2008-03-06 THILOFARMERS MARKET - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

DELA CRUZ: Keith Dela Cruz, owner of Hilo Farmers Market, 91 Halaulani Place, Hilo, Hawaii, 96720. WATANABE: Thank you. DELA CRUZ: You’re welcome. WATANABE: You can proceed with your testimony. DELA CRUZ: Thank you, first of all, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Commission. We’ve been working on this project since about 2000-2001. So we’ve come a long way. I’m sure a lot of people have wondered what was going on in that timeframe. And in that timeframe we’ve been trying to get grassroots support, as well as comments and input to what we should be doing at the market. As you know the market is under tarps and gravel; and when it rains and there’s a big wind or any type of big weather there’s problems at the market. So we’re trying to address that with a permanent structure. And as you saw on the board there, that’s one of the conceptual drawings that we have presented for you today. Jeff has been instrumental in helping us get to the SMA Permit point up till today, as well as a bunch of other people, like the Downtown Improvement Association and the Friends of Downtown Hilo, to the Envision Downtown Hilo 2025 Plan. And what we have today is an accumulation of their inputs as well as inputs from my travels abroad to check out other markets. And I hope up to this point we’ve provided something that is concrete and worthy of being in Downtown Hilo. WATANABE: Thank you. Mr. Melrose, as a representative of the applicant, you’ve already had an opportunity to review the Director’s comments and recommendations and conditions. So would you care to comment on those? MELROSE: We have reviewed the recommendations. We have no specific comments on the recommendations. They’re standard and they’re appropriate. WATANABE: Okay, thank you. With that, Fellow Commissioners, are there any -? Yes, Ms. Siracusa. SIRACUSA: Yes. The overpass from one building to the other side of the street, do you intend to put that in even if the road is closed on Wednesdays and Saturdays as was suggested here? MELROSE: The overpass was an early conceptual drawing. It’s not part of the application. We’re not seeking permission to do that. It was Keith thinking outside the box trying to figure out ways to accommodate, he does own property immediately on the other side of the street; but it’s not part of our application so -. It shows up. Unfortunately the Tribune Herald got that image early on and replayed it more recently so it kind of stays in people’s mind. But it’s really not part of the application and part of the current thinking at this point. And if it was that might in fact mitigate some of what you’re talking about. But there’s still a ground level of walking backing and forth. Mamo Street is actually not -. The real safety issues, I think EXHIBIT B 9