SPACE, Bellyacres problems

[KeaauRich]

Or maybe Uncle Robert's ohana needs extra cash to fund development of the space port

[Obie]

I don't understand this statement :

“We’ve been four years in a special permit amendment process, and the county Planning Department has still not given us a date before the Planning Commission,”

They haven't given them a date because they haven't complied with any of the findings of fault with their SUP.

[lavalava]

Yeah, it's ok to rape and pillage public land because the county makes mistakes. What?

This guy has a history of disrespecting the community at large, and now he is stealing from the community. Anyway you slice it, this is theft. Theft from you, theft from me. How can anyone defend violating state land, especially to this extent?

What in the world does aloha have to do with breaking the law? The state forests are reserved for future generations - by logging and trespassing, VGS has shown a clear disregard for our childrens future.

Here's hoping that the county can now plainly see this wolf in sheeps clothing and deny any permits of any kind.

[kalakoa]

How can anyone defend violating state land

Riiiight. It's all "State Land" because the State says so -- there was nobody living here before the US of A came along to make sure everything was Safe For The Children.

Clearly, VGS should have bought "sustainable" lumber, clear-cut from an old-growth northamerica forest, delivered here with renewable fossil fuels.

Here's hoping that the county can now ... deny any permits of any kind.

Which would be different how exactly? At one point VGS asked for a CV upzoning, with all the permit-license-fee-inspection that involves, and County said "no".

Personally, I don't consider County to have legitimate authority, simply because the manner in which County treats the vast "private" subdivisions (eg, as a massive tax-mining operation rather than a livable community) makes it painfully clear that they do not represent "the people", only certain people. County should have either worked with VGS to help them realize their dream in an appropriate manner, or County should have shut VGS down as soon as it was clear that there would be a problem. Instead, County took the third option: let it fester until it's a big enough mess that the State can get involved, at which point County can throw up its hands and claim "hey, we not doing anything".

Now our tax dollars will be used to clean up this mess ... and we'll have to pay for it with a slightly smaller tax base now that the only "local commerce" has been driven out of Seaview, unless all those people are going to drive to town for everything (so they can pay Fuel Tax that doesn't fund their subdivision roads).

Progress?

[birchl]

Well said.

#10048;

[Mendo]

Lavalava thanks for confirming your lack of aloha. Enjoy your bitter anger along with RJ, Sativa, and the usual trolls.
"Rape & pillage?" Have you ever even met the person your trashing, who has done more for the community than all the name callers combined?

[opihikao]

mendo, those of us who have met with these people understand what lavalava is saying to some extent. There is no "aloha" from these people, it's about personal gain, no matter the cost.

Tired of people misusing the word "aloha" and "pono". Nothing these people have done is in the true spirit of "aloha". Please. Give me a break. Be assured, we are watchful that these people do not take advantage of Uncle Robert in anyway shape or form.

What these people have done is hewa.

JMO.

[Guest]

This is a letter to the editor of the Hawaii Tribune Herald that my neighbor submitted. They may or may not publish it so I thought I would post it here. I thought perhaps this might bring a little more understanding and clarity to this matter. So here it goes...

Thank you for your very interesting article on the illegal and unethical happenings at SPACE and Bellyacres. You have only touched the tip of the iceberg with regards to what has taken place and its methodology. All of the illegal findings that the DLNR report uncovered was done under Graham Ellis's management. To try and hide and bury all of the illegal activities, Mr. Ellis drafted a piece of legislation called the Sustainability Living Research bill and gave it to his good friend, Senator Russell Ruderman who introduced it as Bill 2274. This bill would have allowed the Bellyacres site plus some State lands, to qualify as a "Sustainable Living Research Site" and avoid County regulations for his continued development and lay to rest all the current violations. It was been stated that for the introduction of the bill, Mr. Ellis promised political support and a block of votes for Sen. Ruderman and others. This was truly special legislation to benefit him and, thank goodness, it was defeated at the last minute by numerous people speaking up in opposition.

Another interesting side light is that many of the Ohia trees that were not used on site ended up with a person who milled the wood for commercial use, making good money off the illegal harvesting of the trees. Rumor has it that this individual has also been poaching hardwood trees elsewhere for his commercial operation. This should also be looked in to.

Please continue to pursue this complex story with all its illegal and unethical operations so the people of the Big Island can fully understand all the backhanded, illegal operations that were taking place in their backyards and how underhanded and selfish Mr. Ellis really was, and is, in his desires to turn a profit off of State lands and our natural resources.

[rainyjim]

Everyone peer out your curtains, snitch on your neighbors, you know whats better for them than they do lets get them back in line.

[Kapohocat]

quote:

---

Originally posted by rainyjim

Everyone peer out your curtains, snitch on your neighbors, you know whats better for them than they do lets get them back in line.

---

Although I get what u are saying and I dont have any horse in this race.... think if this shoe was on a corporate foot.... and a small hotel corp was requesting a lease of DLNR land to build their small boutique hotel right next to BA. The BA group would be up in arms....

And the junga-lows could have been built illegally on the BA properties and probably no one would have said much (??).

Think of all the protests when Hapuna Prince was being built. I am going to venture a guess that a couple of people in the BA group were protesting that too and it was on private land not DLNR land...

junga-lows may not have much of a footprint but there is one none the less, and if the trees were not sustainably harvested with a eye to the future....

What I see is a case of do what i eco-say not what I eco-do philosophy.