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Monday, October 15, 2018
Internet
FREE ADMISSION
Index
Being There A7
Big Isle history B4
Classified B5
Comics A6
Issue No. 288
16 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Commentary A4
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Nation A3
Obituaries A2
Sports B1
State A3
Stocks A2
Surf Report A2
World A2
Visit us on the Web at:
www.hawaiitribune-herald.com
FALL FUN AND
A PINK RUN
Waimea celebrates autumn and
Hilo hosts a very colorful event
Photos in BEING THERE, PAGE A7
New version of measure regulating vacation rentals heads to Planning Committee
By NANCY COOK LAUER
West Hawaii Today
The fifth version of a bill regulating
short-term vacation rentals
will be considered by the County
Council Planning Committee on
Tuesday, taking into account recommendations
from the Leeward
and Windward planning commissions
and the Planning Department.
The new version of Bill 108 will
increase the one-time registration
fee to $500, allow so-called “condo
hotels” in disallowed zones, ban
vacation rentals in farm dwellings
and exempt rentals in allowed
districts from having to notify
neighbors about their operation.
The measure is an attempt
to prohibit unhosted short-term
rentals in residential and agricultural
zones, while allowing them
in hotel and resort zones as well
as commercial districts. Existing
rentals in disallowed areas would
be grandfathered in after obtaining
a nonconforming use certificate.
“We are trying to find opportunities
that strike the right
balance, address the larger
concerns without being overly
restrictive,” said Deputy Planning
Director Daryn Arai on Friday.
All vacation rentals will be
required to register with the county,
showing that transient accommodations
taxes, general excise
taxes and property taxes are paid
in full. Short-term vacation rentals
Planning
Committee
Chairwoman
Karen Eoff leads
public testimony
on Bill 108 relating
to vacation rentals
April 24 in council
chambers at
the West Hawaii
Civic Center.
LAURA RUMINSKI/
West Hawaii Today
See VACATION RENTALS Page A5
HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
Grand Naniloa Hotel guests are able to park on the old Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel property on Banyan Drive in Hilo.
Only one firm shows interest
in former Uncle Billy’s site
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Another study will
be needed before the
former Uncle Billy’s
Hilo Bay Hotel site
can be redeveloped.
A spokesman for the
state Department of Land
and Natural Resources
said in an
email that $1
million or
more will be
sought from
the state
Legislature
next session
to fund the environmental
assessment or impact statement
regarding demolition
and reconstruction.
The department issued
a “request for information”
earlier this year
regarding interest in
redevelopment, and only
Tower Development,
the managing partner of
WHR LLC, which holds
the lease for the adjacent
Grand Naniloa Hotel on
Banyan Drive, responded.
It is proposing a new
125-room hotel, with
a project cost of about
$38.5 million, according
its response to the
RFI from April 30. The
company also is offering
to provide the county
Midterms
looming,
Trump on
a rally blitz
By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald
Trump gazes out over his rally crowd
and looses a stream of insults with a
theatrical flourish and playful grin.
He jabs at Cory Booker the
“disaster” mayor, Elizabeth Warren
the “Pocahontas” pretender and
“sleepy” Joe Biden.
“I want to be careful,”
Trump tells the crowd,
feigning a confession. He
doesn’t want to hit his
potential challengers too
badly, he says, because
then the Democrats might
TRUMP
find “somebody that’s actually good to
run against me. That would not be good.”
The venue could be Council Bluffs,
Iowa, or Erie, Pa., or Topeka, Kan.,
but the formula is largely the same.
Start with a few derisive nicknames,
mix in some dreamy-eyed reminiscences
of Election Night 2016, spice things
up with an unexpected quip or zinger
out of left field and you’ve got Trump’s
recipe for a successful campaign rally.
Trump’s rallies once were the
cornerstone of an unconventional,
star-powered presidential campaign
that eschewed traditional organizing
and defied every expectation. Now,
they’re being deployed with gusto as
Trump and his team work frantically
to defy polls and precedent and save
his Republican majority in Congress
in November’s midterm elections.
See TRUMP Page A8
Study needed before state can proceed with redevelopment
See UNCLE BILLY’S Page A8
BUSHOR
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