Ka‘ū News Briefs, Tuesday, March 1, 2022

TEN SATELLITE DISHES, EACH 20 FEET WIDE, COULD BE TEMPORARILY PLACED IN WOOD VALLEY on .5 acres at the corner of Center and North Roads. The site is on a 21.8-acre agriculture zoned parcel owned by Pam and Ray Mizuno. Ray's family has owned and farmed the land for generations; it is listed for sale.
       The applicant is leasing five acres to include a buffer zone around the .5 acre satellite dish site. The ten dishes would be attached to 6-ft. aluminum posts. The plan is to use satellite dishes to record Fast Radio Bursts, which are sudden blasts of radio-frequency radiation from deep space that last a few microseconds. The dishes themselves put out no radiation nor radio signals, says the permit application. According to the planning document, Wood Valley was chosen because, along with all of Kaʻū, it is the most "radio quiet" site on the island.

    The proposal to the County Planning Commission for a Special Permit comes from applicant Academia

An example of the kind of satellite dishes  planned for Wood Valley by Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Photo from ASIAA

    Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, based in Taiwan. It researches solar systems, star formation, extragalactic astronomy, interstellar and circumstellar medium, and high energy astrophysics. Astronomers discovered the Fast Radio Burst phenomena in 2007 and have since detected thousands of FRBs from deep space.
    On Wednesday, Feb. 23, Land Planning Hawaii LLC sent notice of the special permit request to landowners within 500 feet of the site, as required by County Zoning Code, and Planning Commission Rules.
    The applicant is a research institute of Academia Sinica, the national academy of the Republic of China. ASIAA is based on the National Taiwan University campus, with a field office in Hilo. ASIAA operates two observational facilities on Hawai'i Island - the Submillimeter Array on the summit of Mauna Kea and the Y.T. Lee Array on Mauna Loa.
    The notice states that, if approved, in addition to the satellite dishes, ASIAA plans to temporarily locate two storage containers, one catchment tank, and one port-o-potty on the site. The satellites would face the northeastern sky and are designed for reception only, with no transmission of radio signals.
    The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing, with date to be announced. If needed, a contested case hearing will be conducted on the matter. To provide input, written testimony can be submitted prior to the public hearing or verbally at the public hearing. Written testimony can be sent to Land Planning Hawaii LLC at 194 Wiwoole Street, Hilo, HI 96720.
    Anyone requesting a contested case hearing must file a Petition for Standing in Contested Case Hearing with a $200 fee no later than seven calendar days prior to the Commission's first hearing. The contested case form and filing fee must be submitted via County of Hawaii Electronic Processing and Information Center at https://hawaiicountyhi-energovpub.tylerhost.net/Apps/SelfService#/home.
    Applications for a contested case hearing are available at the County Planning Department, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo and its Kona office in the Kona Civic Center at 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, HI.
    To learn more about this case, call Land Planning Hawaii LLC at (808) 333-3393 or the County Planning Department at (808) 961-8288.

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A PUBLIC MEETING ON OPTIONS FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN PAHALA will be held on Wednesday, March 16 at 6 p.m. at Pāhala Community Center. The county's Department of Environmental Management will host the session and issued a statement today saying:

    "Hawai‘i County entered into an administrative order on consent with the United States Environmental Protection Agency to close the existing Pāhala Large Capacity Cesspools and provide secondary wastewater treatment to Pāhala residents. In January 2021, the (Mayor Mitch) Roth administration determined that the (proposed) Lagoon Wastewater Treatment system was excessively expensive, inefficient, disruptive, and ultimately unfeasible. Hawai‘i County has requested approval from EPA to take a new path, and is gathering community input on its proposal. Representatives from DEM and other departments will be present to answer questions about ongoing efforts to update the connections to the houses currently connected to the large capacity cesspools."

    In the meantime, the county remains in the process of acquiring land through condemnation in Pāhala for a sewage treatment plant, as required by the EPA, while alternatives are researched and brought before the public and EPA. The Kamehameha School land is 14.9 acres at the corner of Maile Street and Hwy 11 and is being subdivided from a larger piece.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/. See latest print edition at www.kaucalendar.com. See upcoming events and Kaʻū Calendar newspaper sponsors at http://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/02/events-of-february-2022.html. 

A VIRTUAL RESOURCES FAIR FOR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS be held Wednesday March 2 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Link is bit.ly/EmPrep1. The second is Tuesday, March 8 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with link at bit.ly/EmPrep2. The third is Tuesday, March 22 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. with link at bit.ly/EmPrep3.

     Hawai'i County Civil Defense staff will teach participants how to prepare 'ohana for emergencies; start community planning group in the community; understand the County's resources and what to expect in a disaster event; preparedness and rescue of animals and plants; and volunteer opportunities and roles. Emergencies include hurricanes, lava flows, eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires and drought.

     For further information or inquiries, use request form: https://recovery.hawaiicounty.gov/connect/contact-us.

Sen. Mazie Hirono has leant support to Joe Biden from  his days as a Senator through his Vice Presidency  and today's first State of the Union by Pres. Biden

TONIGHT'S STATE OF THE UNION FROM PRES. JOE BIDEN DREW RESPONSE FROM SEN. MAZIE HIRONO. She said, "There is no doubt that families are struggling right now—we are still fighting the pandemic, costs are up, and a major geopolitical crisis threatens global peace and our economic recovery. But under President Biden's leadership, we are moving in the right direction. The President has unified the entire world against Russian aggression. His economic relief packages have created historic job growth. And his efforts to address the supply chain crisis and pass cost-saving policies will ease the burden of inflation for families across the country."

     The Senator said, "Under President Biden's leadership, Democrats will not stop fighting to improve the lives of every person in this country, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, immigrants and undocumented people. President Biden laid out his plan tonight of building a better America—and I look forward to supporting each of these policies in Congress."BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF HAWAI'I, the Right Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick, will lead the service at St. Jude's Episcopal Church in Ocean View on Sunday, Mar. 6. The service will be on zoom and live at 96-8606 Paradise Circle Drive. Sunday services are at 9:30 a.m. The zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85987340947?pwd=VmJOUWkvM3lCT0N2cVN2RUFiM1kzQT09 Meeting ID: 859 8734 0947; Passcode: Aloha.