2019-08-01 Hearing Transcript - Admin Matters #2

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In the Leeward Planning Commission, one of the members of the Commission said what he thought might be an idea to curb speculation was that if an applicant within that period of time given to him changes that the new applicant has to come back to the Commission. And, I don't know if we want to do that, but thatI wouldn't want to be the new applicant coming back to the Commission. I mean, that would be tough, because it's like we just approved this project to be able to do this, and now it just got sold. What's going on here, you know? And, so, anyway, that was a suggestion, and I think that what he was trying to do was make it uneasy for the new developer or new applicant to purchase that knowing that they would have to come back and speak to the Commission. CLARKSON: Now, Use Permits, permits are transferable, though, I assume. If there's been somebody that's had a permit to do a yoga studio or whatever for 20 years and they sell the property, the new owner doesn't have to come to get DARROW: —This would be in the initial time period prior to finalizing the permit. But, I don't know if that's practicable, but it was a suggestion, so we wanted to bring it forward. I think some of the conditions we're considering will curb speculation because it's going to put a lot of pressure on the original applicant to get that project done within a particular time and to show that there's been progress. Without that, and they go to a particular time without progress, they are going to have a hard time getting an extension from the Commissions. So, what we'll do, what we're really seeking for from the Commission at this time is with these different options, to kind of just hear from the Commission as to what you folks think the Planning Department and the Planning Director should be focusing on to bring before the Joint Commission for a vote, because at some point, we're going to have to this is a highly unique situation. Usually, the Planning Director brings forth something or the Council brings forth something and you vote on it. This is something that was initiated for discussion by the Commission that's gotten pretty detailed and extensive on the discussion. So, we want to be able to make sure we hear clearly and be able to bring forth these proposed amendments to both the Windward and Leeward Commission for that joint hearing. It's not going to make a whole lot of sense if the direction of the Windward Commission is completely different from the direction of the Leeward, and we go to vote on the Joint Commission, and there's not that, we're not able to get it passed. AU: I have a question for [the] Director. Do you have any concerns with what was presented? I'm just curious. You know, a lot of discussion was about a lot of different things. I wasn't part of that. I just got on the Commission, so I'm interested to see if there's any major concerns that you do have, Mike. YEE: I don't have any at this time. I think it's been pretty clear through the hearings, and it's not as if you've sat through the Leeward, that we have to address this. I think Jeff was right. There are some folks that have misunderstandings, and so they want radical change. I don't necessarily see the suggestions being radical. Again, we have to take into a place in time where these rules were created at a certain point. We've moved along a timeline, and as the Commissioners now weigh what's our environment now and what makes sense moving forward EXHIBIT D 12