HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-03-05 Exh C New Cingular dba AT&T USE 19-082WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION
COUNTY OF HAWAII
HEARING TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2020
A regularly advertised hearing on the application of NEW LINGULAR WIRELESS PCS,
LLC DBA AT&T MOBILITY (USE 19-000082) was called to order at 1:21 p.m. in the
County of Hawaii Aupuni Center Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii with
Chairman Thomas Raffipiy presiding, and Vice -Chairman John Replogle presiding from
2:25 p.m.
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Gilbert Aguinaldo, Dean Au, Joseph Clarkson, Thomas
Raffipiy (to 2:16 p.m.), John Replogle.
ABSENT & EXCUSED: Donn Dela Cruz.
ALSO PRESENT: Michael Yee (Planning Director), Malia Hall (Deputy Corporation Counsel
for the Windward Planning Commission), Jeff Darrow (Planning Program Manager), Maija
Jackson (Planner), Alex Roy (Planner), Jessica Andrews (Planner), and Sarah Hata-Finley
(Commission Secretary).
And 13 members from the public in attendance.
APPLICANT: NEW LINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC DBA AT&T MOBILITY (USE
19-000082)
Continued hearing on an application for a Use Permit to allow the construction a non -manned
telecommunication facility consisting of a 105 -foot tall monopine with related equipment within
a 1,054 -square feet portion of a 20 -acre property situated in the County's Open zoning
district. The subject property is located northeast of the Maku`u Drive -171h Avenue intersection
in the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision, Kea`au, Puna, Hawaii, TMK: (3) 1-5-023:040.
RAFFIPIY: The next item on the agenda is a continued hearing on the application for a Use
Permit to allow the construction of a non -manned telecommunication facility consisting of a
105 -foot tall monopine with related equipment within a 1,054 -square feet portion of a 20 -acre
property. We're going to have, we're going to have Maija do the presentation. Maija?
JACKSON: Thank you, Mr. Chair. If it's okay with the Commission, I won't go through the
whole presentation again since you all heard it at the last meeting, but I just want to orient you to
where the property is. It's in the Hawaiian Paradise Park Subdivision in the Puna District, and
the property, the actual facility location is shown with this red dot on the larger 20 -acre property.
Here you have Highway 130 and then Maku`u Drive is along the south side of the property.
And, as was mentioned, the proposal is for a telecommunication facility consisting of a 100 -foot
tall, self-supporting monopine tower that's a tower that looks like a pine tree with the branches,
it will be 105 feet tall with 12 antennas and related facilities on an approximately 1,000 -square
foot portion of a 20 -acre property.
EXHIBIT C
Since the last hearing, you should have in your packets a letter from the Fire Department dated
February 21 ". We also received a letter from the Police Department and a letter from the
Applicant dated February 28h. And, I also just want to let the Commissioners know because this
came up at the last meeting that when we first got this application, the Planning Department sent
it out to the HPP Homeowner's Association for comment, and we did not receive any comment
back.
ROMERO (from audience): That's because the board doesn't exist.
JACKSON: And that concludes my presentation. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to
answer.
RAFFIPIY: Any questions from the Commission? No question? Applicant, could you please
come forth? You're already sworn in so, please proceed with your presentation. [Mr. Tomlinson
had already been sworn in for the previous application.]
TOMLINSON: Good afternoon, Chair. Good afternoon, Commission. I hope everybody had a
good lunch, a good lunch break. Thank you for hearing our continued Use Permit application. I
wanted to address some concerns, community concerns, and questions from the Commission that
arose out of last, last month's hearing first of which was consideration, there was a question
about whether the Hawaiian Paradise Park Owners' Association had conducted meetings and
minutes regarding the proposed tower. So, I had a conversation with their manager, and he
pointed me to their website, and I was able to pull down, just as an example, they had various
meetings to discuss the AT&T proposed tower back in 2018, and then they had some decision-
making in January 2019, and I submitted for your review the agenda as well as the approved
meeting minutes. So, they were having discussions, but I understand some people didn't attend
the meetings or, you know, but there were meetings to discuss it with the community.
Secondly, there was some questions about tower structure. Again, our proposed monopine is a
hundred feet from the property line, and theI think the closest house we determined was about
230 feet. I've also included that with a drawing dimensioning that out.
I also submitted a structural, kind of a structural letter, signed and stamped from a structural
engineer basically describing how the towers are designed and what specifications they are
designed to, because there were some questions about tower failure and stuff, so that letter is
included for your review also.
There were questions about noise, potential noise from the generator and the ground space. The
generator and HVAC unit is all contained within a building, within our shelter at about seven
meters away. It's about 60 decibels, and as you move away from that, it gets down into the
fifties or even lower, depending on how far away you are, so it's actually quite quiet, and again,
I'd like to reiterate that this is only an emergency generator. This does not run all day, every day
at all. It's only during emergencies and then there is ait runs a self -test for a short amount of
time, usually they time it in the middle of the day, the operations guys, so people aren't home at
night or something like that, just in case. So, they try to go the extra mile to make sure it's not a
EXHIBIT C
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noisy environment, so it's actually a very quiet unit encased in these shelters, and they are also
mounted with anti -vibration mounting and baffling to keep noise minimized.
And, again, in the last hearing, we had questions about the potential health risks which we've
discussed before, but for the record, I'll just go through it quickly again. AT&T builds and
maintains all their sites in accordance with FCC guidelines for human exposure radiofrequency.
The energy from the antennas on sites decreases with distance. As a result, ground level
exposure is much lower than if a person were close to the antenna and the main beam, meaning
up at 140 feet. The FCC's RF exposure guidelines recommend the maximum permissible
exposure level to the general public of approximately 580 microwatts per square meter. This
limit is many times greater than the RF levels typically found near the base, base of cell sites or
in the vicinity. The proposed site will operate at levels much lower than the FCC limits. In
addition, the American Cancer Society affirms that at ground level near typical cellular -based
stations, the amount of RF energy is thousands of times less than limits for safe exposure set by
the FCC and other regulatory guide authorities. And, it was also found that it's very unlikely for
an individual to be exposed to excessive RF just by being close to a cell site. Accordingly, as a
report on cell sites, the American Cancer Society confirms that most scientists believe that cell
sites and antennas are unlikely to cause cancer or result in health problems.
Again, the World Health Organization confirms the same, comes to the same conclusion and
reaffirms that—confirms that RF emissions diminish rapidly with distance. And, the State
Department of Health, Hazard Evaluation Emergency Response Office, and I included their fact
sheet which has recently been published, found that the current body of scientific evidence does
not show an association with cell phone use or living near cell towers and cancer. While studies
specifically about living near towers are few, RF energy exposure from your personal cell phone
is significantly higher than living in the close proximity to a cell tower, and large studies do not
show an association of heavy cell phone usage and cancer. So, additional information about RF
safety is included in your package.
Again, we had questions about property values, and I'll keep this short, but there aren't definitive
studies showing that property values are decreasing across the country, and I've referenced a
number of studies here that, that confirm this.
And, lastly, I again wanted to reiterate this is a part of the FirstNet program, which is the
backbone, as we discussed for, for the FirstNet program here locally in Hawaii. This will be a
node in it, and we've gotten letters in support from the County of Hawaii Fire Department and
the Police Department. Just to point out, the Fire Department is a vested recipient, this is a quote
from the Chief, the Fire Chief that "HCFD is a vested recipient of the build out FirstNet, a
broadband network dedicated to public safety. The fact that Hawai` i is the first to roll this out
speaks volumes to the readiness of AT&T to provide the service to Hawaii Island. FirstNet
allows our department priority and preemption while on FirstNet, thereby securing optimum
emergency response by increasing optimum communication among our first responders.
However, the efficient use of cellular technology such as FirstNet is subject to effective cellular
coverage. Unfortunately, cellular coverage on Hawaii Island is not optimum, leaving critical
catchment areas void of effective service." This is one of those areas that we need to cover.
This is a priority also.
EXHIBIT C
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"The HCFD is in full support of the proposed sites in Hawaiian Paradise Park [HPP] and
Kurtistown. Completing these cell towers will only further strengthen the FirstNet broadband for
all emergency services providers but also strengthen the general public's ability to communicate
emergency needs. In the interest of increased safety to the members of my department, other
public safety employees, and our communities, I ask for your support of these [the] applications
filed for the two new cell tower sites." That's from the Fire Department, and the Police
Department also is giving support to the two sites being considered in Hawaiian Paradise Park
and Kurtistown and that letter is provided in your packet.
There were some questions concerning the compliance regulation of the tower so, again, they are
all under FCC regulation and compliance. The FCC has their rules, and we've gone through
national environmental policy act, environmental review as part of this process, including natural
resources with a natural resource survey, as well as cultural resources assessment and a finding
of no significant impact or finding of no effects, excuse me, from the State Historic Preservation
Division.
And, with that, I will take some questions if you have any. Thank you.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson. Any questions from the Commissioners?
AU: Yes, Mr. Chair, I have a question.
RAFFIPIY: Mr. Au, go ahead.
AU: So, Mr. Tomlinson, I'm reading the minutes of the HPP Board of Directors meeting,
January 6, 2019, [January 16, 2019] and there is just a small section on page 4, of 7, down to the
half of the page.
TOMLINSON: Yes.
AU: Section C, AT&T contract.
TOMLINSON: Correct.
AU: So, there was no representative from AT&T at that meeting, right? It was just between
theI'm reading, it says the GM?
TOMLINSON: Correct.
AU: So, who is the GM?
TOMLINSON: Don Morris.
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AU: So, the negotiations were between Don Morris and AT&T, and Don Morris did present it to
the board, to the full board on that day. It looks like all the districts were there, every district
was represented.
TOMLINSON: Correct.
AU: Okay, okay, I just want to clarify that—
TOMLINSON: Yes.
AU: —and you did not have someone therein person. It was just the GM giving a report and
the conversations that occurred.
TOMLINSON: Correct, correct. We were not invited because clearly, they were talking about
contractual issues and negotiations with us. So, I'm sure they didn't want us privy to those
discussions, but there was some questions about whether the community had an opportunity to
discuss the project within the owners' association, so I wanted to make sure that I provided some
minutes and some, you know, identifying the, the process that they had gone through even
though it's completely separate from AT&T.
AU: Okay, and you also did mention that in 2018, there was a meeting.
TOMLINSON: I researched back basically on their website. I didn't pull all the, all the meeting
notes, but there were various meetings, so I just brought an example from the 2019 meeting with
the agenda item and the minutes. If necessary, I can certainly go back and pull all the done
meeting minutes from their website, but I just brought a representative sample.
AU: Okay, thank you. That's all the questions I have.
RAFFIPIY: Any other questions?
CLARKSON: Yeah, I have a, I have a question.
RAFFIPIY: Go ahead, Mr. Clarkson.
CLARKSON: At the last hearing last month, there was discussion about a playground, a
children's playground. Is that within the fall radius or a 100 -foot radius of the tower and, if so,
have you had any discussions with HPP management about moving it?
TOMLINSON: So, I did specifically ask Mr. Morris about that, and he said that, his response
was that the playground is not really a playground. It's an area that some kids use sporadically.
I'm just quoting what the general manager told me. So, I think the idea is that there wasn't a
concern brought up at the homeowners' association, and that they were willing, they wanted to
move forward with the project.
RAFFIPIY: Any other questions?
EXHIBIT C
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AGUINALDO: I have a question.
RAFFIPIY: Go ahead, Commissioner Aguinaldo.
AGUINALDO: Mr. Chair
EVANS (from audience): He didn't answer, though. You askedI'm sorry—Mr. Clarkson
asked—
RAFFIPIY: —Hold on, please
EVANS (from audience): if it was within a hundred feet or whatever. He didn't, he never
addressed that so, I just would like to hear his answer.
RAFFIPIY: Appreciate that. Thank you, so noted. Thank you. Go ahead, Commissioner
Aguinaldo.
EVANS (from audience): It still didn't get answered—
AGUINALDO: I forgot what I was going to ask now, sorry, distracted. Um, is the current GM,
is currently the general manager yet at the association in HPP? Do you know?
TOMLINSON: As far as I know, he's still, he is still there. I spoke with him two weeks ago.
AGUINALDO: Oh, okay.
RAFFIPIY: Any other questions? Are your questions answered?
AGUINALDO: Yes.
RAFFIPIY: Okay. If there is no other questions, we're going to start taking public testimony.
Thank you.
TOMLINSON: Thank you.
RAFFIPIY: We have 14 testifiers signed up, but before we go into this public testimony, I
understand, you know, the audience is very concerned and passionate about the subjects that,
agenda items that we talked about, but I just ask you so we can move as efficiently and
effectively as possible to first if we can make order in this, in this process to afford respect to
everyone whoever is talking. At the same time, we need to get through the agenda items for
today.
Also, we have a 3 -minute rule. We'd like to ask you to, you know, to keep that, your testimony
within that 3 minutes so, we can get everybody through this process and they don't have to rush
getting theirs through, so I appreciate everybody's cooperation in this matter.
EXHIBIT C
6
So, with that, I'm going to call the first testifiers. We have Chad Ha`a, Gene Tamashiro, Barry
Jingold or Gingold, Gingold, and Ryoko Osako.
TAMASHIRO: Chad, he's not here. He left already.
RAFFIPIY: Okay, Chad Ha`a is not here. We have Dwight Vicente?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: He's not here.
RAFFIPIY: He's not here?
TAMASHIRO: Dwight's not here.
RAFFIPIY: And, Jose Romero. I believe the other three [Tamashiro, Osako, Romero] are
already sworn in this morning. The only one is to swear in isdo you swear or affirm to tell the
truth on this matter now before the Planning Commission?
GINGOLD: I do.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you very much. We'll begin with Mr. Romero first and then going down
here. Please speak directly into the microphone so your voice can be recorded. Thank you.
ROMERO: Well, my concerns are the fall back. He said it was 200 feet or towards the next
house, but what about the, my property line? It's under, it's almost in the 100 feet of my
property line, so the thing will fall right on there. I know if you guys go back and show the
pictures where the tower is going to be built and the radius around, it's right in the like the red,
the red zone is right in my property, on my property line, so you know, it's like right there.
Also, I just want to go by the by-laws. I know he said that they had a board meeting of the, for
the contract, which according to the by-laws of the association that I gave you guys copies onI
don't know if—it says the meetings will be held three times a year on February, June, and
October, and that's the members. That's the members' meetings, and there was no, there hasn't
been no member' meetings hold [sic] since then. So, that tower should have been announced at
the members' meeting so members could attend at the board for the, for the decision to go
forward. Now, the board of directors is under litigation so the board is, doesn't exist in HPP
anymore, which takes me to, well, it's a private, it's a private association composed of multiple
owners, 12 miles, square miles of it, and also when you say the building site, the building site is
not lot number whatever you assigned that. It's HPP because that's the private zone. It is in
HPP's ground, and everybody, every owner around HPP pays their road fees to maintain the
area, so it's a, it's a community place, not just owned by the general manager or whoever they
want to put.
So, proper notice was not given to all the people in HPP about this, and the, the boundaries for
the sign is now Maku`u. I provided another document that states that Hawaiian Paradise Park is
a private, privately owned, and all roads within HPP are private—on 2.4 description of County
EXHIBIT C
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resources relating to HPP. Our roads within HPP are private subdivision roads providing access
to lots within the subdivision with one exception being Government Beach Road. So, that's the
only road that, in HPP that is not a private but, the closest private road is up in Highway 130.
That's where the sign should have been post, so all members of HPP could have seen what was
being built.
I have a list of sections that I think that I went through to the application, that I, you know, that,
from my point of view is violations. Section 25-2[-]62, the application for Use Permit
requirements. He failed to give that as proper description of the area where the Applicant did
not mention that there was a playground and basketball courts, and the community center was
used as a, you know, a place where people come and have classes and stuff. I mean, I'll let my
other—I'll stop now.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you very much, Mr. Romero.
TAMASHIRO: Mahalo everyone for coming together again. I don't want to beat and I will not
beat a dead horse cause it's not dead. Even after we all go away, the truth is sovereign. It will
live on, and you guys are all smart people, and when we serve notice, and I haven't done this just
like, you know, last week or last month. I've been pursuing, I've been doing it six years now. I
have all kind forensic evidence of dishonor and default, and this is—you don't have to be a
rocket scientist. If I make a claim that the State of Hawaii doesn't have lawful title or
jurisdiction, then you would think all the thousands of people, the hundreds of people, plenty
people who know the truth, cannot dig up some kind of evidence that the state is lawful. And,
we go through this hour after hour, day after day, and none of you guys ask the question like,
"Eh, Gene, why don't you shut up already cause here's the facts. We have lawful title; therefore,
lawful jurisdiction. Shut up already." You don't have the capacity to see two plus two equals
four. I'm saying two plus two is four, and you keep acting like two plus two is five. You bring
up the FCC. Does the FCC have proof of lawful jurisdiction in Hawaii. Do you? Do you have
proof that the State of Hawaii is lawful in Hawai` i
RAFFIPIY: Please address—
TAMASHIRO: Okay, I'm talking to you. I'm talking to everybody cause everybody knows the
truth, even the ones who carry the deadly weapon. Okay, so you guys are in default. Nothing
new. It sucks. It really is terrible, because we are moving and moving closer to violence. When
you strip people's right to their unalienable right to due process and full disclosure, that's a
crime, that's harm, and we are setting the groundwork for the reason why there are civil wars.
Okay, so here's the default. Last month, February 6h, you had a notice of title correction.
Everybody got one, and also cease and desist. Cease and desist from legislating and enforcing as
if you have title and jurisdiction to do so. You don't. Why don't you say, "I don't, I don't know
what to do, I don't have a treaty of annexation." That would move the ball forward so greatly.
You don't have to have a silver bullet solution although there is a powerful solution in the US
Constitution that I'm presumingI know he swore an oath to it. I don't know if you guys did.
You swore, pledged an oath to the US Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2. It's called the
Supremacy of Treaties Clause. So, if you don't have a treaty of annexation, what is our true
status. It is an occupation. Did I say anything that's not true? Okay, well, if I did, stop me. If
EXHIBIT C
it's an occupation, what is the law of occupation? The Supremacy of Treaties Clause, the highest
law in America. I'm not in America, but we are occupied. What that means, and I put it in this
notice, it means that you must legislate and enforce, legislate and enforce, in accordance to the
law and the title of the land you are occupying.
Now, if the State of Hawaii is lawful, and this is not an occupation, bring your evidence,
because now we hold the law. This is a default notification. You're all going to get one. You're
going to get evidence that the families that have konohiki heirship title, a higher title than the
County, higher title than the State. They're not above the law, but believe me, Kanaka Maoli
have title. The bones in the ground prove their standing, okay?
So, you got your notice, notification of default. What does this all mean? That you're in
default? That means I, we, possess the law, and as I mentioned earlier, the law means, the body
of rules that gives a party, a group of individuals, the right to enforce the law, even with
violence, to protect what is true. Okay? Don't let us go to that. If you remove our due process,
if you remove our dignity and logic in the law, I mean, God don't make no junk.
RAFFIPIY: Mr. Tamashiro, start wrapping up, please.
TAMASHIRO: Yeah, I'm warning you guys, okay, because I'm obligated to. I'm warning you.
If you rubber stamp this tower or if you send it, you send it to Circuit Court, you still in the State
of Hawaii. You send it to the Supreme Court, you still in America, Federal corporation, District
of Columbia 1871. We will be, I will be there physically to stop anybody who trespass on our
right to full disclosure and substantive due process, okay? God bless you.
MEDEIROS-GARCIA (from audience): Amen.
TAMASHIRO: Do the right thing.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you.
GINGOLD: Mahalo. Aloha, my name is Barry Gingold. I am a permanent resident of
Hawaiian Paradise Park, and I totally oppose this cell tower going up. We no one was ever
notified. There hasn't been a general membership meeting in, I believe, over a year at HPP,
okay? I would like to see physical proof that their, of their towers. I want, I want to know the
actual output power of that antenna because if any of youChairman, are you an electrical
engineer?
RAFFIPIY: No, I'm not.
GINGOLD: Are you familiar
RAFFIPIY: I'm an electrical contractor.
GINGOLD: Oh, you are? So, are you familiar with how antennas work and how much power is
needed first to generate so that, that the frequencies travel away from the, from the tower? So,
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they need a lot of power to generate their signal, so if they say that, you know, your cell phone is
more damaging than the tower, then, well, I can't see how that is possible, okay? I would like to
see more—you know, they can say whatever they want, but I don't see any documentation,
okay? And, the mere fact that it doesn't cause health issues, well, it's causing emotional health
issues to all my neighbors. These guys can't even sleep. The one fellow, we've all, we come
here to retire. We don't retire to live next to a cell tower, okay? I think that's really wrong.
There's, there are seven cell towers already in HPP. There's already seven. We don't need
anymore. We need to make these guys to make the ones that are there work. There's already
enough. We already have enough service, and they want to upgrade, they're not saying anything
about 5G, 5G isn't out long enough to know what damage it's going to cause. And, if they say
they're putting in 4G now, they're going to be putting in 5G as soon as they can, because that's
where everybody's pushing, okay? And, if it was done like decent people and we had decent
meetings about it, not a general membership, which is not your concern, but it is for us, then if
we could have decent meetings about it as opposed to, you know, these secret board members,
well so now there's only two guys on the board, it's unconscionable what's going on, and we're
trying to be decent about all this. People, you know, I'm going to be forced to move, because it
is—and you can't say, whether you think it, it decreases the property value or not, it does, okay?
I don't care what reports say or anything. Someone comes to look at my house and they see that
cell tower, they're not going to want to come, okay? I talked to any, the president of the,
actually the president of the board told me. You know what he told me? Cause we said about
the sign? The sign should not be on Maku`u. Maku`u is a private road. They got $2,200 from
AT&T to put that sign there. That's what the president told me. So, something fishy is going on
here, okay? Because and I'm not, I'm not against technology, but not when it's jammed down
our throats at people's expense. Thank you for listening to us.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you.
OSAKO: I'm going to hold prayer space again, because we all need this. Please put your
Creator in your visualization and in your heart. [Recitation in Hindi then silence for
approximately 2 minutes, 47 seconds.]
RAFFIPIY: Ms. Osako, please start wrapping up.
OSAKO: Healing blessings to everybody. [Recitation in Hindi.]
RAFFIPIY: Thank you very much, appreciate it. Do we have any questions from the
AGUINALDO: —Yeah, Mr. Chair, I have one for this gentleman right here with the Kubota
hat. You indicated the, in HPP, there's seven cell towers?
GINGOLD: That's what the, the head of our board has told me, but we [inaudible]
RAFFIPIY Please talk into the microphone, sir, so it can be recorded.
GINGOLD: That's what the president of the board told me when I went to complain about all
this, and he laughed at me that there's already seven here. So, I said, "Oh, so, that makes it
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okay?" So, I'm saying if there are already seven there, get those to work. Get those upgrade
those. Or I have, and even with another suggestion, if AT&T is so sure that it's not going to
affect us, then let them buy these properties and move those people and then take care of their
concerns if it's not, if it's not—we all have that concern that it's going to affect us. I don't care
what studies say. You can't change how people feel. Let them do the right thing then.
ROMERO: It's imminent domain law what he was talking about cause this thing is being used
for public use.
RAFFIPIY: Microphone.
GINGOLD: And, we're agricultural residential. I didn't move here and change my whole life to
live next to a cell tower, and I don't think any of us did. I don't think any of you would do it
either. And, if you do, well do it then, buy some of their houses and move there. I'm not trying
to be funny. It'sI see these guys. They're not sleeping at night. They're under a lot of stress,
and they didn't do anything but come here to live the dream. That's what I did. I fell in love
with the Hawaiian people and the Hawaiian land. I didn't come here to live next to a cell tower.
AGUINALDO: Thank you.
GINGOLD: Thank you.
AU: Mr. Chair, question.
RAFFIPIY: Go ahead, Commissioner Au.
AU: I have a question for Mr. Gingold and Mr. Romero. First of all, Mr. Romero, thank you for
your services.
ROMERO: Thank you.
AU: You know, you fight for, you have fought, and other vets here have fought for the freedom
that we have today, so thank you very much. So, both of you guys can answer this question.
You know, in both of your guys' testimony, I heard litigation, and I heard there's only two
members regarding the board. Just, you know, please just be brief, just kind of explain that and
just answer the question.
ROMERO: So, when we went up to the HPP office to ask to talk to the board or the president
about the tower and the decision, they told us that the board was in litigation from last year, that
they made decisions and then they all quit, and then they just all left everything to the president
and the general manager, so we was like okay, well, no one was informed about this tower. In
the, in the documents that he provided, the Applicant provided, it says that they was gonna talk
about a contract, but a contract didn't specify anything about no monopine or no tower being
built in the area, so, that's, that's how we—we seen it.
GINGOLD: That's, that's what I wasI was at the same meeting.
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RAFFIPIY: Please speak into the microphone.
GINGOLD: I'm so sorry. I was told the same things, and that some, three I believe, resigned,
and it is not a full complimentative [sic] board anymore, to be able to really make the decisions
for us, and I can't find what section that is supposed to be that within a certain area, everyone is
supposed to be notified by mail about this tower going up. I never received, I don't think any of
us ever received a single document about this tower until—and if that tower wasn't at the corner
of my street, I wouldn't have known about it. A lot of people don't know about it because it's
only in one little place where it shouldn't even be because it is a private road.
ROMERO: Twenty- five25-2-4 notice to property owners and lessees of record. He didn't
know—he knew that he was coming to an association so everybody in the association was
supposed to be, a letter was supposed to be sent to them, not just the people around the lot that its
being proposed to be built on.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much.
GINGOLD: Mahalo.
RAFFIPIY: Appreciate it. Okay, the next testifiers I have are Jaerick Medeiros-Garcia, Delbert
Grace, Kevin Malmgren or Molmgren, Malmgren, and Sariah Evans. Okay, all right, can I have,
let me have Barbara Hoglund those of you who have not sworn in this morning and not
testified, please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter now
before the Planning Commission?
TESTIFIERS: Yes/I do.
RAFFIPIY: All right, thank you. Well start from your immediate right, far right.
GRACE: Yes, my name is Delbert Grace. I live on 17'h Avenue. I'm a dad. I have kids. Most
of you guys must have family, right? I bought my property. Nobody gave `em to me. I paid for
it. My house is my castle. That's where I sleep, you know. That's where I feel safe. Now, I
thinking of this tower down the road that going be built. I suffer from severe depression. That is
like messing with my head right now. I cannot even sleep, because would you, any of you up
there, put your family in harm's way? The answer would be no, right? My property got one
boundary, right? You know, get boundary line, right? If you step on my property without my
permission, what you doing? You trespassing, right? Okay, this antenna, even though the thing
invisible, going shoot some radioactive stuff over my boundary. Now, that thing is trespassing.
If I like grow organic plants, animals for my family eat—you know, you like be healthy, right?
Now, my food going be radiated. The water I take a bath with going get radioactive stuff inside.
What, you going say it's only one low amount, but think, in the long run, do anything, do little
bit, what happen on the end? Come plenty, eh? That's what going happen. Then, we going get
sick. If I get sick, you guys up there, you guys held accountable for me and my family getting
sick. I don't know who pay you guys or if you guys get paid or whatever, you know, what your
guys job is, and then you guys tell us we get only three minutes up here. These guys talk, to me
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they spend, they wen spend more than three minutes. Why only get three minutes wen this going
impact my life till I die? My whole lifetime.
So, I only get three minutes for talk about that? I don't think that's fair. You know how you get
choices when you go in the store. You can pick what you like buy, right? The tenant not going
come over here, "brah, you better buy this or I going cram this down your throat." No, you get
one choice. Get different kind selection. You know what I mean? Now this, you're taking away
my freedom of choice. I choose not to live by poison, and I bought my property, I wen look. I
drive down that whole subdivision looking for anything, you know—electrical stuff, power
plants. I no like my family get sick. See what I'm saying? My father told me, "You the man,
you the protector of your family. Anybody step in your yard, like hurt your family, they gotta
come through you." Period. And, I stand by that. I'll take one bullet for my family. You come
with one gun, I going take the bullet. I not going let you shoot my family. You guys impacting,
this stuff is impacting not only me, the whole community. Get 5,000 people or something live in
Paradise Park. Most of them don't know. Is that fair to them? They don't know what's going
on. I don't think that's fair. It's not. We all human. Be human when you think, you make your
decision. No be like one robot. That's why I no more one cell phone. I don't know about
anybody over here, but I can speak for myself. I don't like technology cause I see what the thing
doing to people. It is. People turning into robots. No more, no more feeling, cold inside. They
lost that human ability. Be human. We all human, the same. Don't treat us different, because
like me, I poor. So what, poor people get treated what? Poorly. You poor, you no more, you no
more value. That's not right. That's wrong that. I get Hawaiian. Think how the Hawaiians wen
think. The family important, `ohana. You see? You see all the culture? Everybody make party,
happy, right? That's what this place is about. Supposed to be love, not hate. Not this, not
[inaudible] making people get sick. And even if you say it's safe, are you absolute sure? I like
see the evidence. Nobody can bust out evidence. You saying they passing all this
RAFFIPIY: —Okay, Mr. Grace—
GRACE: you know what I mean—
RAFFIPIY: you can start wrapping up, please.
GRACE: Well, you know what I'm saying, right? You guys can hear, eh? Thank you.
RAFFIPIY: Mahalo.
EVANS: Aloha, Sariah Evans. I live in Pahoa. So, I remember hearing a story years back about
how when the US was planning on launching their first rocket up to space, we got really
concerned because they didn't know how they were going to take notes because there's not [sic]
gravity up there, and their pens weren't gonna work, and the Russians, they laughed. They
laughed at America, and they said, "hey guys, you got pencils." Well, as I sat here listening all
day long, and I go out to lunch, and I think about what I'm hearing, and I hear people talking
about oh if we get together and do this, no, remain open, and so the AT&T guy talked about this
program about the Net so coverage could happen so that people could be protected and
something dawned on me. Hey, we've got land lines. We got land lines to all these places, and
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where cell phones aren't, there are land lines or where they aren't land lines, there are cell
phones. So, maybe we don't need total cell phone coverage on the islands when we could get a
combination of cell phone and that land line coverage, and maybe that's the smartest thing for us
as a human species to look at going forward with this technology that we don't really know how
it affects us.
When the lava started flowing a couple years ago, I went and got a cell phone because I knew my
girls back in the US would want to know what was going on with me cause Fissure 8 is about
two miles from my home. And, I opened up the manual so I could figure out how to use my cell
phone, and in my 35 -page manual, there are about five pages that told me about the operation of
the cell phone, and the 30 remaining pages were warnings, warnings about the cell phone.
That's just a cell phone. We're talking about towers. Thank you for your time. Aloha.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you, ma'am.
MALMGREN: Hi guys, my name is Kevin. I am a new resident to HPP. This is my first
meeting here. Just to give a little story, I visited the Big Island on Thanksgiving in 2019 with my
fiance. After spending eight days here, we came back to the mainland, sold all of our stuff and
just arrived here last month cause we fell in love with this place, the people, the culture, and
everything that's here, and we are currently in escrow for a property in HP&P [sic]. So, I found
out about this today through a Facebook message and a post and I was like all right, I'm going to
show up. So, my mother grew up—my mother having cancer; my grandfather passed away of
cancer; my grandmother passed away of cancer; and two aunts who were both diagnosed with
breast cancer; and my niece was born with a cancer and had to go through chemotherapy before
the age of one. So, I'm very sensitive to this issue, and when I see what's going on in San
Francisco where I moved from, I see that there's 5G towers on every single block in the city, and
these blocks are right in front of apartments that have lots of people in them. And, when pressed
by Congress, by these big telecommunication corporations, what are the long-term effects of 5G
on people, they have no response, because no testing has been going on to determine this, and I
think that's really telling. And, if there is no accountability of what is going on this tower, and
they can do whatever they want as soon as it's up, that's really scary to me, and I think it's really
scary—it's a very scary thing to the community as well, and I think it's really telling that
everyone that showed up today has a certain viewpoint, and no one showed up to support this
tower from the community, and I think that's really important to point out as well.
Now, we talked about the health implications of the American Cancer Society saying that, you
know, it's not bad but you know what? The American Cancer Society is just one organization
and maybe they are the biggest around, but more people have cancer than ever so I'm not sure
how good of a job they are actually doing at that. So, I think maybe more, some independent
research should be checked and looked into before we refute claims about that.
Just to, just say I'm really impressed with all of your guys fairness so far. I'm really happy that
you guys are open to listening to the community on this. Just moving to HPP, I wanted to point
out there's a school that when I purchased, if I knew there was a cell tower there, maybe I would
have not purchased in HPP. I might have just skipped it and went on further. So, is there an
impact on properties? Maybe, cause I know I, it would have made a huge impact for me, and
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this is about what I wanted to get away from, and there's also a school. It's called the Waldorf
School. That's 1.2 miles away from the site, which is roughly about nine blocks, and I'm not
sure if that school has got any notification or if the parents know that that cell phone tower is
going up.
And, just one more thing, too. There is a community center. As far as I know, that is like right
on the place. It's a playground and a community center where there's classes where HPP comes
together, and this is where the community watch meets, this is where classes were. I was excited
because I want to join the community watch. I want to help protect this place, too. And, there's
classes going on of how to grow organic vegetables or how to keep rat lung worm—and, if
there's a cell tower at that spot, I'm not sure how many people are going to want to come to
these classes. So, I think there might be an impact on this community that's even more where
people stop showing up and stop supporting each other because they are worried about their own
health.
So, I really, really thank you guys for being here today and listening and thanks for hearing us
out.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you.
HOGLUND: Aloha, thank you for listening to me. I'm Barbara Hoglund. I've been a resident
in Hawaiian Paradise Park for over 40 years. I went to the hui which we call the Paradise
Community Center yesterday to pay my road maintenance fees, and I went there and also did my
tai chi exercises, and I ran into some neighbors and some friends who notified me about this
meeting today. I was unaware of the tower being put up. I knew nothing about it. I have family
that lives in Paradise Park. They know nothing about it. My friends know nothing about it, and
I'm just a very concerned person, you know, and, yeah, our Paradise Park hui is in disorder.
There's lawsuits going on, and the person who is president that gave permission had no right to
do this. So, I thank you very much for listening to my words, and I know you will make the right
decisions. Thank you very much.
RAFFIPIY: Thank you.
AU: Mr. Chair, I have a question.
RAFFIPIY: Go ahead, Commissioner Au.
AU: Ms. Holland, is that your name?
HOGLUND: Hoglund, yes, sir.
AU: Oh, Hoglund. Can you just talk about that lawsuit? First it was litigation, and now it's a
lawsuit, so again, briefly just what you know. Just what is this lawsuit.
HOGLUND: Well, when I went in to the office to pay my road maintenance fees, I was
concerned, and I asked them questions why wasn't I told about the cell tower, and they told me
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that, that it was under investigation and a lawsuit, and they, over money and different things, and
the road maintenance. And, there has not been a meeting in maybe a year or two yearsa
general meeting, the, the members. They might have secretive meetings, so we don't know
nothing about.
AU: Ok, thank you.
HOGLUND: Thank you.
RAFFIPIY: Any other questions? All right, thank you very much. I'll have to call a recess,
bathroom recess. Thank you.
Chairman Rafpiy called a recess at 2:16 p.m., and the meeting was reconvened at 2:25 p.m. At
this time, Vice -Chairman Replogle took over the chairmanship of the meeting.
REPLOGLE: This meeting is back in order. You have a new sheriff in town. So, we will
continue with testimony. Jaerick Medeiros-Garcia, please come forward. Michael Mentnech?
Michael?
KALAUKOA: He's coming.
REPLOGLE: Oh, ok. Albert Schiszler?
ROMERO (from audience): No, he's not. Michael's not here.
REPLOGLE: Okay, and Fred Kalaukoa, please come forward.
HALL: Is that Albert? Albert?
SCHISZLER: Albert.
HALL: Oh yeah, Albert.
REPLOGLE: Yeah, Albert. Okay, to begin, would you please raise your right hands and swear
to tell the truth before the Windward Planning Commission, County of Hawaii?
TESTIFIERS: Yes.
REPLOGLE: Thank you. Please proceed from the right, across.
KALAUKOA: Hi, I'm a resident of HPP. I live directly across the street from where the tower
is gonna be. Actually, if from the side they going 100 feet, it's only about another 40 feet to my
property line. But, anyway, application for use requirements, it fails to meet the requirement in
the description of the property. The application did not mention that the current property is
being used as a community park with a basketball court and a playground. Actually, it's so close
to the playground that if it falls down, it will hit a kid. That's how close it is, and criteria for
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granting a Use Permit, the Applicant does not meet the criteria since it is not consistent with the
General Plan. The Applicant also does not meet the criteria since the building of the cell tower
will be detrimental to the community character and surrounding properties.
And, I wanted to talk about the guys that voted for this. We talked to the president, the guy
Larry, who was the president of that committee, and he was so arrogant and everything. We
talked to him. He said, "oh, if you guys would have been just there, we wouldn't have voted that
way" and I said, one of the guys mentioned, "oh, you like `em in your backyard?" And, he went,
"Yeah, put `em in my backyard." And, then he realized, you know, we had about five guys
against one guy, he started talking nice, but that's the kind of guy he is, but there's only two guys
left from that committee. Him and one other guy, and they voted without letting anybody else
know around there. That's why his attitude was like, "If we would have known you guys, we
would have fought it, we wouldn't have voted on it," and I said, "Just the same, why don't you
why didn't you let us know?" And that's all his excuse was that oh they sent letters out to, for
the road, the road maintenance. They sent it to everybody. Why couldn't they send something
about the cell tower to us? We would have known, and we would have gone right there and fight
them, but this was last year. They voted okay without even letting anybody else know. That's
why we upset. Yeah, we upset. Anybody would be upset. Okay, that's about it.
REPLOGLE: Thank you, Fred.
SCHISZLER: Hi, I'm Albert Schiszler, and I just have to take up from where he left off I guess.
It's the president issue. I have the document right here signed by the president and with no
quorum or any other witnesses, witnesses' signatures.
REPLOGLE: Oh, would you please speak into the mic, sir?
SCHISZLER: Yes, I have the president's authorization letter with me, and it has no witness, no
quorum, vote, or anything that looks legit to me, and I'd like—my supporter, Fred, here has
already told you folks that the board is dysfunctional at this moment, and I have a text here from
Councilwoman Kierkiewicz that says in this case, the HPP Homeowners' Association approval
of this project on behalf of the homeowners, when the HPPOA is currently non-functional,
subject of internal lawsuit, and has only met twice in the last two years, could and should be
investigated. It would be important to find out whether they had sufficient community input
and/or authority to make this decision. Now, the Councilwoman agrees with us on this issue,
and I wish you folks would, too. And—it's this issue about the, the playground and the park
seems to be very, very aunbelievable. I know Mr. Morrison [sic] personally. I've known him
for several years, maybe 30, as a matter of fact. I know his whole family, and this is the first
time I've seen him go in the direction he is going by actually lying to somebody about the non-
existent playground. Anybody, and we have a picture that we've submitted to you folks, can see
that there is a structure which probably cost $20,000 in playground equipment, that's very high
and large, and with a surrounding fence and a gate, couple of picnic tables, a few swings, an
outhouse within spitting distance of the cell phone tower location, proposed cell phone tower
location. This is not acceptable. Zero acceptance on this, folks. You have to understand. We
were not notified properly. We need a general membership vote on this, not behind -the -door,
half -ass, board of directors' decision with one president signature. That is walking on thin ice.
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Okay, now, to another aspect of this whole subject would be Federal issues. Now, the Federal
issues involved, and I'm going to be talking about would be archaeological sites and endangered
species that are present in the area and have been documented but overlooked. I've lived there
for 42 years on 17'h Street and Maku`u. Now, there is property that has been set aside by the
community, 33 acres which surround me, and another 20 acres where the proposed cell tower is
attached to. This area is comprised of historic property with numerous surveyed archaeological
sites containing Hawaiian burial sites, rock walls, rock piles, and additional culturally significant
and legally protected archaeological sites. Bones in the ground. The 33 acres are protected land,
and also the 20 acres directly surrounding the proposed AT&T cell tower in Kea`au is formerly
called Waikahekahe ahupua`a in the Puna District, has, is comprised of the last and very last old
virgin growth forest, two to three hundred years old, this is what they call kipuka area also. In
there is aaverage trees are one hundred to two hundred feet tall. Some of `em are mangos with
a 5 -foot diameter. These mango trees may reach at least 200 feet. We also have Hawaiian
hawks which are not protected and Hawaiian owls which are not protected, but we do have an
endangered and federally protected Hawaiian Hoary Bat that are endemic to the area and have
been actually verified by AT&T's own cultural resources review and field inspection, which we
have for your viewing pleasure if you'd like to look at it, but they've already acknowledged the
existence within that area. And, because of that, just the bat issue alone, the Department of
Forestry has been notified, and they have a field agent and they're presently working on the
situation to verify and try to determine any EA, assessments on the property.
Now, the other direction I'm going to go to is the archaeological—the cultural resources review
failed. The filed inspection conducted May 141h 2019
REPLOGLE: Mr. Schiszler, could you
SCHISZLER: prepared by AT&T
REPLOGLE: —could you wrap it up, Mr. Schiszler?
SCHISZLER: This environmental, this report determined the proposed tower site, this is very
important, the proposed tower site is not located this is according to AT&T—it's not going to
be located within .5, half a mile radius of the current project area, which is Federal law mandated
for these protected species. And, additionally, it was determined by the report that the
archaeological field inspection conducted there has no archaeological sites on or adjacent to the
proposed cell tower project area. The cultural resources review and field inspection concluded in
the aforementioned report that no direct or indirect impacts are expected from the tower. These
findings of this report are in direct contradiction to the previous archaeological field inspection
by the University of Hawaii at Hilo that determined this site to be comprised of Native
Hawaiian burial sites and also heiau and intact rock walls in 33 acres, in a 20 -acre parcel directly
bordering the proposed project site where Susan Escott, Bachelor of Arts, conducted an
archaeological field inspection on an 85 -meter long by 85 -meter wide area surrounding the
proposed cellular tower project area contains archaeological sites with nearby caves containing
Hawaiian burials that have been covered over with a low linear rock pile located along the
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southwest property boundary with 17'h Avenue. The assertion that the proposed cellular tower is
not located within a half a mile radius of this [inaudible] property and archaeological
REPLOGLE: Excuse me, sir
SCHISZLER: —site is blatantly misleading
REPLOGLE: you need to
SCHISZLER: —and false!
REPLOGLE: You need to wrap it up.
SCHISZLER: The Office of the Native Hawaiian Affairs is currently conducting an
archaeological field inspection to determine the research potential for this archaeological site and
also to classified site as a historic property on the State Historic Preservation library. State law
mandates that development of corporate infrastructure such as a proposed cell tower that the
[inaudible] which is under current laws to develop in a half mile radius where archaeological
sites and historic—so you can see the can of worms, this is happening. You're not—now, that's
[inaudible]. Now, you know what else here, we have the, I have the
REPLOGLE: —Sir— [Tapping gavel]
SCHISZLER: —What? Wait a minute! Wait a minute! English, English, English 101, English
101, private, private, does anybody know the definition of "private?" I do. Intended for a
restrictive, to the use of particular person, group, or class, private park, private roads, private
subdivision. Our roads are private. We pay for them. We need to be, have compensation, not a
cell tower as our compensation. How come we have a cell tower for compensation when we
control the roads? The boundary of this cell tower is on our private road! Not, the property
owner. So, the determination should be made from our property road which is too close to the
tower where everybody drives by will be inside of the range. Thank you very much—and wait a
minute, wait a minute. One last thing. This thin, this thin ice thing, it's designed, you know, all
these general plans and everything is supposed to help protect us and all that. II just know,
don't know about that, you know. The thin ice about our civil rights is what I'm concerned
about most of all also. You're not going to listen to health issues. Let's talk about our civil
rights. Government officials should be sworn to protect our constitutional civil rights. The cell
tower approval will open up a constitutional can of worms. At least two successful similar
Supreme Court briefs are also case law. One signature president is hereby ignored in light of our
solidarity. This zoning should be and can be rejected if you folks truly care about our children,
grandchildren, community, and environment. Thank you.
REPLOGLE: And, thank you Mr. Medeiros for giving your three minutes to Mr. Schiszler.
MEDEIRO S -GARCIA: Thank you guys for giving us a chance for speak. Mahalo, everybody.
REPLOGLE: So, this concludes the public testimony portion.
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AU: Motion to close public testimony.
REPLOGLE: May I haveoh, we have a motion to close.
CLARKSON: Second.
REPLOGLE: Okay, we have a motion to close and a second. All those in favor of closing
public testimony say, "aye."
COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
REPLOGLE: Okay, public testimony is closed. I will entertain a motion for action.
CLARKSON: I still have something I want to get
REPLOGLE: Okay
CLARKSON: straightened out having to do with the playground.
REPLOGLE: Okay.
CLARKSON: Mr. Tomlinson may not have been aware that—I think it's part of your
application attachment, well I don't know the attachment number. It labels an area right near this
tower. I don't know exactly how close it is. It looks like it's approximately a hundred feet away
as an existing playground, and though the aerial photo doesn't show it, on the, so it must be quite
old.
SCHISZLER (from audience): No, it's not old.
CLARKSON: I'm talking about the aerial photo, sir.
SCHISZLER (from audience): Oh yeah. Of course, yeah, it's old.
CLARKSON: The photos, there are photographs of the quite extensive playground facility with
slides and climbing structures and what not right there next to the parking area for the
community building. So, my recommendation would be if we do have a motion for approval that
an additional condition be attached that an agreement be made. It would be subject to an
agreement with Hawaiian Paradise Park whatever the appropriate entity would be that the
playground, either the playground be moved further away from the cell tower or the cell tower be
moved further away from the playground.
HALL [directed to Commissioner Clarkson]: Is there a question? Do you want to know like
how far the playground is or
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20
CLARKSON: Well, I'm just scaling, there's a drawing that shows a 175 -foot setback; however,
the tower is only a 105 feet high, so just rough scaling puts the playground around a 100 feet
from the base of the tower, but without any actual map showing the existing playground and the
distances, I can't really be sure.
JACKSON: Chair Replogle, may I ask
REPLOGLE: Yes
JACKSON: Mr. Clarkson a question. Commissioner Clarkson, which image are you looking
at in the package that shows the playground? That's in the arch study. Okay let me look at that
real quick
AU: Page, it's page 6, it's not labeled, but it's page 6.
JACKSON: Okay. So, if you look at Sheet A-1 in the Applicant's site plans, ah, I see, okay
CLARKSON: In the Applicant's?
JACKSON: Yeah, the application has some site plans, and Sheet A-1 shows the tower, the
existing community center building, it's right before the notification list, so I think it's more
forward—yeah, a few more pages, Dean. Yeah, Sheet A-1 in that area, so that shows the
CLARKSON: —Well, I saw the notification list
JACKSON: —The tower location and the community center building, and there's a dimension
on here. It's hard to read, but it says 208 feet. So, from the center of the tower which is
approximately where the red dot is on this image to the corner of this building here is 208 feet,
and so the proposed tower height is 105 so the fall radius would be generally, estimating in this
location here.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: That's the playground.
CLARKSON: That's, I understand that, Maija
JACKSON: Okay.
CLARKSON: But the outline of the playground that's shown on the site plan puts the corner of
the playground much closer to the tower than, than the community center.
JACKSON: Okay.
CLARKSON: And, there's no dimension there to really locate it.
SCHISZLER (from audience): They lied that there was no playground to begin with.
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21
CLARKSON: Well, he reported what the general manager told him
SCHISZLER (from audience): Yes, I'm talking about the [inaudible]. I know it. He's an
alcoholic liar, and I'll tell him to his face.
EVANS (from audience): The thing sitting down there they know [inaudible]
SCHISZLER (from audience): Nobody is represented in HPP except for us, because they are too
afraid to show their face. They know they did wrong.
REPLOGLE: Sir, we're conducting business. Thank you for your input, but let's remain silent.
CLARKSON: So, that's that's the only comment I had or question before any motion.
JACKSON: Okay.
AGUINALDO: I have, Commissioner if I can speak, that is true right in that area where the
grass is, the long stretch of grass, there's a pavement parking there. There is a basketball court.
There is a playground for little kids. Why I say that? That I attend parties over there, family
parties or I do work in the area, you know, go around the area as well, so I would like to address
that even for the just to representative for AT&T cause you guys not the landno, no, no
you guys are not the landowners, but I just want to make it aware for you folks that there is a
playground in that area, so as far as that there, the aerial photo, it's an old photo. There is a
playground.
REPLOGLE: Okay, we've determined that fact. Is there—we're still in a motion for action. Is
there one?
CLARKSON: I'll just ask again, no action means approval, correct?
HALL: Yeah, if at the end of this hearing, if there's no determination within a certain amount of
time, I think it's 60 days, it will be automatic approval.
EVANS (from audience): We need a hero.
REPLOGLE: Ioh
AGUINALDO: Go ahead.
REPLOGLE: No
AGUINALDO: Go ahead.
REPLOGLE: I think we should go into executive session for five minutes so everybody, please
clear the room.
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HALL: You need a motion.
AU: I move—
REPLOGLE: I need a motion, I'm sorry. I'm not the king.
AU: I move to go into executive session.
AGUINALDO: Okay, second.
REPLOGLE: So, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor?
COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
At 2: 46 p. m., it was moved by Commissioner An and seconded by Commissioner Aguinaldo that
the Commission go into executive session to consult with its attorney regarding questions and
issues pertaining to the Commission's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities,
pursuant to Hawai `i Revised Statutes Section 92-5. A voice vote was taken of all Commissioners
present, and motion carried with four aye votes.
The room was cleared, and at 2:48 p.m., the Commission went into executive session. At 2:55
p.m., it was moved by Commissioner An and seconded by Commissioner Clarkson that the
Commission go out of executive session. A voice vote was taken of all Commissioners present,
and motion carried with four aye votes.
The hearing reconvened for regular session at 2:55 p.m.
REPLOGLE: Okay, we're in action again, and we're still working on a motion for action
regarding the cell tower.
CLARKSON: Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion.
REPLOGLE: Okay.
CLARKSON: I move that the application for Use Permit Docket No. 18-82 be denied for the
following reasons. There are two reasons that we discussed in our executive session, legal
ramifications of it. One is that there's a whole lot of activity within the fall radius of the
proposed site. I personally do not have any worries about health issues except from falling
towers, so there's a playground and a parking lot and a basketball court within the fall radius of
this particular location. The other reason is that there seems to be a question, now you may, the
Applicant may be confident that they have acquired legal rights to the site from the entity that
controls it, but there seems to be some controversy over that, and I would like to see further
evidence of that, and, but because the fall radius is such that in my opinion the site would have to
be moved and require a new application, it would require a new lease, and that sort of thing. So,
those are my reasons for moving for denial.
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REPLOGLE: A second?
AGUINALDO: I second on that.
REPLOGLE: Okay, we have a motion and a second on the floor.
AU: Mr. Chair?
REPLOGLE: Yes?
AU: Could we go into
REPLOGLE: Discussion?
AU: Yes, discussion. I used to live in HPP. I own properties there, and I moved away from
there, and I miss living there. You know, the HPP Association has always been in defunct. It's
always been in array [sic], and I'm very impressed at these minutes that were taken on this
January 161h meeting because it looks like everybody was there on that day, every district was
represented, and, you know, they went over a lot of things on the agenda. They got approved,
they got second, so it's nice to see that, but it seems like that was the only meeting that happened
in the last two years. That and another meeting. So, it just validates the point that the HPP
Association has always been in defunct, but that's not why we're here. That's not what we're
looking at. We're looking at this cell phone application, and from what I see, pretty much
everything is up to par with the Planning Department from, you know, as far as all the rules and
regulations that they have submitted to the Planning Department. It went through the approval
process, the Director recommends approval for this Special Permit, but one major issue that I
have is there are two words that were said in the testimony: litigation and lawsuit. That
validates my fellow Commissioners concerns about do they have a legal lease, and that's
important. That is part of what the application is, so I will support this motion.
REPLOGLE: Any other comments? Okay, we'll take a roll call vote, please, Maija.
JACKSON: Thank you, Chair Replogle. So, the motion was to deny the permit. Commissioner
Clarkson?
CLARKSON: Aye.
JACKSON: Commissioner Aguinaldo?
AGUINALDO: Aye.
JACKSON: Commissioner Au?
AU: Aye.
JACKSON: And, Chair Replogle.
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REPLOGLE: Aye.
JACKSON: Okay, the motion carries four, zero.
CLARKSON: I move that the adoption of written findings of fact, conclusions of law, and
decision and order be continued to the next scheduled meeting for the denial of Use Permit
Docket No. 18-82.
HALL: It's supposed to be 19.
AGUINALDO: I second.
HALL: Oh no, it's supposed to be 19.
AGUINALDO: The number?
REPLOGLE: It's been moved and seconded. All those in—or is this a roll call?
HALL: All in favor.
REPLOGLE: All those in favor of the findings of fact motion, aye?
COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
REPLOGLE: The ayes have it. We're done.
The discussion ended at 3:02 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Y. Hata-Finley, Secretary
Windward Planning Commission
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