Kauai has sustained food production for centuries virtually over its entire surface and the soil is easily amended. If you can grow landscape plants and grass you can also grow crops.

Further these TVR owners claim to be a major source of employing people. However, we submit to you Sir, that these jobs are menial, and unsustainable. No one working for these TVR owners will be able to afford land themselves due to the fact that the owners are driving up land prices on Kauai to astronomical proportions, even in the current down economy.

Further, Mr. Mayor the creation of Visitor Destinations, or VDA were created for just such types of commercial activity that caters to the tourism industry. These types of operations take directly away from Hotels, smaller lodging facilities and other commercial operations that are operating legally out of the VDA.

It is inconsistant, and frankly just bad policy to allow some to obey the law, and others to be exempt from it.
By allowing certain businesses to operate certain types of operations in certain areas where other operations catering to the exact same type of clientelle (IE Transient Visitors) to not have an equitable opportunity to secure those clients is unfair. It hurts all of those businesses and their employees, and shows favoritism.

Also, another point is the issue of the matter of lawsuits against the county should these operators not be allowed their "due process", however we submit to you that not only will operators sue if they are not accepted and allowed to continue to operate, but that there will be numerous counter suits filed.

The best course of action we believe, would be to veto this bill, and go to the state legislature for clarity and a bill that would be far more equitable to all concerned.  This current bill has had to be amended often, and has caused a large rift in our community. We beg you to reconsider picking up the pen that allows this, and refuse to sign this bill into law, then allow for a much better process and bill to proceed in the future.

Sincerely,
The citizens of Kaua'i.

GET THE PETITION HERE

Kaua'is TVR : Ag vs Vacation Rental "supplement". No Excuse for not being able to produce off the land.

Give me one acre of land, I could do a LOT of agriculture on it.

But then, ag lands do not go to people like me, who can actually farm, know what to plant and where and how to ammend the soil and make things grow.

It goes to rich greedy fake so called "farmers", who come here, don't know what the heck they are doing, fail, and then cry and moan that they HAVE to have a vacation rental, or they can not possibly make it!!

What a ridiculous, unfair farce.

The worst thing is when the council whines they don't know what agriculture is and they are trying to figure out how to define it. That's like saying they don't know how to eat, or walk, or stand upright, and they have to define it.

It reminds me of the ridiculous debates a few years ago about what constitutes an "environmentalist", regarding the seat on the planning commission that states there must be a representative from enviromental interests on the planning commission.

Its the same thing. Some people said, well I know which bin to put cardboard in, and I drop off my cardboard at the recycling center. Therefore, I have been active in the enviromental community and know enough to represent that seat on the commission." That was what some people were actually saying, I am not kidding you.

The same theory is now being applied to agriculture. "Well I have plants on my land, so I am a farmer. See all this grass?".

I just cannot tell you how totally p.o.'d that kind of very ignorant, and fake stupid "well I dont know I am innocent. Whats agriculture anyway? How do we define it? Lets ponder this until after the election. "

I will never forget, at the meeting I had a great conversation with one of the landowners, who actually turned out to be a really great couple.

I mentioned to the wife, that if they paid more attention to doing ag on their land they probably would not even need to supplement their income with the vacation rental, after finding out how much they charged for a room rental.

She agreed but said that the mortgage payments on the house were very high and that is why they needed to rent out rooms, but that if they did do more ag it probably would produce more.

Another issue that I heard, not from this couple whom I actually like, and think they really are pretty sincere poeple, I often here from these "farmers" that they can't sell their crops. Thats ridiculous. People are SCREAMING for Kauai produce.  When I mention this, then they say that they can't get a good enough price for it if the market is flooded with certain seasonals.

So I tell people you need to niche market. Do hierlooms. Look at other varieties of crops. Do people listen? Nope. Want to know why?: Its real simple. They will "token farm", and then delight in failing, so they can say see, the land can't produce we cant make it work. SO we need to change the zoning because this ag land is just no good for farming.

That is the most bogus argument there is in this modern agricultural era. There are tons of soil ammendments that are safe, like sunhemp, a natural soil conditioner. Two or in the worst cases three rounds of this crop and you can fix the most depleted soils. A round of liming afterwards, and there is just absolutely no excuse for not being able to get in a crop of anything. A good load of loam from the west side maybe, if you need to, and six inches or organic topsoil tilled in, and you are on your way to a highly productive peice of land. There is NO EXCUSE for not being able to bring in a crop. Especially if land has been fallow for awhile. Everyone knows fallow land is the best for ammending and rejuvination, and will be able to produce well if you take care of your spoils properly.

But all this is a waste of breath. These poeple will do the exact opposite to ensure they DON'T get a good crop or do well. Then they can whine, moan,  and complain. THey waste all of the ag lands, they trash them, they do everything wrong, and they are the ones that contribute to the degeneration of our soils and ag lands.

I would like an ordinance where we take the land away from farmers, and give it out to poeple like me who can actually farm. WHo know how to produce food, or to ranch and produce meats, cheeses, or who can grow herbs or medicinals, or who can produce traditional canoe plant crops, or florals that can be used for mass producing leis, such as vanda orchids, and plumerias.Ho0w about growong ipu gourds, and Kauai wauke, and producing real Hawaiian tapa again? how about lauhala groves, and a manyfacturing area, where we can produce lauhala weavinjg from right here on Kauai? How about ulu groves, and the selling of breadfgruit? More taro farming? how about hawaiian medicinal plant farms?  How about niche marketing, such as truffles, vineyards, and then wines produced right on kauai? Fruit tree groves, and then the production of jams and jellies from them? What about the numerous varieties of teas, and then the manufacture and packaging right here? What about the fruits which we need to export such as papayas, mangoes, bananas? How about edible gingers, and a host of other hierloom and niche marketing crops? This is what agriculture is.

The guy that said he couldnt grow an orange tree by the ocean, obviousely a mainland transplant does not understand that years ago, in the kalalau valley true farmers came here form the mainland, planted citrus in the kalalau valley, on the ocean, on the coast, with wind and rain, and saltwater, and were able to supply all of California with citrus, including oranges limes and lemons. When I hear this guy complaining he cant grow an orange tree, that just really insults the intelligence of Kauais people. since we know the history of citrus here. In particular the varieties of Ka'u oranges that are adapted to those conditions, the Hawaiian lemon s and limes, ect. So we know the guy is just totally incapable. HE should not have that land. Give it to a real farmer.