2005-01-21 TSUFFOLKOPUAA - Laserfiche WebLink

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SPRINGER:Okay. PETERSON:And she wanted to know if the Planning Department could acknowledge her written testimony out loud. SPRINGER:Thank you. Then I think we have enough chairs for all of you. Youve all raised your hands and been sworn in. Before you begin your testimony, if you could please give your name and address for the record; and well begin with you, Mr. Gimpel. GIMPEL:My name is Joel Gimpel. I live at 73-4686 Hinalani Street in Kailua-Kona. Good late afternoon. I represent the Kona Traffic Safety Committee. And weve reviewed both the Puaa and Suffolk applications for State Land Use Boundary Amendment and Change of Zone; and Id like to combine my comments on those two. I submittedwrittencopiesoneachsothat,tothestaffsoyoullhaveitintherecord. WeunderstandnowthatthePuaaproposalistodevelopacommercialshoppingcenterin the northern end of the property and housing at the southern end of the property. Principal access, of course, would be from Route 11 at the north end of the property, with a signalized and channelized intersection directly opposite the access to Pualani Estates. And the Applicant also proposed a right-in, right-out only access to Highway 11 at the south end. There would be a road with a 60 foot right-of-way through the project connecting with the Suffolk Investment property immediately makai. We have a number of concerns and suggestions regarding the Suffolk proposal, I mean, the Puaa proposal and recommend as you are doing, that it be evaluated in conjunction with the Suffolk application. Traffic on Route 11. The TIAR predicted that the project would add 3614 trips per day to traffic on Kuakini Highway and Route 11, which is already operating at capacity. But the TIAR, while predicting no change in the level of service at the Pualani Subdivision intersection with Route 11, which should be signalized, failed to take into account the traffic that will be added to that intersection by the 21-unit Uluwehi Properties Development that has been approved by the County Council, and the 250-unit rental development thats proposed by Suffolk Investment. And because the traffic counts used for the TIAR were taken before commercial delivery trucks were needed in the area, it also failed to account for the many delivery vehicles that will enter the development, especially in the morning peak hours. Furthermore, the TIAR projected, predicted that the proposed right-in/right-out driveway on Route 11 would operate at an unacceptable level of service during the afternoon peak hours. And, even with the right-turn acceleration lane, entering Route 11 will be dangerous because the speed limit at that point is 55 miles an hour. Second issue: Traffic on Kuakini Highway. Because of the existing and projected congestion on Route 11, we believe (and the TIAR predicted) that many drivers would 23