2003-03-07 THOKUKANO1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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GIFFIN:Good. And may I ask when they are through for a short re SPRINGER:Thank you, Commissioner Giffin. GIFFIN:Thank you. SPRINGER:Staff, how many chairs will the table accommodate there bring at least two more? Thank you. In that case, Mr. Coupe, Mr. Hauanio, Mr. Matsukawa, Mr. Nazara, and we'll take Mr. Kunitomo, Mr. Amun Greenwell following these gentlemen. I'll go in the order that you signed up. Starting with you, Mr. Coup, could you please state your name, resident address, and speak directly into the microphone. COUP:Thank you very much. Good morning. SPRINGER:Good morning. COUP:Madam Chair and Members of the Commission, my name is Charles Coup and my residence is 1715 Hihilo Place, Honolulu, Hawai`i 96821. My wife and I are in the process of renovating our home in Kealakekua. We probably will be moving within the next six to nine months to Kona perman we have a concern with the proposed application. I have submitted written testimony. But I won't go and read it summarize what, some of what I said in there. Basically, we have no objection to the concept of a proposed visitor center and a greenhouse. What concerns us most is for someone to propose a use of this size and yet turn around and try and zone a property of 5.5 acres for it. Obviously, I think a use of this size could probably be done on one acre. And there are a myriad of conditions or concerns that should be addressed by the Commission and ultimately by the County Council relative to some of the things that were discussed this morning: Traffic impact on Mmalahoa Highway and various considerations that should come out of it as a result of it, the environmental concerns, noise pollution, air pollution, etcetera, the infrastructure that would be affected by the development. Just on a rough estimate, without knowing what the grades are at the site, I estimate you could do at least 40,000 to 50,000 square feet, probably more, of GLA retail, office use, and some 25 or so residential units. So somebody would have to take a hard look at what impact this would have on the various infrastructures that would be required for this kind of a development. And I guess, ultimately, what we're asking is why would you rezone 5.5 acres of land to commercial for a use that doesn't really require that? Once that zoning is in place, I think it's going to be very difficult for the County of Hawaii to ignore the fact that that zoning is in place and not allow an increase in density at a later time. It seems to me that either that use that's proposed should be done on a special permit basis, and I understand that that's not allowed, but to me, that would be the logical way of doing it since it seems to 17