2010-02-05 TWITHERS - Laserfiche WebLink

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AU: Can staff help me out on this? I was looking through the applicant’s application and it says th they had a deadline to respond to the warning letter, the deadline was September 10. Was there th a response on September 10? I was looking through and I couldn’t find anything. And if there wasn’t a response, why didn’t you respond to the letter if there wasn’t a response? YEH: Perhaps I can respond while Mr. Darrow is looking through the file. Yes, we did respond. Actually we, in advance of that deadline, indicated to the Planning Department that we would be submitting this application. And basically I didn’t want to kind of need to go into that but because a large, they are in fact carrying on, as you’ve heard, agricultural activity on the majority of the property. They sell products and fruits to a bunch of vendors, including people in Honolulu, as part of this component. And when I was looking at the Ag-Tourism Statute or Ordinance that the Council passed about a year or two ago, it seemed to fit in there. But notwithstanding that, there was also a savings clause indicating that if you were engaged in ag- tourism I believe you had until November of this year, I think the Council extended it about a year or so, to allow people to come in and submit the kind of applications that the applicants are doing now. So, yes, we did respond. I do have a copy in my file; but I’m not sure if Mr. Darrow found it. DARROW: There was a response; and that they, as Mr. Yeh had said that they were going to be th filing for a special permit, they did shortly after. The permit was actually dated October 15, so it came in shortly after they had responded. AU: I just want to make sure that, you know, we’re on same playing level field as everybody else. Because when there’s deadlines and, you know, when you’re required by the Planning Department to submit something, we would like to have seen that, if you did do that. And I was looking through and I don’t think I saw anything. So that was one question that I had. You know, from the very start you got this warning letter and if you did not reply to the deadline, then that already brings red flags.So I’m just concerned about that. YEH: Thank you, thank you. DARROW: If I could just clarify, if the applicants had not responded to the warning letter there would have been a notice of violation issued shortly after. So as a result of them responding and submitting, there was no notice of violation issued. WOODWARD: All right. Any further questions? DOMINGO: Mr. Chairman? WOODWARD: Yes, Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO: Considering Mr. Iwashita’s remarks with regards to him being friends with the applicant, my personal opinion, and, I don’t know, might be our Corp. Counsel can correct me on that, I don’t think being a friend of the applicant or the applicant’s representative should preclude anyone from participating in a discussion or even taking a vote on the issues. I see no probable conflict of interest if they do that. 5 EXHIBIT A