2020-01-16 Leeward Planning Commission Minutes

Home

Commissioner Vitousek nominated Commissioner Kealoha as vice chairperson. Commissioner Kealoha nominated Commissioner Vitousek as vice chairperson. Commissioner Vitousek declined his nomination, saying that Commissioner Kealoha had more experience and was more familiar with the meeting process. There being no other nominations, a voice vote was taken, and the nomination was approved unanimously. Commissioner Kealoha accepted his appointment as vice chairperson for 2020. 2. Discussion of recent Special Management Area (SMA) determinations, minor permits and enforcement action issued by the Planning Director. The Commission took up this item at 11:47 a.m., with one person from the public in attendance. Mr. Darrow apologized that the most recent log was not available. He informed the Commission that there was a case that court had remanded back to the Windward Planning Commission. He said that SMA Assessment applications had been coming in steadily, with ten to 15 pending applications at any given time, and that there were also a number of violations pending enforcement action. ANNOUNCEMENTS Mr. Darrow announced that the next meeting was scheduled for February 20, 2020, whose agenda included, among other items, REZ 19-000238, Applicant BNP Paribas VPG Brookline CRE, LLC, which had been deferred from this meeting. Commissioner Carr Smith expressed her concern about the historic preservation review process issue, which had been raised by Commissioner Vitousek during both hearings. She asked if the Commission could be educated on that topic. Ms. Hall responded that she would do some research to make sure that the Commission was in line with other jurisdictions and to determine how much leeway the Commission had. Chairman Unger commented that it was also serious concern of developers that they might have to spend a substantial amount of money for a project that might not be approved. Commissioner Vitousek said that while he understood that aspect, he was also concerned about pushing a project forward when the applicant had not fully complied with environmental review, which would present an even bigger risk of getting the project shut down later. He opined that the Commission's obligation was to complete the process to the most thorough extent possible so that a good project would not have challenges later for noncompliance with simple historic preservation or environmental review. Chairman Unger noted that if resolution was not reached, this matter would be raised at every hearing on rezone/subdivision applications. Director Yee commented that he appreciated the push for trying to ensure preservation of cultural resources. He said that there were also other matters, however, that the community wanted done up front, such as drainage studies, and that there was a balance to be kept so as not to make developers spend a lot of money on projects that might not be approved. Commissioner Vitousek said that the County's own process to review these projects should be the focal point, as the treatment of historic sites was of paramount importance in every community development plan and the overall General Plan, and that he would be very happy to help the Planning Department in that regard. Director Yee mentioned that he had submitted two supplemental requests for the Planning Department budget, as well as a fellowship application 4